El Henry by Herbert Siguenza
This is an excerpt from Latinx Shakespeares: Staging U.S. Intracultural Theater (2023) by Carla Della Gatta. To read it in its full context, click on the link. The book can be purchased on all major sites that sell books and it is FREE to download.
Chapter 6- FUTURES: SHAKESPEAREAN CRITICAL HISTORY
El Fausto (Falstaff) enters from the battle offstage, covered in red liquid and saying, “Chingao, bullets flying every which way, buey! A burrito, a burrito, my kingdom for a burrito! Shit! I don’t need any lead in my panza. My gut is heavy enough” (89). Lives are being lost and bullets are flying, and El Fausto does not want to get killed. But the kingdom is today’s city of San Diego and it is not El Fausto’s to claim, making his expression that he would give it up for a burrito all the more comical. El Henry (Prince Hal) and Johnny (Lancaster) enter, and Fausto says, “Look at all the blood on me.” When El Henry tastes the “blood,” he says, “That’s enchilada sauce!” El Henry and Johnny do not have time for El Fausto’s jokes; they return to the battle. El Fausto is scared he will be killed, fakes his own death to the sound of a Pavarotti aria, and falls to the ground “with a dramatic thud.” (p.152)