Home > I, Too, Speak of the Rose Summary & Study Guide

I, Too, Speak of the Rose | Introduction

Carballido's I, Too, Speak of the Rose is considered by many to be his greatest play and has become a masterpiece of the Mexican theatre. This play was first published in 1965 in Revista de Belles Artes. In 1966, it was first seen on stage at the Teatro Jimenez Rueda in Mexico City.

This one-act play was translated into English and published first in Drama and Theatre in 1969. The translation was by William D. Oliver. The play was produced in English in 1972 at San Fernando State College in Northridge, California, in a translation by Myrna Winer. This version of the play had the title / Also Speak About the Rose. This work received a couple of awards—the best play award in Mexico in 1967 and the Heraldo Prize.

I, Too, Speak of the Rose was also translated into French and produced in 1974. It received good reviews. It was also produced on French television.

Carballido's work has been influenced especially by playwrights such as Jean Anouilh, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller. Like much of Carballido's work, I, Too, Speak of the Rose employs realistic elements but has clearly an expressionistic bent to it. The play uses at times very poetic language and employs the metaphor of the rose throughout. On another level, it, like much of Latin American theater, has a social agenda and explores the state of poverty and criticizes the varied responses society offers to the problem. On a deeper level, the play explores questions about the nature of reality.

I, Too, Speak of the Rose Summary

The play is set in Mexico City in the 1960s, with the focus on two poor young people who accidentally derail a train, and then have to face the consequences of punishment and everyone's varying perceptions of their deed. The play is broken up into twenty-one short scenes, opening with a spotlight on the Medium. She has a long poetic monologue in which she sees her heart as a sea anemone and claims she stores part of everything she's seen in herself. She says she receives information about events that will happen.

The next scene starts in the dark with the sound of a train crash, and a Newsboy hawks his papers with news about a tram derailment. The play then shifts to a city scene with two young people, Tona and Polo, struggling to fish coins out of a telephone booth so they can buy candy. They tell a man who wants to use the booth that the phone is broken and eventually succeed at getting a coin but then gamble it away with Tona's bus fare on a bet with the candy vendor. Polo finds another coin and they buy candy. Tona asks Polo why he isn't going to school. He says it's because he doesn't have shoes and will not have money to get any for another week or so. They are joined by an older friend, Maximino, who clearly is watching out for them. He complains that his motorcycle isn't working but he is going to fix it at the garage where he works. Tona inspects his wallet and begs a picture from him which he signs. She says she will put it on her mirror. She makes run of the photo of his girlfriend, saying she's cross-eyed.

The next scene finds Tona and Polo in a dump along with a scavenger who begs money so he can buy a drink. Tona gives him all their money. They find things like an old engine, thorny flowers, and a tub that would be good for planting flowers. They discover the tub is filled with concrete and put it on the tracks in the path of an approaching train to try and break out the concrete. The Newsboy appears again, announcing that the train disaster was caused by delinquent children.

The Medium makes her second appearance, where she talks about dogs, cats, hens, and eggs. She also marvels at the wisdom of butterflies," bees, and snakes.

While... » Complete I, Too, Speak of the Rose Summary