IL TABARRO SYNOPSIS
by judith barnes

Sunset. Red Hook waterfront.
Brooklyn, early 1940’s, on board a working barge.

Michele, the captain of the ship, and his wife Giorgetta are at an impasse. Giorgetta tries to get Michele to speak, but he is silent. She turns her attention to the idea of offering the workers a drink after their long day. He asks her if she ever thinks of him, and then tries to kiss her, but she evades him.

The workers complain of the heat and their aching backs. Giorgetta offers wine to Luigi, Talpa, Tinca and all the rest, and when Luigi invites a street musician on board, she starts to dance with the men. The party breaks up abruptly when Michele reappears.

Giorgetta asks Michele which of the workmen he will be keeping on when they ship out next week, wondering if Talpa, Tinca and Luigi will be along. They briefly discuss Luigi’s character, Giorgetta feigning indifference. She watches the sunset and then notices Talpa’s wife Frugola on the dock. She jokes that Frugola is jealous of her old husband. Michele does not respond. She grows annoyed and tells him that although it is true that he doesn’t beat her, she would rather be covered with bruises than to have to endure his silences. A song seller comes by the dock singing his latest song.

Frugola shows Giorgetta the interesting things she has collected in her day’s wanderings, including a package of beef heart she has bought for her spoiled cat Caporale. Frugola states her cat’s philosophy: better king in a hovel than servant in a palace; better to dine on a few slices of beef heart than to eat one’s own heart out for love. Michele comes back on deck to pay the men, asking Luigi if he will stay on tomorrow to load iron. Luigi agrees.

The men have finished work. Frugola scolds Tinca for drinking too much. Tinca says wine is good: it keeps him from thinking. Luigi bitterly agrees. Better not to think, he says, bend your back, work like an animal, and don’t dare lift your head for fear of the whip. Frugola and Talpa tell of their dream of a little house in the country. Giorgetta tells of her dream: to get away from life on the water and return to her birthplace in the city. Luigi joins her in yearning reminiscence of the place where they were both born. Frugola and Talpa leave, inviting Luigi to come eat with them, but Luigi says he needs to speak to the boss.

Alone together, Giorgetta and Luigi agonize over their secret love. She warns him to keep his distance, although she burns with the memory of his kisses only last night. Michele suddenly appears and asks Luigi why he has not gone home. Luigi tells Michele that he has waited to ask if he will let him go when the ship sails next week. Michele persuades Luigi to stay on. Michele then leaves to prepare the lanterns for the night. Alone, Giorgetta and Luigi arrange to meet after Michele falls asleep. She will signal him by lighting a match when all is clear. Luigi leaves after threatening her with his knife, saying he cannot stand the idea of another man touching her.

Michele comes on deck and asks Giorgetta why she has not gone to bed. She does not answer, then says he did right to keep Luigi on. Michele says there’s not really enough work. You could let that drunkard Tinca go, says Giorgetta. Michele counters that Tinca drinks so he won’t kill his whore of a wife. Giorgetta says she’s not interested in gossip. Michele suddenly asks Giorgetta why she doesn’t love him anymore, and why she never sleeps at night. She says the ship’s cabin suffocates her. He remembers how different things were, only a year ago, when their little boy was alive and she fell asleep in Michele’s arms as she rocked the baby to sleep. She begs him not to bring up the past, but he persists in recalling the days of their love, how he used to wrap her lovingly in his cloak. We’re older now, Giorgetta says, we’ve changed; you don’t trust me anymore. She goes into the cabin.

Alone on deck, Michele gives way to his awful suspicion that Giorgetta is unfaithful. He imagines killing her lover. He lights his pipe. Luigi, mistaking the match flame for Giorgetta’s signal, comes on board. Michele overpowers Luigi, forcing him to confess the truth in his death agony. He hides the body in his cloak when he hears Giorgetta calling. Giorgetta comes on deck, saying she is frightened. It is dark. She begs Michele’s forgiveness for hurting his feelings, and asks him to take her back under his cloak. She remembers what he used to tell her: we all have a cloak, which hides our joy and pain. And sometimes it hides a crime; says Michele; come under my cloak. He opens the cloak to reveal the body of her lover.