from She'll be Named Minou
by Ada Berger
translated by Robert Lyons
When two women suddenly come face to face across their computer screens, it at first seems like a technical glitch: Vanna, heavily pregnant, is scouring the internet for pushchairs, while Minou is searching for food deliveries. But that misconception is quickly punctured when Minou suddenly recognises both Vanna and the room she is sitting in: ‘Momma?’ she asks. What follows is a poignant and occasionally haunting conversation on life and hope, between Vanna and her as-yet unborn child – forty years down the line.
Written in the midst of Covid restrictions and performed solely online, She’ll Be Named Minou was one of many digital initiatives that sought to bring drama into new fora, reconnecting with a public that was socially distancing. Delving into themes of motherhood and hope in a troubling age, She’ll Be Named Minou is a thought-provoking piece on life and death, and the world that future generations will come to inherit.
from She'll Be Named Minou
Duration: 30 minutes
Cast size: 2 people
Vanna sits at her computer. She’s looking for baby carriages on the net. Minou appears on the screen.
VANNA
Hello? Excuse me?
MINOU
(surprised) Wha…?
VANNA
I don’t know where I’ve landed now. Excuse me, I…
Must have clicked on something, so strange, I… I’m looking for baby carriages.
Do you sell baby carriages?
MINOU
No.
I was looking for food deliveries here…
VANNA
Okay. Then we’ve both landed wrong.
MINOU
Wait!
VANNA
What?
MINOU
Momma…
VANNA
Momma?
MINOU
Amazing.
VANNA
What is?
MINOU
Wait. Don’t leave.
VANNA
Something must’ve gone wrong here, I’ll just try to get out of…
MINOU
Is your name Vanna?
VANNA
Yes?
MINOU
You are… eh… young.
VANNA
Who are you?
MINOU
What have you done?
You’re all round and lovely and smooth.
VANNA
What?
MINOU
You are so young, momma.
VANNA
You must be mixing me up with someone else.
I’ve got to…
MINOU
Amazing.
I thought about you. And then suddenly you were there.
VANNA
Have we met?
MINOU
Yeah…(laughs)
How old are you?
VANNA
What? How old I am?
I’m thirty-seven.
MINOU
Then I’m older than you.
VANNA
Oh yes?
MINOU
I’m forty years old.
VANNA
Okay. Excuse me, but I’ve got to stop. I got here by mistake.
MINOU
No! Wait!
Are you on Rent Street now? You are aren’t you?
VANNA
Yes. How do you know that? What do you want?
MINOU
I’m here too.
I’m sitting in the kitchen in the Rent Street apartment!
VANNA
Stop it! What is this?
Are you sitting in the kitchen? Where? Here? What do you mean?
Vanna rushes out, looks in the kitchen, comes back.
VANNA
You’re not sitting in the kitchen.
Leave me alone. What is this?
Makes a movement as if to turn off the computer.
MINOU
NO! Don’t turn it off! I think we should talk with each other.
I think you are my mother. No. I know you are.
You are my mother.
VANNA
Uh huh. Well.
MINOU
If you’re thirty-seven…
Are you pregnant?
VANNA
How do you know that? Why do you know things about me?
MINOU
(Thinks quickly.) That’s me in your belly.
VANNA
Please, stop this now. I’m actually getting scared.
MINOU
Wait. Let me…
VANNA
This is very uncomfortable actually.
MINOU
I understand that.
But just listen a little.
You are my mother.
That’s why I know things about you.
VANNA
Stop it.
MINOU
Wait…I have an old photo…from when you were young.
Minou gets a photograph. It’s of Vanna and a baby in a hospital.
MINOU
Look. It’s you and me. The first picture of the two of us.
VANNA
Who are you?
MINOU
My name is Minou.
Vanna stiffens.
VANNA
Minou?
MINOU
Yes. Minou.
VANNA
Minou…
MINOU
Hi momma, it’s me, I’m Minou, your daughter.
Hon ska heta Minou
Premiere: Online, 2021, a collaboration between Unga Dramaten and Malmö City Theatre.
Rights: Colombine Teaterförlag
We are grateful to Colombine Teaterförlag, Ada Berger and Robert Lyons for permission to publish this translated excerpt.
Ada Berger is a Swedish director, playwright and theatre manager. She has worked as artistic director of both Unga Dramaten, part of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, and Unga Teatern, part of Malmö City Theatre. In 2023 she was awarded the Swedish Academy's Theatre Prize.