#absurism

The tattoo is a quote from and symbolizes the writings and philosophy of Albert Camus.

To me the quote, taken from The Myth of Sisyphus, has multiple meanings: not to give up on life nor despair; not to turn away from the problems in the world; to retain a strong ethical outlook when it comes to others - both people and animals, and to continue to strive to live a passionate life as a form of rebellion against the apparent meaninglessness of life, as well as anyone and everything that threatens to hold us back.

He never says why he did what he did, but why he lacks feeling toward other people becomes clearer. He lives in isolation within the crowd. He does not understand them and the nature of the world around him is incomprehensible. I am sure that, at my age, he asked why people have to cry at funerals and why they have to feel remorse when the kill someone. He never found a satisfactory answer. Someone asked me if I wanted to go to the shops. I looked up, pulling but not breaking my connection to the imagined world and the imagined man.

“No,” I said. “I’m okay.”

I do not remember their reaction; it must not have been severe. The light falling on my legs warmed me and the sweater I wore kept away the basement chill. The more he told me about his time in Paris, the more I understood his mind. A normal person does not question behavours or beliefs considered normal--they do and they believe. A rare person asks those questions; his tragedy is he is the only questioner he knows and no one else can answer his questions. He did not feel in relation to things the way society dictates he should feel. He did not cry at the funeral of his mother. He killed a man on a beach without hesitation and he felt no remorse.

My concept Images and production photo

The Killing Game Nov. 2014

Exit the King, more like, Exit the Audience. Laurence Boswells’ adaptation of Ionesco’s play was dull and lifeless. The plot was difficult to follow, but then that is to be expected of Ionesco, an absurdist playwright. However the director seemed to make no effort to make the storyline easier to follow.

 The play revolves around King Berenger, whom is about to die at the age of around 400 years old. The play is set in real time and constant reminders are given of the hours or minutes Berenger has left. However, this constant time reminder was useful in knowing when we could exit. Berengers’ first wife Queen Marguerite tells us that the King used to be very powerful, had control over the entire kingdom and even invented such things as atom splitting. The man that sits on the stage is not one of power though, just like his kingdom he is beginning to crumble. His second wife Queen Marie looks after him, though, Queen Marguerite, the doctor and a couple of servants attend to him when they are needed. As the story progresses we see Berenger seep into denial and becomes infatuated with his past life. At this point everyone around him slowly leaves, apart from Marguerite who guides him into death. The plot is entirely uninteresting and just shows Berengers’ descent into death, which quite frankly, could have been done in about ten minutes.

The only saving factor was the acting of the maid, Juliette, who offered some light comic relief. Her dirty ragged clothing and common accent were a welcome juxtaposition to the rest of the upper class, well dressed, characters.

Beth Park who played Queen Marie did offer some comedic value however her voice began to grate after a few scenes. With her constant whining, maybe Ionesco should have changed the title to Exit the Queen.

The set, nevertheless, was interesting, depicting a decaying castle with cracked walls. Sounds of earthquakes could be heard, to which the castle wall would crack a little bit more, and smoke would poor out the side of the stage. In a desperate effort to fix this, the maid and the guard attempted to patch it up with duct tape, to no avail.

The ending was very dark, with very dim lighting, where we saw Marguerite leading Berenger to his death. The lighting helped create a mysterious atmosphere, but the scene dragged out far too long and made little sense.