Wilfrido Ma.

Guerrero
CHARACTERS
PABLO GONZALEZ, the condemned
ANGELA GONZALEZ, his mother
CRISTINA, his fiancee
TIA CHEDENG, his aunt
ANDRES GOROSPE, an old friend
SIMEON SERENO, another friend
FATHER LIM, prison chaplain
WARDEN
T HE C ONDEMNED
The Condemned
ANGELA enters, stands near door.
WARDEN: Is she your mother?
PABLO: She used to be. (They all look at him.)
FR. LIM: (going to rear door) I shall wait in here. (He goes
out.
PABLO embraces CRISTINA briefly.)
PABLO: Wait for me, dearest. I shall call you. (PABLO kisses
TIA CHEDENG’s hand.) Tia, will you take care of Cristina
for me? (TIA CHEDENG nods. PABLO shakes ANDRES’
hand.) Stand by them, will you, Andres? (CRISTINA supports
TIA CHEDENG, and all go out, closing door behind them.
ANGELA GONZALEZ takes a few steps forward, extreme
front
stage, right. PABLO stands an extreme left, front. ANGELA is
over forty-five, but is trying to retain her faded youth and
beauty
by the overuse of cosmetics. There is an air of bad taste and
vul-
garity about her, accentuated by her gaudy colored dress and
the
use of big bracelets and earrings. Her voice is husky.)
PABLO: (without looking at her) What do you want?
ANGELA: I wanted to see you.
PABLO: What for? To offer me your sympathy? Thanks. I
don’t need it. You didn’t try to see me during the trial.
ANGELA. I couldn’t. I was ashamed.
PABLO: Ashamed? And aren’t you ashamed to be here now?
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ANGELA: I am your mother, Pablo.
PABLO: The woman I used to call mother died when after
Father’s death, she lived with Marcos Nable.
ANGELA: You hate me so.
PABLO: I don’t hate you. My feelings for you are what I would
feel for a stranger.
ANGELA: I have left him. I left Marcos for good.
PABLO: And so you came here to feel pride in your work.
ANGELA: I don’t understand.
PABLO: If I’m here now, if I’m condemned to the chair it’s
because of you!
ANGELA: Me!
PABLO: Yes, you! Have you ever been a mother to me? Did
you ever give me any care or attention? Isn’t it true that you
spent all your time gambling while you left me with Tia
Chedeng? When Father was sick and dying, weren’t you out
gambling?
ANGELA: I fed you, clothed you.
PABLO: And you thought you had done your duty! You
thought that in bringing me into this world your work was
finished! It had only begun!
The Condemned
ANGELA: What did you want me to do?
PABLO: Did you ever correct my faults? Did you care who
my companions and playmates were? Did you ever check me
from committing petty thefts, correct my bad language, my
bad tendencies?
ANGELA: I really tried, I…
PABLO: And did you ever teach me to fear God?(Pa u s e ) Tia
Chedeng taught me a few prayers which I quickly forgot be-
cause I ran away. My faults became habits and my bad habits
enslaved me.
ANGELA: I wasn’t to blame, try to understand, my son.
PABLO: Son! You dare call me your son! And a few months
after Father’s death, I was ten then, you fell in love with Marcos
Nable, lived with him, pueh! My own mother!
ANGELA: I left him.
PABLO: And may I know why? Not that it matters.
ANGELA: When I read about your sentence a few weeks ago,
I, I realized that I had done wrong—
PABLO: In the meantime what had you done to me? You
broke my ideals, tore away my faith, you filled me with bit-
terness — the bitterness of a son who’s ashamed of his own
mother!
ANGELA: (going near him) Pablo! Have pity!
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Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
32
PABLO: Pity! You never had any for me! You sent me out
into the world without faith, without anchor, without dreams!
I wandered alone and lonely without a home until I met
Cristina, the girl I’ve just married.
ANGELA: Married! (Looking back towards right door remem-
bering CRISTINA.)
PABLO: And now that I’m about to die, how I wish to have
my own mother at my side, to be able to tell her how sorry I
am, to be able to part from this life with a mother’s kiss. But
no! It’s my own mother who has sent me here!
ANGELA: Pablo! Pablo, my son!
PABLO: Tears! How can your tears move me now when I
drowned my own tears in drink?
ANGELA slowly raises herself up. PABLO covers his face
with
his hands. There is an expression of determination on
ANGELA’s
face. Slowly and quietly, she takes off her earrings, bracelets,
rings,
and gently puts them on the table. She also tries to wipe off the
cosmetics on her face. When she speaks, her voice is low and
soft.
ANGELA: Listen to what I have to say. I was forced to marry
your father against my will. I didn’t love him and he knew it.
It wasn’t my fault! My family shouldn’t have opposed my
marriage to the man I really loved. To forget my unhappiness
I turned to gambling and to pleasure. That kept me away
from your father. I didn’t want a baby, you might as well know,
so when you came, well, I just left you to the care of servants.
The Condemned
(Her voice rising.) But few knew that our married life was
unhappy. And when your father died, I sought an outlet for
my lonely years.
PABLO: Tia Chedeng wanted to make me believe Father’s
death had made you lonely and bitter, yes, but for different
reasons.
ANGELA: I left you in Tia Chedeng’s care, then. She wanted
you. When you were eleven, that was the time I met Marcos.
Tia Chedeng knew about my unhappy marriage with your
father.
PABLO: She knew and never told me.
ANGELA: I’ve told you everything! Now condemn me if you
dare!
PABLO: If I could believe you, I would ask you to take care
of Cristina for me but no, it’s impossible! Too late!
ANGELA: Yes, son, let me take care of her! I’ll be a real
mother
to her what I haven’t been to you!
PABLO: If I could die with the word “Mother” on my lips, if
I could call you Mother!(Desperately.) God in heaven, why,
can’t I call you Mother? (Right door opens, WARDEN comes
in.)
WARDEN: Time’s up! The officials await you in your cell.
ANGELA: Not yet, not yet! (FR. LIM appears.)
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FR. LIM: We must start, Pablo.
PABLO stares at the WARDEN and FR. LIM as if in a trance.
WARDEN: If you wish to see your wife
PABLO: My wife? Oh, Cristina. Yes, no, never mind. Why
hurt her more? (Turning to FR. LIM) Father, I am afraid to
die.
FR. LIM: Don’t doubt God’s mercy. His mercy is as wide and
as deep as the ocean.
PABLO: Father, will you hear my confession? (FR. LIM nods,
as PABLO kneels in front of him. Music. Stage becomes dark.
FR. LIM gives the absolution.) Let’s go!
ANGELA: My son!
PABLO looks at her with compassion in his eyes, makes a
gesture of bending towards her, but turns abruptly, and goes
out
through rear door with WARDEN, closing door behind them.
Bells begin to toll outside. The door opens. CRISTINA, TIA
CHEDENG, and ANDRES rush in.
CRISTINA: (rushing to rear door and banging it repeatedly)
Pablo! Wait! (Stage is darkened as bell continue tolling.
CRISTINA breaks down and collapses in front of rear door, a
figure of utter dejection. TIA CHEDENG sits on chair, with
The Condemned
ANDRES behind her. Music continues. ANGELA stands,
front
right, with hands folded tightly and bead down, as if praying.
TIA CHEDENG prays with a rosary in her hands. The pause
continues for twenty seconds, interrupted only by
CRISTINA’s
sobs. Suddenly the bells cease tolling. Another pause of fifteen
seconds. Steps are heard. All raise their eyes toward rear door
in
an attitude of expectation. Rear door opens, FR. LIM appears,
closes door. CRISTINA and ANGELA come nearer with a
ges-
ture of supplication.)
FR. LIM: It’s all over. His last words were, his last words…
CRISTINA and ANGELA. Yes?
FR. LIM: “Cristina” (Here CRISTINA sobs.) “Tia”…
ANGELA: Was that all?
FR. LIM: (staring at her)…and “Mother.” He whispered, like
a prayer, the word “Mother” twice.
ANGELA: Mother twice.
As CRISTINA breaks into sobs, ANGELA bends over and
enfolds her in her arms. TIA CHEDENG makes the sign of the
cross.
THE END