History of Western Theatre: 17th Century to Now/Latin American 21st

Latin American drama of the new millenium has been active. A work worthy fo note is".45'" (.45 caliber, 2003) by Sergio Blanco (1971-?) from Uruguay.

".45 caliber"
".45 caliber". Time: 2000s. Place: Uruguay.



Ulrich Richter, co-president of the oil company, Richter & Havers, is angry that his business partner, Garret, has convinced the board of directors on reducing the price of oil without consulting him. Because of the danger Garret represents within the company, Ulrich convinces Nold Havers, the other co-president, and Nold's son, Kurt, of the need to have him murdered. He hires Basilio, an employee at his private firing range and secretly his bastard son but adopted by Jeremias, mainly responsible for preparing the firearms. Basilio succeeds in killing Garret and burying him without a trace. To consolidate power within their ranks, Ulrich forces his daughter, Elena, to marry Kurt. Ulrich's son, Evard, arrives for the wedding ceremony of his sister. Since being told he accidently shot his mother at the age of ten, when actually his father killed her at the firing range, Evard has lived aloof from business matters, to his father's disappointment. To his further grief, Evard wants to divulge he is Basilio's half-son, because the latter, unconscious of the incestuous relation, has been for several years Elena's lover. Unable to convince his son to desist, Ulrich hires Celio, another employee at the firing range, to murder him. A third employee, Fabio, informs Celio that Jeremias, whom all three employees hate, has accidently fallen down a flight of stairs and is seriously injured. Celio believes Fabio pushed him down, which the latter denies in great fear. Jealous at Kurt's happiness, Basilio murders Elena during the wedding ceremony and escapes with her dead body. When Evard catches up to Basilio, he gives up and hangs himself. On seeing Celio arrive, Evard immediately understands he is to be his father's next victim and submits himself to being shot to death. Ulrich and Nold decide to cede control of the company to Kurt. At the end of a business deal with a cardinal concerning a Renaissance painting from the Vatican, Ulrich starts feeling sick and begs him to absolve his sins during confession, but becomes anguished when the pardon comes too easily. He dies terrified at imagined flames about his person. To Fabio's disappointment, Celio, as the new boss, becomes a second Jeremias to him, a tyrant bitterly complaining about the quality of his work.