Panicle by Gillian Sze

Author:Gillian Sze
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2017-08-28T00:23:46+00:00

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5 “To me, the shivering of a certain cold dawn light upon the floor suggests a kind of high animal whining or whimpering, a half-frightened and subservient urge to something outside your consciousness.”

STAGING PARIS; OR, TABLEAUX VIVANTS

I. One female figure and one male figure.

This tableau is taken from the first day in Paris. The scene focuses on a young woman putting away her camera and tucking her fingers into her sleeves. It is January. She is too hungry and underslept to be enchanted. She avoids the late afternoon shadows. The scenery consists of long shadows of trees, toppled vines, a passing tram full of people coming from work. She crosses Saint-Jacques and an old man opens the trunk of his car and looks at her. He is wearing the kind of hat that suggests he is not opposed to smoking a pipe in the evenings. He is about to tell her that she looks lost. She is about to invite him for this aimless stroll, to pause at the corners with her, to make her turn around before she takes them too far. Lights flicker to the right of the stage but never turn on. The background holds up the sun, now nodding off. The foreground should be shadowy but carry splinters of rays between its branches.

II. One female figure.

This tableau represents an early morning scene. A woman wakes. Her shirt has bunched up and a curtain glimmers with light. The window is to her right and the audience is to her left. The furniture in her room is typical of a hotel: a simple armchair, a landscape painting, a wooden table, and upside-down glasses placed on a doily. There is no music, only the sound of church bells, disjointed and growing louder. The woman pulls back the curtain and there is a bright flash, but then she can see the street below and, again, it takes her some time to place herself. The street is like a face she recognizes only after it recognizes her first. In the corner of the room leans an umbrella. She takes it as a sign of maturity: she is prepared for something. A green fire burned just as she releases the curtain will add to the beauty of the morning. Accompanying music is secular and of a lively genre.

III. One female figure and one map.

This tableau involves a woman who clutches a map with both hands. She hesitates at the green light. There should be other people pushing past her. She is like a splinter in Paris’s thumb. The other people are dressed in murky colours. Their scarves, however, are bright and wrapped ’round and ’round so the wool coils rest on their shoulders. The map can’t predict the bends or the unexpected climbs. She is standing at a corner that will fork up ahead and then change its name. All the cobblestones rise up to jab at the soles of her feet. She thinks of how she’s taken paved roads for granted.

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