Caught Off Guard ~ 3 Acts ~ Cast: 9 (7M, 2W)
9:00PM. May 4, 1998. According to the official report, five gunshots were fired in the newly appointed commander of the Vatican Swiss Guards apartment. Colonel Martin Lautens and his wife, Rosa Blanco Vargas, were murdered by Lance Corporal Lukas Seifert of the Swiss Guards who then killed himself.
Synopsis
Lukas was invited to dinner at the Lautens’ apartment after he was sworn into the Vatican Swiss Guards on May 6, 1995. In attendance at the dinner party: Monsignor Schneider, the Swiss Guard chaplain; Clemente Alvarro, the director of Vatican Communications; Geno Santagata a bestselling author of books banned by the Vatican who is also flamboyantly gay; Wolfie Gestenlarger, Martin’s old friend from their Stasi (East German spy agency) days; Sister Daniela, a Swiss national who is in charge of the barracks kitchen; and, Kurt, an assistant to Martin in managing the Vatican guards. Rosa, a very devout member of the Dei Gloria movement within the Catholic Church, left the party to fly to Barcelona where Dei Gloria was holding a “love shower” (intense prayer service for lax and fallen Catholics). Lukas was the only guest who did not leave. He ended up spending the night with Martin.
The relationship between Martin (who remains in his loveless marriage) and Lukas becomes more intense over the years. They talk about relocating out of the Vatican to London or Paris so that they can be together once Martin qualifies for his lifelong Swiss Guard pension within four or five years.
Martin is brought back to reality when photographs surface (intimate pictures of Lukas and himself), he realizes not only is his apartment bugged but his bedroom is monitored with surveillance cameras.
Not knowing who would do this to him or why they would do it, he feels that for Lukas’ safety, Lukas must leave the guards, leave the Vatican. Lukas refuses to go in spite of the obstacles that Martin puts in his path to advancement within the guards.
Finally, artin does the ultimate. Does not allow Lukas to receive the Benemerenti medal which has always been routinely awarded to any Swiss Guard who has served in the Vatican Guards for three years. (Lukas had served for three and a half years.)
Not seeing his name on the list, Lucas, decided that this was the final straw, the final cruel act from a man he loved.
Someone enters the Lautens’ apartment and murders both Martin and Rosa. Lukas’ dead body is dragged into their apartment and the murder weapon (Lukas’ own gun) is planted by his side to make it look like a double murder and a suicide.
The Vatican broadcasted a live report of the murders and the “suicide” within minutes of the crime: Lukas in a “fit of madness” had killed Martin and Rosa before turning his own gun on himself and committing suicide.
The people who knew all three victims were conflicted. Some accepted the Vatican report. Others believed an independent (non-Vatican) report making it impossible for Lukas to have been the murderer and then commit suicide. Someone concluded: Lukas was “suicided”.
As Sister Daniela concludes: “Yah, the Vatican she say Lukas murdered colonel and Rosa then himself kill. Vatican speaks, is Holy Father speaks. Holy Father speaks is speaks Jesus Christ. So, as fact I must accept. (a beat) In my heart, I do not a single word believe Vatican. (a beat) Something in Denmark rotten.”
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