Title: “Alex and Axel”.
Author: Silvina Carrasco
Characters:
- Alex: Boy of about eight years old. Axel’s twin brother. He is very negative.
- Axel: Boy of about eight years old. Alex’s twin brother. He is totally positive.
- Nuria: Mother of the twins. She is worried about Alex’s pessimism.
- Claudia: Nuria’s friend. She suggests to her friend a strategy to try to get Alex to change his attitude.
ACT I
Characters involved in this act: Alex, Axel, Nuria and Claudia.
Scene: Kitchen of a house: at the back, a door that simulates a room in the house; to the right, another door that simulates the outside; in the center: a countertop/table, a table, chairs and a refrigerator.
Nuria and Claudia drink coffee at the table while talking. The twins enter through the door on the right with their uniforms/overalls and their backpacks/school bags.
-Nuria: Hello my children, how was school?
-Alex: (Looking annoyed) Boring as usual.
-Axel: (Excited) Great! In art class we learned how to make collages with dry leaves.
-Alex: (Disgusted) How boring. I don’t know why we go to school, it’s always the same.
-Nuria: Well, go put your things away and come and have a snack. What shall I prepare for you?
-Axel: (With his usual enthusiasm) Mmm… Yogurt with cereal! No! Chocolate milk! Yes, better chocolate milk! Mmm… Delicious!
-Nuria: All right, sweetie, chocolate milk for you. Alex?
-Alex: (With an angry face) Anything, I don’t care, what’s the difference?
(The twins go out the back door)
-Nuria: (To Claudia) Have you seen? It’s like this all day long. It’s getting more and more negative.
-Claudia: They don’t look like brothers, they are so different; Axel is pure joy.
-Nuria: Yes, I’m worried, I don’t know why Alex is like that, I don’t know what to do to make him change his attitude.
-Claudia: Maybe at some point he is jealous or envious of his brother.
-Nuria: Do you think so?
-Claudia: Yes, a little jealousy is normal between siblings, especially if they are twins. Maybe Alex feels that you prefer Axel.
-Nuria: And what can I do to make him stop thinking that?
-Claudia: Take advantage of the fact that his birthday is coming up. Buy Alex the best and most expensive present you can get. Something really out of the ordinary. And give Axel any little thing.
-Nuria: (Doubtful) Yes, it could be a good idea.
-Claudia: Yes, that way he’ll see that you consider it. And don’t worry about Axel, he’s so positive that nothing can bother him.
ACT II
Characters that intervene in this act: Nuria and Claudia.
Scenario: The same scenario of the previous act.
Someone knocks at the door. Nuria opens the door and Claudia enters.
-Nuria: Come in, come in, here is the gift, tell me what you think.
(Next to the table is Alex’s gift. It’s a unique multifunction device: a kind of rectangular speaker the size of a nightstand, with a screen on top, buttons and lights everywhere).
-Claudia: Okay, what is it?
-Nuria: I don’t know. I asked the salesman for something that every kid would like to have and he gave me this. It’s a kind of computer; it has the latest games, it plays music, movies, it has lights of all colors and you can adapt the position of the screen.
-Claudia: Well, it’s extravagant… Yes, yes, it’s a very nice gift and it won’t go unnoticed by Alex. Wrap it up as nicely as you can and leave it in his room, they’ll be home from school in an hour.
-Nuria: Can you help me with that? I still don’t have a gift for Axel.
-Claudia: (Starting to wrap the extravagant gift) Grab anything you find around and wrap it for Axel, there’s no more time.
(Nuria starts to walk around the kitchen looking for something but finds nothing. on the table there is an orange half and next to it the peel and seeds of the other half).
(Nuria takes the seeds from the table and shows them to Claudia in a questioning attitude).
-Claudia: (Without giving it much importance) Yes, yes, they can be useful for the collages. Besides, the protagonist today is Alex.
(Nuria begins to wrap the seeds with wrapping paper)
ACT III
Characters that intervene in this act: Alex and Axel.
Scenario: The same scenario of the previous act.
(Axel drinks juice at the table while reading comics and laughing very funny. Alex enters through the back door, with his usual angry face).
Axel: Do you want juice?
-Alex: I don’t like it.
-Axel: Did you open your present? What did you get?
-Alex: (grumpy) An unbearable device with a thousand buttons that I don’t know what they’re for. It’s very noisy and has so many lights that won’t let me sleep at night. (Short pause) What did they give you?
-Alex: (With a naivety between tender and funny) I got a huge orange tree, but mom forgot to put it in the ground and water it for a few years.
THE END