Slow Food

INTRODUCTION

Maggie works in a fast-food restaurant. People come here to buy food when they haven't got much time. The restaurant sells 'fast food' – things like pizza, burgers, chicken and sandwiches. Five angry people are waiting for their food.

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY

Maggie, a young woman who works in a fast-food restaurant

PERFORMANCE NOTES

In the window there is a sign saying, 'Fast Food'. There are some tables and chairs, and a large high counter. Maggie is standing behind this counter. The people in the restaurant are standing in front of it. They are wearing outdoor clothes. Maggie is wearing work clothes. She also needs a bag.

MAN 1

Excuse me, is my food ready?

MAGGIE

What did you ask for?

MAN 1

I asked for chicken.

MAGGIE

Er, let's see. Another five minutes.

MAN 1

Five minutes?

MAGGIE

Sorry, ten minutes.

MAN 1

Ten? That's no good! I must go back to my office in ten minutes.

MAN 2

And what about my food? I asked for a burger and French fries fifteen minutes ago!

I asked for a burger and French fries fifteen minutes ago!'

MAGGIE

I'm sorry, but there are a lot of people eating here today.

MAN 2

But how long is it going to take? My train leaves in forty minutes.

MAGGIE

Not long. I'm very sorry.

WOMAN 1

Excuse me, I was before these men. Where is my coffee?

WOMAN 2

And what about me? I asked for a sandwich and a coke half an hour ago.

WOMAN 3

Well, I'm before all of you. I asked for a pizza forty-five minutes ago.

MAN 1

Look here, in your window it says, 'Fast food'.

MAGGIE

Yes, it does.

MAN 1

Then why is it so slow?

MAGGIE

It isn't slow. But people today want everything faster and faster—

MAN 1

What are you talking about?

WOMAN 1

Look, I can't wait. I have to get back to work.

WOMAN 2

And I have a meeting. I'm late.

MAN 2

Time is money, you know!

WOMAN 3

Where's my pizza?

WOMAN 1

Where's my coffee?

MAN 1

What about my chicken?

PEOPLE

We want our food!

We want our food!'

MAGGIE

Please, everybody! Please! Your food is coming. He's doing it now.

PEOPLE

He?

MAGGIE

Sorry, they. The chefs are doing it now.

MAN 2

How many chefs have you got?

MAGGIE

Oh, lots.

WOMAN 2

How many?

MAGGIE

Some.

WOMAN 1

How many exactly? Tell us!

MAGGIE

Er, twelve.

WOMAN 3

Your restaurant has twelve chefs?

Your restaurant has twelve chefs?'

MAGGIE

Well, no, not now. We had one in January, one in February, one in March – one every month for the last year. That makes twelve.

WOMAN 3

Well, where are they now?

MAGGIE

They all stopped working here.

WOMAN 1

Why did they leave?

MAGGIE

Because it was too fast for them.

MAN 2

And how many chefs have you got now?

MAGGIE

Well, er... one.

PEOPLE

One!

MAGGIE

No, sorry. That's wrong—

MAN 1

I'm happy to hear it!

MAGGIE

We haven't got any.

PEOPLE

What?

MAGGIE

That's right. There's only me here. Our last chef left yesterday. He was fed up with fast food.

MAN 2

Fed up?

MAGGIE

Yes. He said to me, 'That's it! Enough! No more fast food for me! I'm going!' And he went.

WOMAN 2

But what about our—

MAGGIE

And do you know? I'm fed up too. Yes, I'm really, really fed up. Fast chicken, fast burgers, fast French fries, fast coke, fast coffee, fast talking, fast walking, fast eating, fast sleeping, fast living, fast dying! I'm fed up with it all!

WOMAN 1

But who is going to—

MAGGIE

What's the matter with everybody these days? Why is everything so fast? Come here. (Maggie walks to the window.) Come on! (The people all go to the window.) Look outside. Go on, look! It's a beautiful day. Life is beautiful. We can all be happy. But first we must slow down. We must take the time to live.

We must take the time to live.'

MAN 1

Live? But we have to work!

WOMAN 3

We have lots to do.

WOMAN 1

And we want food.

MAN 2

We want fast food—

WOMAN 1

Not slow food!

WOMAN 2

We haven't got time to—

MAGGIE

Time! Time! Time! Don't talk to me about time. You don't understand it. You – oh, it's no good, you're not listening to me.

She takes off her work clothes and picks up a bag.

WOMAN 3

Hey, where are you going?

MAGGIE

I'm going out. I'm going to sit in the sun. I'm going to look at the sky and listen to the sea. I'm going to do nothing... slowly!

WOMAN 1

But what about our food?

MAN 2

What about my burger?

MAGGIE

You can do it!

MAN 2

What did you say?

MAGGIE

I said, you can do it. Behind me is the kitchen. In the kitchen there's a big bag of chicken and another bag of burgers. You can do your own food, and you can do it as fast as you like. Goodbye!

PEOPLE

But we don't—

MAGGIE

And have a nice day!

She goes out.

French fry a long thin piece of potato that has been cooked in hot oil 薯条

sandwich n. two pieces of bread with cheese, meat, vegetables, cooked egg, etc between them 三明治

restaurant n. a place where you can buy and eat a meal 饭店，餐馆

beautiful adj. very good or giving you great pleasure 美好的，美妙的

慢餐

内容简介

玛吉在一家快餐店工作。人们时间紧张的时候就来这里购买食物。这家店出售“快餐”——像比萨、汉堡、鸡肉、三明治之类的东西。五个怒气冲冲的人正在等他们的食物。

剧中人物

玛吉，快餐店的一位年轻女店员

场景说明

橱窗里面有一块牌子写着“快餐”。店里有一些桌子和椅子，还有一个很大、很高的柜台，玛吉就站在这个柜台后面。到快餐店就餐的人站在柜台前面。他们穿着户外服装。玛吉穿着工作服，她还需要一个背包。

男人甲：

对不起，我的食物做好了吗？

玛吉：

您要的是什么？

男人甲：

我要的是鸡肉。

玛吉：

呃，让我看看。还要五分钟。

男人甲：

五分钟？

玛吉：

抱歉，是十分钟。

男人甲：

十分钟？那可不行！我得在十分钟之内赶回办公室。

男人乙：

那我的食物怎么样了？十五分钟之前我就要了一个汉堡加薯条！

玛吉：

抱歉，不过今天有很多人到这里用餐。

男人乙：

那到底要等多久？我的火车还有四十分钟就要开了。

玛吉：

不会太久的，我很抱歉。

女人甲：

不好意思，我排在他们两位之前。我的咖啡呢？

女人乙：

还有我的呢？半个小时之前我就要了一个三明治和一份可乐。

女人丙：

行了，我排在你们所有人前面，四十五分钟之前我就要了一份比萨。

男人甲：

看看这里，你们的橱窗里写着“快餐”。

玛吉：

是的，确实是这样。

男人甲：

那为什么做得这么慢呢？

玛吉：

不慢呀。只不过如今人们希望一切都越来越快——

男人甲：

你在说些什么啊？

女人甲：

听着，我等不了了。我得回去工作。

女人乙：

我要开一个会，我迟到了。

男人乙：

你要知道，时间就是金钱！

女人丙：

我的比萨在哪里？

女人甲：

我的咖啡在哪里？

男人甲：

我的鸡肉怎么样了？

众人：

我们要我们的食物！

玛吉：

拜托了，各位！拜托了！你们的食物就来了。他这会儿正做着呢。

众人：

他？

玛吉：

抱歉，是他们。厨师们这会儿正在做着呢。

男人乙：

你们有多少位厨师？

玛吉：

哦，有很多。

女人乙：

有多少？

玛吉：

有一些。

女人甲：

到底有多少？告诉我们！

玛吉：

呃，十二位。

女人丙：

你们店里有十二位厨师？

玛吉：

啊，不是，现在不是。我们一月份有一位，二月份有一位，三月份有一位——去年每个月有一位。算下来总共是十二位。

女人丙：

那他们现在在哪里呢？

玛吉：

他们全都不在这里工作了。

女人甲：

他们为什么走了？

玛吉：

因为这里对他们来说太快了。

男人乙：

那你们现在有多少位厨师？

玛吉：

这个嘛，呃……一位。

众人：

一位！

玛吉：

不是的，抱歉，我说错了——

男人甲：

我很高兴听你这么说！

玛吉：

我们一位厨师也没有。

众人：

什么？

玛吉：

是的，这里只有我一个人。我们最后一位厨师昨天离开了。他厌倦了快餐。

男人乙：

厌倦了？

玛吉：

是的。他对我说，“够了！我受够了！我再也不想做什么快餐！我要走人了！”说完他就离开了。

女人乙：

那我们的——

玛吉：

而且你们知道吗？我也厌倦了。是的，我是真的真的厌倦了。快速鸡肉、快速汉堡、快速薯条、快速可乐、快速咖啡、快速说话、快速走路、快速吃饭、快速睡觉、快速生活、快速死亡！我厌倦了所有这一切！

女人甲：

那谁来——

玛吉：

现在的人都是怎么回事？为什么一切都要这么快呢？你们过来。（玛吉走向橱窗。）来呀！（众人都走向橱窗。）看看外面。来看看！这是美好的一天。生活很美好。我们都可以过得很开心。可我们先得慢下来。我们必须慢慢地享受生活。

男人甲：

享受生活？可我们得工作！

女人丙：

我们有好多事情要做。

女人甲：

而且我们要吃东西。

男人乙：

我们要吃快餐——

女人甲：

不要慢餐！

女人乙：

我们没有时间——

玛吉：

时间！时间！时间！别跟我提时间。你们都不明白。你们——哦，这没用，你们不会听我的。

她脱下工作服，拎起背包。

女人丙：

嘿，你要去哪里？

玛吉：

我要到外面去。我要坐在阳光下。我要去看看天空，听听大海的声音。我要什么事情都不做——慢慢地享受！

女人甲：

可我们的食物怎么办？

男人乙：

我的汉堡怎么办？

玛吉：

你们可以自己做嘛！

男人乙：

你说什么？

玛吉：

我说，你们可以自己做。我身后就是厨房。厨房里有一大袋鸡肉，还有一袋汉堡。你们可以自己制作食物，想做多快就做多快。再见！

众人：

可我们没有——

玛吉：

祝你们度过愉快的一天！

她下场。