I've forgotten the mimesis

I've forgotten the mimesis

fiction
edward w pritchard


I've forgotten the mimesis. The mise en scene and the milieu is so familiar and the faces aren't menacing but since I awoke, was it just this morning?, I've forgotten my motivation, I've forgotten how to behave. There is a silence. Sometimes I feel I have awaken with my eyes closed, among strangers, in a different place and time.

Perhaps I have done something. No one can hurt me, still, no one likes to be accused. that's not it though, it's the uncertainty but underneath it's like I've done this a thousand times, a performance but with no script. It's mechanical but if I look too closely, about, in the silence, the setting is just too, obviously, manufactured, the boys who put together the mise en scene for this performance, a bit too mechanical in their carpentry and work this season, too obviously short handed, in rushing through and about the set and stage for this light opera, far off Broadway, I find myself in.

Perhaps I've done something untoward. Just an oversight while I had my eyes closed just for a second, to relax, to recompose myself. If only they had given me a script, maybe since I've obviously done this maybe a thousand times before, they, the boys in the stage crew figured I didn't need a script, they are expensive to print up, or maybe I am not a full fledged member of the company, not an official or card carrying Actor of the first and full rank, not really in " The Company" they have purposely chosen not to give me a script for tonight's performance. That's obviously a bit criminal, beyond unprofessional, how's a bloke to know when to come up stage, what to say, how to behave, the intricacies of the character's motivation, proper timing and diction, how loud to shout out my lines. or even which way to turn, who to relate to. How can one deliver a memorable and professional performance under these circumstances? Maybe I will mention it to the Union. If I get through this.

The show must go on. Despite perpetual night, whatever the circumstances, we must perform our part. Have I forgotten the lines, or am I in the wrong theater?

Perhaps I will go upstage, far upstage and ad lib a bit for them the paying audience, I'll authentically whisper with, with eyes closed, to avoid the glaring stage lights, to them who I can't really see, " I've forgotten the mimesis".

Perhaps I've done something. I detest it when I can't see them vaguely in the lights and the audience squirms about in their heavy wooden seats waiting for us to deliver our lines and we aren't even sure which of the Plays we are currently performing. Let alone the fact, that, the Director/Producer hasn't had a Company meeting yet this Season.