LLVT
Spanish Angst is a high concept comedy set in 1997 and centred on a strong female protagonist. Bella, a 23 year old marketing graduate, leaves the USA behind to find greener grass in sunny Spain. Despite her Spanish parents and happy childhood memories of Spain, Bella’s Madrid experience doesn’t match her expectations.
The owner of the firm where she works believes that all around him exist solely to increase his personal wealth. Her direct boss, Marga, is a jealous forty-something who delights in exploiting her and insulting her dress sense. Her attempts to find a different job seem surreal, she can’t get her t.v. fixed, she can’t get a decent meal, no one seems to understand her accent and her matchmaking flat mate keeps setting her up with losers. Bella is just too American, feminist and goal oriented for the people around her and the cultural clashes provide constant entertainment. She is also too stubborn to just give up.
Based on over twelve years of the author’s experience working and seeking work in Madrid, this is more than just a comedic treatment of how different attitudes and ideologies can be from one country to the next. It is also a real reflection of the work environment for women in Madrid. So if you know anyone who dreams of moving abroad to enjoy a laid back culture, have them read this first!!
LLVT is a Spanish citizen born of a Danish mother in Chicago, Illinois. The author’s first comedic effort was a comic strip about her fifth grade teacher and a rat. Perhaps this (and a very forgiving teacher) led to a merit based scholarship in the sixth grade for wordily gifted children. Being a Spanish-English bilingual has influenced her unusual verbal style almost as much as her penchant for English comedy. LLVT has been writing ever since but this is her first officially published work.
Although fictional, the events in SPANISH ANGST are true to life and draw very heavily on the author’s personal experiences of living and trying to work in Madrid. Over the last twelve years in Madrid the writer has worked in as many business sectors in positions as diverse as Marketing Manager, Waitress, Customer Service Agent, Campaign Support Volunteer, Lawyer and consultant. The author’s qualifications include a BA in English Literature from the University of Illinois, a Law degree from NIU, an MBA from IEDE in Madrid, and a slew of smaller certifications that seemed to make her truly unemployable. However; the author is currently making a go in a new business sector in sunny Scotland.
A full biography and other banter written by LLVT can be seen on the website: www.varelatychsen.info, including a monologue in Spanish and a short script in English about getting dumped.
ON A DATE:
The floor by the bar is caked with discarded tissue napkins, cigarette butts, shrimp casings, nut shells, toothpicks, etc. The free tables are stained and dirty and many people stand at the bar making a racket as they watch a football game on the TV behind it. BELLA is seated so she has to look at the wall, where a black plastic sign lists the food items and the prices are inserted in yellow numbers. WAITER B, a grimy man in a dirty white jacket, comes.
WAITER B: (Fingering greasy hair and wiping his nose with his hand) What do you want?
OCTAVIO: Look, we want a plate of empanadas, grilled shrimp, two shish kebob, and a beer for me. What do you want to drink?
BELLA: I’ll have water, but isn’t that
WAITER B: (Looking at OCTAVIO) Should I bring it all at once or one thing at a time?
OCTAVIO: One by one.
BELLA: Excuse me, don’t you think that
WAITER B takes off. BELLA is visibly pissed. OCTAVIO is amused by this.
OCTAVIO: Did you want to order something else?
BELLA: I was going to say that it sounds like too much food. You plan to stay here all night? And the table ought to be cleaned. I can’t believe he didn’t even wipe it off. This whole place looks really grimy to me and I can’t even put my purse down because the table is greasy and the chair next to me has some unidentifiable muck smeared on it.
OCTAVIO: What are you doing living in a foreign country if you don’t want to experience the local culture? This isn’t America pretty Bella; here the best restaurants are identified by how busy they’ve been during the day.
BELLA: So you’re saying they purposely haven’t cleaned in days to make it appear they are popular? Some of the crap on this table looks like it’s sprouting mould.
OCTAVIO: That’s green sauce. In any case, we are here to get to know each other. You can’t expect someone you’ve just met to take you to a ritzy place.
BELLA: I didn’t realize basic hygiene was considered ritzy in Argentina.
AT WORK:
GLORIA 1 and MARGA are standing by the coffee maker drinking from their mugs while BELLA sits at her desk. BELLA is just as slim as in Act 1, has a mug on her desk and eats bits of a pastry but continues to work throughout the conversation.
MARGA: Incredible! How can you eat that?
