"To describe
a mise en scène by verbal or graphic means is like trying to make
a drawing of a certain kind of pain" —Antonin Artaud
Herzstück by
Heiner Müller
One May
I put my heart at your feet
Two So long as you don't
soil
my floor
One My
heart is pure
Two We'll see to that
One I
can't get it out
Two You'd like me to help you
One If
you don't mind
Two It's my pleasure
I
too can't get it out
One
[Cries]
Two I take it out by surgery
What
do I have a penknife for
We'll
get this in a minute
To
work and not despair
Well,
it's done
But
this is a brick
Your
heart is a brick
One But
it beats only for you
32 actors.
Sitting in a gallery. In pairs, sitting in chairs, one facing the other.
Thus, 16 pairs, arranged in a 4 X 4 grid. The Blind Director sits in a
wheelchair, naked from the waist down. The audience is on the periphery,
drinking white wine and mineral water, nibbling hors d'oeuvres.
The performers
are all trained actors based in the greater Los Angeles area. This is
necessary not because the execution of the text requires particular acting
skills, but because of the emotional distance any trained actor brings
to the performance of a text. Some of the actors are currently romantically
involved, some formerly, others (knowing actors) will subsequently become
involved. The audience is aware of this because they are reading this
description in the program they are given.
At seven pm
the actors begin speaking the text. A quiet synchronized murmuring.
The mute & blinded Director has a bell, a whistle (attached to the
gag), and a buzzer.
* When
the bell rings, the actors flip roles i.e. the one offering the
heart now becomes the one receiving the heart.
* When
the whistle is blown once the actors playing #1 all move one chair
to their right or, if the sound issues twice, two chairs to their right.
Or three chairs, or four, depending on the number of times the whistle
is blown. If it blown twice in quick succession, the movement is
in the other direction.
* When
the buzzer buzzes, each pair of actors, upon finishing the piece
of dialogue, falls silent until the sound issues again and they resume.
The frequency
and time of the bell and whistle will be established in advance. This
is to ensure that each actor will act with every other actor, but they
will be unable to predict at exactly what point that will happen, i.e.
at what point each actor will encounter the once, present, or future Loved
One.
The effect
is the creation of emotional paralysis in a vortex of fear. Abraham offers
his only son to God but is released from his act of faith. Actor #1 offers
her own heart but Actor #2 sees only the brick, not the sacrifice. The
modulated repetition (for no actor, in the effort to express his/her "unique
individuality," can help him or herself in trying to vary the style
of delivery) operates in complete denial of the violence of the text.
The director
sits in the center of this event- refusing to relinquish parental authority,
but mortified by his paternity of this monstrosity.
The performance
concludes at nine pm.
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