The Balcony

Scene 1 takes place in a room with an unmade bed and a mirror. A character known as the Bishop is dressed in comically large religious vestments. He is watched by a young woman who appears to be a prostitute, and by an older woman named Irma. The building is a brothel. As they talk, there are periodic gunshots and screams from the street outside. The three characters speak of a “revolution,” but there is no indication of the time, place, or cause of the uprising. Their transaction has included a role-play in which the Bishop forgave the girl for her sins as she served him. After the Bishop makes a speech about sin to himself in the mirror, he and Irma haggle over the money to be paid to the young girl.  

In the same room, a woman known as the Thief is bound and nude from the waist down. She is being questioned by two men: the Judge and the Executioner. The Thief has been accused of stealing bread. The Judge interrogates her about the details of the crime, and why she found it necessary to steal. When the Thief confesses, the Judge breaks the role-play momentarily, coaching her on how she should deliver her lines.