Beef, No Chicken
| Beef, No Chicken | |
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| File:Beefnochicken.jpg | |
| Written by | Derek Walcott |
| Original language | Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{lang-en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead. |
| Subject | Modernization in a small Caribbean town. |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | 1969. Couva, Trinidad. |
Beef, No Chicken is a two-act play by Caribbean playwright Derek Walcott. The play is set in the Trinidadian town of Couva. It follows restaurant owner Otto Hogan, whose refusal to accept graft delays the building of a highway through the center of the town.
Characters
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Plot
Act I
'Beef, No Chicken' opens as Otto rushes into his roti restaurant, removing a dress as the sound of gunfire can be heard in the distance. It is soon revealed that he wears the dress in an attempt to create a folk legend about a spirit called "The Mysterious Stranger" haunting the construction of a highway though Couva. The chef employed by his restaurant, Sumintra, quits because Otto cannot pay her after his refusal to serve the construction crews working on the highway. Cedric Hart, an anchor on the local news, crashes his van into a ditch outside Otto's restaurant while doing a story on "The Mysterious Stranger." Otto's starstruck niece Drusilla leaves with Cedric. Euphony convinces the schoolmaster Eldridge Franco to play the rôle of the "Mysterious Stranger" as the guard dogs have caught on to Otto's scent. He escapes, but loses Euphony's hat at the construction site. The two bandits attempt to rob Euphony, but she dissuades them by telling them of fifteen thousand dollars in an unguarded payroll truck meant for workers on the highway. The mayor and the other members of the Borough Council unsuccessfully attempt to bribe Otto and the act ends with the unexpected return of a long lost fiance of Euphony named Cardiff Joe from Wales.
Act II
In the second act, Cardiff Joe and Euphony plan a date for their wedding. Cedric returns to film a commercial for Otto's restaurant. Cardiff Joe makes an anonymous bomb threat against the highway on the same day as his wedding to Euphony. The mayor uses the hat implicating Euphony as "The Mysterious Stranger" to force Otto into allowing the highway. The play ends with Franco and Sumintra joining Cedric and Drusilla on a live broadcast of the six o clock news.