CELIA AND FIDEL (excerpt) by Eduardo Machado

Fidel Castro: In his fifties, the leader of the Cuban revolution and Celia Sanchez : Sixty, thin, intellectual, demanding. Organized the revolution with Fidel, fought in the Sierra Maestra. They have been fighting.)

FIDEL Why are you looking away?

CELIA Never mind.

FIDEL Come on, tell me.

CELIA Some other time, let's work.

FIDEL No, tell me.

CELIA It's sentimental. Sentimentality is a frivolous emotion for a revolutionary.

FIDEL I want to know.

CELIA The nights when I was the only woman there. Alone with you in the Sierra Maestra...

Those were the happiest moments in my life.

FIDEL You are still the only woman I trust.

CELIA How about your wife?

FIDEL I haven't married her.

CELIA Yes, you have. You just hide the document from me.

FIDEL I don't trust her. I only trust you.

2.

Celia is moved.

CELIA You are the reason.

FIDEL The reason for what?

CELIA My father was devastated when I handed all the power to you. He believed in socialism that the group should have the power, not just one man. He said I was acting like every Cuban woman that came before me.

FIDEL Your father was wrong.

CELIA Was he?

FIDEL We survived. Just look at us in Angola. We said, no, to The United States.

CELIA We did do that. You and I. And Che, Manolo, and Camilo... But, things are changing.

People that grew up under our revolution are unhappy. I think we have not given them enough things to dream and work for. They know about the world. And they want their own voice. They want change. For socialism to represent this moment in history.

FIDEL You think I’m behind the times?

CELIA If you don’t do something they’re going to leave us again.

Fidel laughs.

FIDEL I am ahead of the times. Always have been.

CELIA Not anymore.

Fidel, turns music on again, this time it’s Omara Portuondo singing “Tal Vez” he listens.

3.

CELIA (CONT’D) More music?

FIDEL Yes, she stayed. Omara. I always like having a drink with her.

CELIA When? She’s touring Europe all the time.

FIDEL You’re just jealous.

Celia looks through the pages of his speech.

Fidel smokes and listens to the song. Celia takes the speech and reads in a soft voice. Fidel smokes, irritated.

CELIA You’re speaking at the United Nations in two weeks. Listen. "We are 95 countries from all the continents representing the vast majority of humanity. We are united by determination to defend cooperation among our countries"...That's good...

FIDEL Let me enjoy my music and a Cohiba. Please.

CELIA ... Free national and social development, sovereignty, security, equality and selfdetermination. We are associated in the endeavor to change the system of international relations based on injustice, inequality and oppression.”

Celia reads and scratches things out with a pen.

FIDEL What are you scratching out!

CELIA Just relax, will you. If you don’t like my changes we can put them back.

FIDEL In the end, I have the last word?

CELIA That's always been the case.

4.

FIDEL What do you mean by that?!

Celia ignores him and keeps reading and making corrections. Fidel relights the cigar. Celia turns off the music.

CELIA You could end here. "Wealth continues to become concentrated in the hands of a few powers whose economies, based on waste, are maintained thanks to the exploitation of workers and to the transfer and plundering of natural and other resources of countries in Africa, Latin America and other regions of the world." You could end there and make your point.

FIDEL Are you out of your mind? They expect me to speak for at least two hours.

CELIA Fidel, you can’t talk for four hours again!

FIDEL If I don't speak for a long time, they'll think I'm ill.

CELIA Who? FIDEL The world.

CELIA We are doing this for the good of humanity, not for what the world thinks of you.

Consuelo, Consuelo, a young Cuban woman in her late twenties, intelligent, cocky and sensual, is going walks in.

CONSUELO Fidel?

Fidel does not answer her. He puffs on his cigar..

5.

FIDEL Consuelo, what does the world think of me?

CONSUELO Depends on what part of the world you are talking about.

FIDEL Consuelo. Why am I so depressed?

CELIA Why are you asking her? I’m the one who really knows you.

FIDEL Answer me, Consuelo.

CONSUELO It's not my place to tell you.

FIDEL I’m ordering you to tell me.

CONSUELO Celia.

FIDEL Celia? Explain?

CONSUELO Guilt, because you didn't marry her.

Celia starts to laugh.

CELIA Silly girl. I never wanted to marry him.

FIDEL She never wanted to marry me.

CELIA I was your equal. Why would I ever want to be your wife?

CONSUELO Are you sure about that?

CELIA What game is she playing now?

6.

FIDEL I don’t feel an ounce of guilt.

Consuelo smiles at Fidel.

FIDEL (CONT’D) That smile is worth everything to me. I regret a lot of things.

CONSUELO You feel regret? I’m confused.

CELIA You're showing your age, Consuelo. You don't know the meaning of regret yet. She should go back to her desk.

Celia goes back to reading the speech and making notes. Fidel tries to ignore her. But it irritates him.

FIDEL Why are you confused, Consuelo?

CONSUELO You once told me regret was not useful for a revolutionary.

FIDEL Did I? CONSUELO Yes. I wrote about it in my diary that night.

FIDEL Did you?

CONSUELO My diary is filled with things you’ve said.

CELIA Can she be more obvious?

FIDEL I was wrong.

CONSUELO How?

7.

FIDEL Regret, it makes you doubt your decisions in the past.

CONSUELO That can’t be good.

FIDEL It is.

CONSUELO As a leader you must be sure of yourself at all times.

FIDEL You must also consider the facts.

CONSUELO I thought it was about always having the answer.

FIDEL Only after you consider the facts, in order to find the answer. You must believe me. You must believe everything I tell you. You understand?

CONSUELO Yes. FIDEL Don't placate me.

CONSUELO I would never do that.

CELIA She's good.

Fidel gives Celia a nasty look.

CELIA (CONT’D) If looks could kill.

FIDEL I know what’s best for a socialist republic.

CONSUELO I know you do.

8.

FIDEL You do?

CONSUELO Yes, I do.

FIDEL Good. Even as a young girl you knew that free enterprise makes people inhuman.

CELIA She really knows how to play you.

Fidel looks at Consuelo.

FIDEL When you were ten... you reported every pig, chicken, and egg, that any farmer in a five kilometer radius of your house sold to the black market. You reported them, and you made them pay for their crime. All this at ten. When I heard about you, I decided you had to be near me. You had potential worth the price of gold.

CELIA Were you right, Fidel?

FIDEL I was right.

CONSUELO That makes me happy.

FIDEL Good, we gave your mind the opportunity to grow intellectually.

CONSUELO Yes you did. You and Celia...

CELIA She just wants to take my place.

FIDEL You want to take her place. Don't you?

CONSUELO I want to work for the good of the revolution.

9.

FIDEL You sound just like her.

CONSUELO That makes me very happy. She told me to live by her example.

CELIA I never told her that. I'm telling you, that girl wants a place in history.

CONSUELO For Celia, I have to make sure that all orphans are looked after by the government. That the peoples revolutionary archives are always open. That Cohiba cigars keep to their high standards and that Coppelia ice cream comes up with a new flavor every year. I’m thinking this year it should be Molasses in honor of Celia.

FIDEL Why Molasses?

CONSUELO Because its both bitter and sweet.

CELIA I’m bitter? I’ve had enough of her this morning.

FIDEL I want to be alone. Go for now.

Consuelo looks at him.

CONSUELO You have a meeting.

FIDEL I do, with who?

CONSUELO The American envoy.

FIDEL Oh God. Manolo, again?

CONSUELO Yes.

10.

FIDEL He's a Cuban exile. A worm.

CELIA Fidel. I think we can trust Manolo.

FIDEL (To Celia.) You know you can’t talk to him.

Celia looks at him.

CONSUELO I know that. He does not want to talk to me. He came here from Miami to meet with you.

CELIA Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.

FIDEL I have the right to tell you what I want.

CONSUELO I know that.

CELIA Maybe she bows down to you but I know you too well. You’ve seduced her.

FIDEL Have I seduced you?

CONSUELO With your intellect.

FIDEL Not my looks?

CELIA Your looks? You are making a fool out of yourself.

FIDEL I was only kidding.

CONSUELO You're a very striking man, for your age.

11.

CELIA A criticism wrapped in a compliment, that's our Consuelo.