1
Nissim Aloni
Eddy King
a play in two acts
[Translated from the Hebrew by Valerie Arnon]
Characters
ni Galente (Joe) Around 60, but looks older. Formerly one of Don
Laius’s men. Has spent the last few years in a mental
hospital. A smiler, very lucid.
londie
Around 50, but looks younger. Lives on the edge of the
crime world. A busybody.
Christina
Mother of the dead Don Laius. Has lived in New York
over fifty years, but her dark complexion betrays her
origins.
a
A popular blind astrologer, a declared homosexual.
King (Don Eduardo) A New York crime-king, around 40.
Stefano Pisano) Close associate of Eddy King, around 35.
edo Spadolini)
Close associate of Eddy King, around 50.
Mario Ferruchi)
Close associate of Eddy King, around 50.
Del Sol
Aged about 26, only daughter of
Leonardo Del Sol (Don Leonardo), the King of Kings in
the crime world, and engaged to be married to Creone
Visconti.
e Visconti
Eddy King’s friend and counsellor, around 50.
a King
Eddy King’s wife, sister of Creone Visconti, around 60.
ore
A young gang leader, around 22.
A young hit-man, newly-arrived in America.
The action takes place in New York, in winter, before the Holidays,
the present day.
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Act One
Scene 1
A street song is heard, played on the accordion. The curtain rises
slowly. Upstage are a street railing and a street lamp. Further back
is a dimly-lit sign: ALFIERI’S BAR. Night.
Enter - downstage - the actor playing Eddy King.
Actor:
The story of Eddy King. An old -- a new story. A night in December,
nowadays. Brooklyn: New York. [goes off].
The rumble of an underground train is heard, passing under the
stage, upstage. The back part of the stage fills with smoke. Jack
and Joe, both wearing shabby, heavy clothes, emerge from it. Joe
is smoking a cigarette. They move downstage. Joe smiles, in
wonder.
Joe:
It’s been a long while since I saw this city....
Jack:
Big, uh?
Joe:
Same as always - only different...
Jack:
[Trying to get warm] Sure it’s the same, always the same, always
different - if not, it wouldn’t be the same, eh? [Slaps himself on his
witty remark, stops short, suddenly serious, and turns to Joe] Only
from now on, everything’s different.
Joe:
[smiles] Cold....
Jack:
Hey, don’t you give me cold, sure it’s cold, it has to be cold, it’s
always cold - with the holidays coming up....
Joe:
[smiles] Yes, the holidays..... incense.....
Jack:
Uh?
Joe:
[Points to the back of the stage] That...... There.....
Jack:
[serious, concerned, threatening] That’s smoke, Joe. From the
subway and all the....oxygen... the air with the synthetic....
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Joe:
Sure. Synthetic.
Jack:
So what’s so funny?
Joe:
[chuckles to himself] Down at the asylum we got this General -
Jack:
[holding his hat] Joe!
Joe:
A three star General... maybe more... The war killed him... [ his
smile broadens] He puts on shows.... old shows.... shows of
history.... like about kings... about love.... God.... Conspiracy...
funny.... And always with the incense.... plenty of incense.... For the
Gods!.... Before the show all the patients collect smoke.... In
bottles.... For him, a General!... [rather to himself, smiling] Life is
just a show.... that’s what the General says.... always.
Jack:
Joe, sometimes you don’t sound too good. You sound bad. I mean
bad bad. And when you start off like that I feel so black, black ain’t
the word. Deep down in my heart I think it’s all for nothing. Donna
Christina won’t even believe your name’s Joe, not to mention you
was once a big man in this town. Now I’m telling it to you the last
time, Joe, from the heart. We’re here, right here, right next to the
money, and when I say money I mean money. So much money you
won’t know what money is. Know what I’m talkin’ about?
Joe:
Sure, Jack.
Jack:
So why the “down at the asylum”, Joe? Why the big mouth? No?
You tell me, Joe!...
Joe:
[smiling, sly] It just slips out...
Jack:
Not when she comes. Got that, Joe? I don’t want to hear about the
incense, the generals, the shows, God - and for God’s sake, Joe,
no asylum. A little farm, a few vegetables, maybe a coupla cows -
Joe:
Sure, Jack...
Jack:
I turned the whole world upside down to find you - cost me every
cent I never had - now I want to see some money, mister, big profits,
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the biggest there is. With all the compound interest!... See, I got
plans.....
Joe:
I know, Jack...
Jack:
I got plans for you too, Joe.
Joe:
You don’t have to....
Jack:
Nah - don’t say I don’t have to. I’ll buy you new shoes -
Joe:
No, no...
Jack:
A hat. What hat? - Hats! Loadsa hats, all kindsa hats -
Joe:
I could maybe -
Jack:
And broads, Joe, broads for kings, from the shows, red, with
feathers... peacocks!.... Without feathers -
Joe:
[ruminative] Maybe I could back a horse?
Jack:
Man, you could buy a horse!
Joe:
[chuckling, to himself] It’s been a long while since I saw a horse run
for my money....
Jack:
Now you’re talking, Joe!
Joe:
[to himself but as though even more amused] Only that’s so funny,
the races...
Jack:
[Suddenly serious, suspicious] The races? Funny?
Joe:
[laughing to himself] I was thinking like ... like there’s always one
horse that gets there first... that’s how it comes down.
Donna Christina appears upstage. She wears a coat and a head
scarf, and has a walking stick.
Jack:
She’s here, Joe.... Donna Christina.... Do it, Joe!.... For God’s sake,
Joe, bring us some light.... You believe in God, Joe....
Joe:
[softly, smiling] No.
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Jack:
[contolling his anger] Don’t fuck with me! Everyone believes.... Even
them that don’t believe believe...
Donna Christina stands on the stairs upstage, surveying the two
men. She walks down the stairs. Joe drops his cigarette and stubs
it out with his foot. Jack removes his hat. The two men face the
Donna slightly bowed, humble.
[to Donna Christina] This is the man. The same man, a bit
different.... A bit older... that’s all...
Christina: [going up to Joe] I remember him...
Jack:
It’s him! It’s him!
Christina: Giovanni Jack:
Galente. Giovanni Galente!
Joe:
[smiling, his nickname is enough] Just Joe... Joe...
Christina: You’re supposed to be dead.
Jack:
He’s alive! Don’t mind the hat.... He remembers everything!
Christina: Eighteen years....
Joe:
Eighteen... That’s the number...
Christina: So where you been all the time?
Jack:
You know...a man, Donna Christina... a day here, a day there...
Joe:
[quietly] In a madhouse.
Jack:
[shouts] Joe!... [Donna Christina surveys Jack] Mad! As though
there’s mad! ... Ain’t even no mad dogs no more... Just a quiet little
farm, a few foremen around... [aside] Jesus Maria!
Christina: [to Joe] Are you mad?
Joe:
[smiling, very clear, lucid] No.
Jack looks at the two of them.
Christina: Been there long?
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Joe:
Since then.
Christina: Why.
Joe:
[quietly, clearly, after some thought] I was scared.
Christina: Of what?
Joe:
People.
Christina: What people?
Joe:
[smiling] All of them.
Christina: And now?
Joe:
Uh?
Christina: Are you scared?
Joe:
No. [pause] It’s over.... [pause] Sometimes, in the night [pause].
Dreams.
Jack:
Nothing. Hot air. What are dreams, anyway? They give you a shot
and -
Christina: This man says you know who killed my son, Don Laius.
Joe:
That’s right, Donna Christina.
Christina: [fearful] They said - when that happened - it was done by
hoodlums with no names.
Joe:
No.
Christina: Who.
Jack:
Donna Christina, about the money The rumble of a train is heard from below, and the back of the stage
fills with smoke.
Christina: [shouts] Who!
Joe:
The man who shot your son is -
[First 5 pages of 131-page typed text. Unpublished]
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