Appendix: Plot Summaries of Selected Belbel Plays

Summary

Minim.mal Show (co-authored with Miquel Górriz) 1987

Like all of Belbel’s plays, Minim.mal Show does not possess the conventional three-act structure of the well-made play, but is constructed around a succession of scenes. These are named, as follows: Passarel·la (Catwalk), Monòleg (Monologue), L’Altre (The Other), La Causa (The Cause), ‘Nem’, Sil·logisme (Syllogism), La Conseqüència (The Consequence), Pòdium, Soliloqui de Dos (Soliloquy for Two), Bolero, L’Exemple (The Example), L’Escena (The Scene), Solema, Galeria (Gallery), Aparador (Shop Window), Diàleg (Dialogue), Nessuno, Síncope (Syncopation), Discòpula (Discopulation), Nessuna, Pentàgon, Pista (Trail, Clue or Cue). Some of these scenes have more than one version (for example, there are five ‘Pòdiums’ and ‘Nems’) and many of the titles are humorously ironic. The scenes are really a series of sketches, and, despite the lack of a plot as such, a certain pattern develops in those scenes that are repeated. For instance, each Syncopation is a satire of a frustrated attempt at an encounter between B and Y. Dialogue is often clipped and unconnected, while some scenes (such as the Syncopation sequences) are wordless and depend on movement and sound to evoke action. An example is the representation of sexual intercourse through guttural sounds in the Discopulation sequence. Metatheatre is strong in this early play, while the interaction between actors and audience reinforces its ironic humour. As in many Belbel plays, the characters are unnamed – a feature taken to an extreme in Minim.mal Show, in which they are denoted by a single letter of the alphabet.

En companyia d’abisme (Deep Down) 1988

The action takes place in a stark, bare zone in the abyss where two men (Man and Young Man), whose relationship is never clearly defined, meet unexpectedly, or so the text initially leads us to believe. Their ambiguous and evasive conversations become a battleground in which each man attempts to establish a dominant position over the other. In the absence of physical action (each character executes only three brief movements, although each inflicts damage on his still adversary), words become the primary weapon through which status and power are established. The meticulous body positions, which Belbel details in his stage directions – excruciatingly difficult for an actor to maintain and gruelling for an audience to watch – are far removed from the demands of the pseudo-naturalistic play, yet they fulfil a central role in creating the tense stage environment in which the characters’ mysterious interactions take place.