Title of the play: “Fuenteovejuna”
Author: Manuel Martínez
8 characters:
- PROFESSOR RUIZ.-Man of 55 years, a tyrannical and despot teacher with his students.
- RAÚL- 15 year old boy, a student in the last year of high school.
- LUISA- 15-year-old girl, a student in high school. Victim of Professor Ruiz’s tyranny.
- AMANDA- 15-year-old girl, high school student.
- CANDIDA- 15 year old girl, high school student.
- MANOLO- 15-year-old boy, high school student.
- CESAR- 15-year-old boy, high school student.
- DIRECTOR- Man in his 50s, high school principal, remains ignorant of Professor Ruiz’s abuses.
Act I
The teachers’ lounge of the Instituto Velázquez is empty. Raul, a 15-year-old student, has sneaked into the room to steal a math test.
(Characters that intervene in this act: Raúl, Professor Ruiz and Luisa)
Raul stealthily enters the room and starts rummaging through the filing cabinets.
RAUL: It has to be here, I know it. Ramirez, Renato, Ruiz! Here’s the file cabinet. Let’s see where the exam is. Here it is.
Raul takes some stapled sheets of paper out of the file cabinet. He starts to review it.
RAUL: What a guy, he’s included all the material for next semester, but we haven’t seen it yet. Of course, when he says he wants to fail us all, he’s not wrong.
Raul leans on a table, takes out his cell phone and is about to take a picture of the pages, when a noise outside the room interrupts him. Raul hides in a closet.
Professor Ruiz and Luisa enter the room.
PROFESSOR RUIZ: Go ahead, student. And tell me what is so important that you have to tell me.
LUISA: Well, look, Professor…
PROFESSOR RUIZ: Professor Ruiz, don’t forget.
LUISA: Excuse me, Professor Ruiz. As I was saying, in the last exam, I thought I would get better marks, because I have been studying a lot and I think I answered your questions quite well.
PROFESSOR RUIZ: Ah, so you think you answered my questions quite well. So, you are telling me that I made a mistake correcting your exam, aren’t you?
LUISA: I didn’t mean to, sir.
PROFESSOR RUIZ: No, so if I didn’t make a mistake you want me to give you more marks for your pretty face, I see.
LUISA: No sir, I just wanted to know where I had failed, so I could be more attentive on the next exam and do better. So if you could show me the exam….
PROFESSOR RUIZ: (Professor Ruiz gives a resounding blow on the table) That I show you your exam, how dare you. You are questioning my work as a teacher. I have never been so insulted. You know what… you are expelled two days from school.
LUISA: But sir, let me explain.
PROFESSOR RUIZ: Get out!
LUISA: Let me at least talk to the principal.
PROFESSOR RUIZ: Don’t force me to call your parents, go away and think about your insolence.
Luisa leaves the room in tears.
Act II
(Characters intervening in this act: Manolo, Cándida, Cesar and Amanda)
Gathered standing around some desks, in a class without a teacher, four classmates from the last year are chatting.
CANDIDA: It’s very unfair.
CESAR: You’re telling me.
CANDIDA: The poor thing, as studious as she is.
MANOLO: Of course, that man has no heart, he’s a tyrant.
AMANDA: If you had seen her, she went away crying bitterly all the way.
CANDIDA: No wonder. But I still don’t understand, why her?
CESAR: Because she was the one who went to the office. If you or your Cándida or you Manolo go, it’s your turn. He’s a man who hates teaching.
MANOLO: That’s true, you only have to see how reluctantly he comes to class every day. He doesn’t even bother to teach, he stops everything at the slightest noise and just punishes.
CANDIDA: Well, it’s not fair, because today it’s Luisa, but tomorrow it could be anyone.
CESAR: We have to do something.
AMANDA: Yes, but what can we do? Because talking to him is not going to get us anything at all.
MANOLO: We have to show the director what he’s really like. That’s the only way we could get rid of him.
CANDIDA: And how are we going to do that?
CESAR: In the next class, someone has to leave the classroom and call the director and bring him in with an excuse. Meanwhile we’ll bring out the worst in him.
Act III
(Characters that intervene in this act: Manolo, Cesar, Amanda, Candida, Professor Ruiz, Raul and the Director).
In the classroom, Professor Ruiz is teaching his mathematics class.
CESAR: Amanda, you have to do it now. He won’t say anything to you for going to the bathroom.
PROFESOR RUIZ: For God’s sake, why don’t you shut up, it shouldn’t be so hard to teach the whole class in silence. If I hear one more voice, I’ll end the class and all this will go to the exam.
Amanda fearfully raises her hand.
PROFESSOR RUIZ: What is it now, Miss Amanda, what’s wrong with your stomach?
AMANDA: Excuse me, Professor Ruiz, I have to go to the bathroom.
PROFESSOR RUIZ: You are joking, aren’t you?
AMANDA: Sir, I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t necessary, but I have to go.
PROFESSOR RUIZ: Women, always weak and in trouble. Go ahead and go to the bathroom and give us the gift of your absence.
Amanda leaves the classroom. The professor continues to teach the class.
MANOLO: Professor, I have a question.
PROFESSOR RUIZ: One? Given your last exam, you must have more than one.
MANOLO: Why did you have Luisa expelled?
PROFESSOR RUIZ: You’re bothering me for that nonsense? I expelled her for her insolence, insolence that I see more than one of you share with her.
CESAR: But you have not answered, professor. What was the exact reason?
PROFESSOR RUIZ: A riot, a riot in my own class. What insolence, you are all rude, you will all be punished for your insolence, this will not stand!
The principal, together with Amanda, enters the classroom in alarm.
DIRECTOR: What’s going on, Mr. Ruiz, why are you shouting?
TEACHER RUIZ: Thank goodness you are here, Mr. Principal. All these young people are insolent. They all deserve to be punished.
DIRECTOR: Miss Amanda, you lied to me. You told me there was a young man in bad shape who needed my help.
AMANDA: But sir…
DIRECTOR: Nothing, I’m beginning to believe that Professor Ruiz is right.
Raul stands up from the back of the classroom with his cell phone in his hand and approaches the principal.
PROFESSOR RUIZ: Raul, where do you think you are going? What insolence, what an outrage.
Raul approaches the principal and hands him the cell phone to show him a video. Professor Ruiz’s shouts at Luisa can be heard from the cell phone.
PROFESOR RUIZ: Pay no attention, Mr. Director. It’s clear that they have something against me…
DIRECTOR: Don’t bother, Professor, come with me. And say goodbye to the class. And as for you, Raul, we’ll talk about how you recorded that video, but for now you can rest.
Professor Ruiz leaves the class with the Director behind him, the students applaud.
END