The Execution of Pain

Cristian Ceresoli
THE EXECUTION OF PAIN
(La Pratica del dolore)

monologue

SYNOPSIS
     The basic plot situation of Ceresoli´s text, building up dramatic tension, is the presentation of the defense closing speech before the passing of sentence in a case, of the content of which we learn only gradually and in fragments. The text is interpreted by only one performer, who employs different tones of his voice to create two dramatic subjects: the first one could be called defender (he begins the monologue) and the other one defendant (he adds his voice only later by way of self-reflective passages).
     Gradually we get to know fragments of information, however these are not arranged chronologically. The following description is probably the most fitting picture of the storyline paradigm: The accused man is a doctor, who lives a completely futile life in the midst of developed consumer society. He totally succumbs to its fetishistic and superficial values. His life is changed by the birth of his daughter, who brings the experience of authenticity of true existence and values into the doctor´s life. The girl dies in a random accident. The doctor, who works at a private gynecologic clinic, begins to lie to his pregnant patients, making up severe diseases of their unborn children, so he could manipulate them into abortions.
     The whole truth about the doctor´s behavior comes out after a teenage girl is forced by her parents to have an abortion performed by this doctor. After she returns home, postoperative complications occur. The parents do not agree with an examination and the girl dies. The police interrogation of this death, which was clearly not caused by the accused man, brings to light a whole range of illegal procedures, lead by the doctor. He is accused and brought to court.
     The defender´s closing speech (or better its mixed up fragments and torsos) together with the defendant´s entries give a vivid picture of the discontinuous and chaotic magma of circumstances, which gradually reveal the true motivation of the action described.