An Afternoon of Words & Theatre 8: Fabien Wagner

Show Time by Fabien Wagner

Staging had been prepared by Pascal Benchimol, Eric Leibenguth and Guillaume Ruop--however, due to injury, the play was not performed, thus these photos are not from class.

The scene shows two characters: Bob and Jack. An Old man is among the audience.

Bob : Why did you betray me ? How did you dare? It was such a cruel offence! You, my best friend!

Jack: Life is not so simple, Bob. You’ve always been so naïve. Even when you were a boy, you were so easily fooled…

Bob (in a seemingly tragic but moderate manner): Ah, Jupiter‘s thunder falls upon me! You have destroyed my life. (silence) Nothing has importance anymore now…

Jack: It’s not my fault if she preferred me!

Bob (yelling): No…!

Bob throws himself on Jack. They roll on the floor. Bob is above Jack and tries to strangle him. He hits Jack’s head against the floor three times. The sounds are loud. The third time, Jack stops moving. Bob looked up, bewildered, his hands gesture towards the sky.

Bob: Ah! My soul is now stained with the blood of my best friend, the sorrow of my love and the malediction of the fates. Let the Gods have pity on me!

[The old man comes out from the audience onto the stage. He has graying, tousled hair. He jumps onto the stage.]

Old Man: [shouts]No, no, no. It’s absolutely wrong. Hopefully, nobody but me saw you. Can you imagine if that were not the case? You would have been in such trouble! I cannot believe you even did that!

Bob: I am sooo sorry! I don’t understand what happened. I was taken by my feelings, and it just came out like that!

Old man: It is lucky that this theatre was empty. But now, we have to decide what to do inthe future. You need to correct this.

Bob: To correct it? But what else can I do? Jack is dead and that’s all. There’s nothing else to say or do.

Old man: On the contrary, you can improve the situation greatly. Everything is about the impression you will make on other people. You have to convince them of what you want, to make them believe that it is the truth. For that, you have to be a real actor. There’s no use pretending anything if you don’t believe in it. You need to be possessed by what you say.

Bob: But imagine people coming here who see that. How can I change what they will think and feel at the simple sight of me, murdering my best friend?

Old man: It is all about your behavior. After a murder, the testimonies can be very different depending on the reaction of the witness who has seen the crime. See how I might change all this into something completely different? Imagine I am you, and let’s begin the scene of the crime again.

[The old man comes on the front of the stage, taking the same position as Bob a little earlier.]

Old man (staring at Bob in a knowing way): Someone who wants to incriminate you will have seen the crime like this. (With hatred, his hands up, his eyes glowing in madness): Ah, Jupiter‘s thunder falls upon me! You have destroyed my life. (Silence. Then, in a trembling and frightening voice) Nothing matters anymore now…

(staring at Bob in a knowing way): Someone who wants to exonerate you will have seen the crime like this. (Depressed, in a feeble voice.): Ah, Jupiter‘s thunder falls upon me! You have destroyed my life. (Silence. Then, sitting down and slowly shaking his head) Nothing matters anymore now…

(staring at Bob in a knowing way): Someone who wants to make a mockery of the whole situation will have seen the crime like this. (Acting drunk. He keeps laughing for apparently no reason. He is supporting himself with the help of Bob): Ah, Jupiter‘s thunder falls upon me! You have destroyed my life. (with hiccups and laughs) Nothing matters anymore now…

(staring at Bob in a knowing way): Someone who wants to…

Bob (interrupting the old man): Yes, that’s right. I understand. But you aren’t helping me very much. What should I do exactly? Which is the best way to present things...

Old man: What you did was awful. You absolutely need to change that.

Bob: Of course, but how? Can you tell me exactly what to do? I’m completely lost.

Old man: You need to find that by yourself. It’s a kind of inner monologue. (With emphasis, in a kind of theatrical madness): The inner monologue!
How many times will I have to tell you this?
(With emphasis, even louder than before): The inner monologue!

[On the stage, Jack is moves slightly, as if he is waking up. He grabs one of Bob’s legs.]

Bob (shouting): Ah!

Old man (shouting): Ah!

Jack (shouting and standing up): Ah!

Bob: You’re supposed to be dead, you know!

Jack: Sorry, I fear I have been asleep for a little while…

Old man: All right, pals. There we go! We have our work cut out for us. (He walks quickly into the wings). You gonna play this one-act once more? If the audience had seen your last rehearsal, it would have been a failure. Let’s try again!

Bob and Jack head out into the wings as well. The curtain drops.