Performance: A Play in Three Acts

(Places please)

Opening night - again
A well worn script; committed harshly to heart

Act One

(adjust Masks please)

The first act unfolds as usual
--a melodrama
The two actors enter- each playing the villain
Human props coldly polite
Lighting suggests secrets and past shadows
The players pay careful attention to the blocking-
It is critical to the meaning
There is no dialogue

The actor thinks:
'I have no lines'

But
Good actors are trained
to play the subtle subtext
and Act accordingly


Act Two Scene One
The Actor Dreams a Parody

(spotlight please)

You
center stage

(a special effect)

I see myself in you

I see you in myself

The gestures are similar
The cleverness so familiar
Even the smile an odd reflection

And I hate you for it


Act Two Scene Two
A Scene Set in the Past

(quick change- a trick of light-)

You are ‘The Queen of Everything’
The starring role in a long ago play
written especially for you by the Playwright and
Set in happier times-

And I love you for it

My mind trips
The stage is suddenly too high
and I am terrified of heights....

(note: Actors are not necessarily good at trapeze or balancing acts
Some are really only at their best while reciting over bones)


Act Two Scene Three

(An old stage trick)

I bite my cheek
hard enough to draw blood
Hard enough

Hard enough
to taste copper,
the color of your hair
and bitter heart

(note: It is difficult to swallow but prevents the actor from
tumbling into the orchestra and ruining the Farce)


Act Three
The final scene

Despite the tension created
The Players know the script is flawed
There can be no high point
No climax
No denouement
But since there are no plans for revision--
It is all that is left to be played

So they act

They act
While the stitches drop
from clumsy costumes and
The sets melt

They act
until all the pages run out
and they are left to improvise
an abrupt ending

BLACKOUT

(curtain please)

A review is expected later of course
But it was certainly another tour de force