FLORINDO: [aside] I am stunned.

SILVIO: [aside] I’m still stunned.

FLORINDO: Federigo Rasponi, I assure you, is dead!

SILVIO: Federigo Rasponi, I assure you, is alive!

FLORINDO: I’m pretty sure he’s dead!

SILVIO: I’m pretty sure he’s alive!

FLORINDO: Listen to me: you are being misled.

SILVIO: I am not. He is here, in the flesh, and has the documents to prove it.

FLORINDO: So he’s alive and here in Venice? [Aside] Cacca. [Shit.]

SILVIO: [aside] One of us must renounce our claim to Clarice or to our very own life.

FLORINDO: I don’t want your Clarice.

SILVIO: Sorry, I wasn’t talking to you, that was an aside.

FLORINDO: [to SILVIO] Quite alright. [Aside] He’s mad.

SILVIO: [aside] What a swine. [To FLORINDO] I am at your command.

FLORINDO: [to SILVIO] Your humble servant. [Aside] Bonehead.

SILVIO: [aside] Slimeball. [To FLORINDO] The humbling is all mine.

FLORINDO: All is well, my friend. [Aside] Birdbrain.

SILVIO: [aside and bowing] Humbled at your command. [To FLORINDO] What an ignoramus!

FLORINDO: I beg your pardon?

SILVIO: I said … what is your name-is?

FLORINDO: What is my name-is? Very well. My name is …

FLORINDO asks two audience members for their names and puts them together.

SILVIO: [inserting the improvised name] … pleased to make your acquaintance.

FLORINDO: And yours?

SILVIO: My name is …

FLORINDO: I don’t care. Arrivederci. [Goodbye.]

SILVIO exits.

[Aside] Federigo here? I escaped punitive measures only to find my nemesis here in Venice. How is it possible that my sword, whilst piercing his side and through his kidney, did not kill him? I was sure he was dead. He must be dead when this is what actually happened …

Lazzo of ‘The Sword Fight’: FLORINDO re-enacts the sword fight between he and Federigo by using the other players as ‘victims’. There is also opportunity for the actor to include audience members in this lazzo once all the players have been exhausted.

TRUFFALDINO enters with a ZANNI. The ZANNI is carrying Beatrice’s trunk.

TRUFFALDINO: Come on, hurry up … Oh hell! My other master is here! [To the ZANNI] Stand back, wait for me over there. Don’t move. Seriously. [To FLORINDO] Signor.

FLORINDO: Have you been to the post office and were there letters there for me?

TRUFFALDINO: Sì Signor.

FLORINDO: Where are they?

TRUFFALDINO: In my hand. Give me a second, I will find them. [Aside] Oh no, I’ve mixed them up.

FLORINDO: Come on, give me my letters.

TRUFFALDINO: They’re not all yours. I’ve got someone else’s here too.

FLORINDO: Give them to me. [Aside] What do I see? A letter addressed to Beatrice Rasponi? Beatrice in Venice?

TRUFFALDINO: Did you find the letter for my friend?

FLORINDO: Who is this friend of yours?

TRUFFALDINO: He’s a servant whose name is … Pasquale.

FLORINDO: Whom does he serve?

TRUFFALDINO: I don’t know, Signor.

FLORINDO: But if he told you to collect letters for his master he would have given you a name?

TRUFFALDINO: Naturally.

FLORINDO: What name did he give you?