The Exterminating Angel

Act I

The evening spent together at the opera by a group of wealthy high society friends is to end with a late dinner at the home of Lucía and Edmundo Nobile.

Strange things occur: the butler Julio cannot prevent the servant Lucas from leaving, and the maids Meni and Camila also want to leave the house. The Nobiles arrive with their guests, who include the evening’s prima donna, Leticia, and the conductor Alberto with his wife Blanca, a famous pianist.

When the host, Edmundo, raises his glass to Leticia, the aristocrats Silvia and her brother Francisco make fun of the “Virgin Bride of Lammermoor”. Lucía announces a Maltese ragoût as a first course, but the servant ser- ving it drops it. Not everyone laughs, especially not Señor Russell. Despite Lucía’s protests, the remaining servants flee the house. Only Julio remains.

People chat and joke. Blanca sits at the piano. Leonora flirts with her doctor, Dr Conde, who tells Raúl that Leonora is seriously ill and does not have long to live. Everyone applauds the pianist Blanca, and Leticia is asked to sing something more.

A number of the guests prepare to leave, while the conductor Alberto falls asleep. Lucía meets up with her secret lover, Colonel Álvaro. Despite the late hour, none of the guests attempt to leave. Edmundo is concerned, but offers beds to all those who wish to stay. Señor Russell and the colonel are appalled to see some of the guests take off their jackets, but they too eventually lie down go to bed. The newly engaged Eduardo and Beatriz want to spend their first night together.

Act II

The next morning, the hosts and their guests wake up. Silvia recounts her horrible nightmare. The doctor is forced to admit that Russell, who has been ill, is dying. Julio, who is in charge of preparing breakfast, reports that the suppliers have not turned up. When Lucía wants to take some of the ladies to her room for a morning wash, they are unable to cross the threshold. Blanca is worried about her children, but like her husband, she cannot bring herself to leave. Another attempt to get the guests to leave fails when Julio arrives with coffee. Only the explorer Raúl tries to remain rational and deal pragmatically with this unusual situation. Francisco complains that he can’t stir his coffee with a teaspoon. When Julio wants to fetch some teaspoons, he cannot leave the salon either.

Evening falls. Russell has slipped into a coma and is in urgent need of medical help. Fear is spreading among the guests: there is nothing left to drink and the out- side world seems to have forgotten them. Why did the servants simply leave the villa the previous evening? The doctor calls for calm, but he too seems to be losing his composure. Raúl is furious and blames Edmundo, his host, for the desperate situation. Francisco suffers a panic attack and is not easily calmed down. When Russell suddenly awakens from his coma, he is relie- ved not to be “exterminated”. Beatriz does not want to die in the midst of all these people, but alone with her beloved.

Russell dies during the night. While the doctor and Colonel Álvaro try to hide the body, they are watched by Eduardo and Beatriz.

Act III

A number of voices are heard.

Lucia and Blanca are digging holes in the floor to draw water from the pipes. The guests push and shove each other to at last quench their thirst. The trapped guests are also driven to despair by hunger. Blanca combs only half her hair, which drives Francisco crazy. When he cannot find the medicine for his stomach ulcer, he immediately suspects foul play. Raúl insults Francisco because of his relationship with his sister. Host Edmundo tries to calm things down, but is him- self attacked in return. Now only a miracle can save the day. Leonora, suffering from severe pain, begs the doctor for help; if she is cured, she wants to make the pilgrimage to Lourdes.

In her fever, a hallucinating Leonora sees a hand threate- ning her. Trying to push it back, she strikes Blanca’s hand. Eduardo and Beatriz want to die together. The conductor Alberto physically harasses Leticia, but manages to deflect suspicion onto the colonel. This leads to a brawl in which Edmundo is injured.

Suddenly, Silvia’s son Yoli appears with his tutor, Father Sansón and the missing employees.

The host tries to grill some meat over a makeshift fire. Leonora remembers a vision she had on the night of the opera performance and tries to perform a magical ritual with Blanca and Leticia. When the ritual fails, she declares that innocent blood is needed. The bodies of Eduardo and Beatriz are discovered. Silvia imagines she is lulling her little boy Yoli to sleep.

Little by little, the idea takes root in the guests’ minds that a sacrifice is needed for their liberation: their host Edmundo is designated as the scapegoat and must die. The doctor and the colonel try in vain to change the others’ minds. Edmundo is willing to agree to the sacrifice, but Leticia interrupts him. She believes that at this very moment, everyone is in exactly the same place as when this strange imprisonment began. At her instigation, the others hesitantly repeat their actions and dialogues from the first evening. When Leticia is invited to sing for the second time, she does so. Together, the prisoners approach the doorway and manage to cross it. But their freedom will be short-lived.