08 / works

Re­flec­tion

Part one:
Cast: He/Ac­tor
She/Ac­tress – num­ber one
She/Ac­tress – num­ber two (the same role, which is played at the end by an­oth­er ac­tress)

Re­flec­tion views:

Ac­tress: “He opened the door.”
Ac­tor: “It was com­plete­ly dark.”
Ac­tress: “Light pen­e­trat­ed through the open door in­to the cor­ri­dor.”
Ac­tor: “For a mo­ment noth­ing could be seen.”
Ac­tress: “The first thing he caught sight of in the space was him­self.”
Ac­tor: “The light drew on the ground the long shad­ow of the fig­ure.”
Ac­tress: “He came along the cor­ri­dor and stopped with­out a sound. His head was turned to­wards the door in­to an­oth­er room. He was dressed like any­one else.”

View on He and She/ Ac­tress num­ber one:

Ac­tor: “Have you been there…?”
Ac­tress: “He said af­ter a while”
Ac­tress: “Yes, I was. And you?”
Ac­tor: “She an­swered.”
Ac­tor: “No, what’s it like there?”
Ac­tress: “He asked, turn­ing his head in the di­rec­tion in which he was speak­ing.”
Ac­tress: “A fair­ly big room. It’s dark there.”
Ac­tor: “She an­swered.”
Ac­tress: “His head turned again to­wards the room be­ing de­scribed.”
Ac­tor: How long have you been here?”
Ac­tress: “He asked.”
Ac­tress: “For a while. I was there be­fore.”
Ac­tor: “She said.”
Ac­tress: “He was about to say some­thing.”
Ac­tress: “I don’t know. As I said, it was dark there.”
Ac­tor: “She in­ter­rupt­ed.”
Ac­tor: “Then why did you go there?”
Ac­tress: “I want­ed to take a look.”
Ac­tor: “You said it was dark there.”
Ac­tress: “I wouldn’t have seen that be­fore­hand.”
Ac­tor: “You mean ‘couldn’t have’.”
Ac­tor: “She looked at him in sur­prise.”
Ac­tress: “I mean both.”

Table 1 close-​up

Ac­tor: “Her head turned again to­wards the next room.”
Ac­tor: “Do you think noth­ing can be seen there still?”
Ac­tress: “He said, but this time he tried to look di­rect­ly in­to her eyes.”
Ac­tor: “She was look­ing in the oth­er di­rec­tion.”
Ac­tress: “He stood be­side her. He was look­ing di­rect­ly in­to her eyes.”
Ac­tor: “She stood in the mid­dle of the room. Very close. She was look­ing in the op­po­site di­rec­tion.”
Ac­tress: “He had to turn his head to look in the same di­rec­tion.”
Ac­tor: “She moved her head.”
Ac­tress: “He stood in the mid­dle of the room in the apart­ment, but he was no longer look­ing in­to her eyes. He was look­ing in the oth­er di­rec­tion.”
Ac­tor: “But she was no longer look­ing that way.”
Ac­tress: “He looked back at her.”
Ac­tor: “Sure­ly you must have seen some­thing there.”
Ac­tress: “Where?”
Ac­tor: “There.”
Ac­tress: “He looked in the di­rec­tion which he in­di­cat­ed with a move­ment of his head.”
Ac­tor: “She looked in the same di­rec­tion.”
Ac­tress: “I saw al­most noth­ing there.”
Ac­tor: “She an­swered.”
Ac­tor: “Do you think noth­ing can be seen there still?”
Ac­tress: “He re­peat­ed.”
Ac­tor: “She stopped.”
Ac­tress: “He said.”
Ac­tor: “She didn’t re­spond.”
Ac­tress: “He was heard to say.”
Ac­tor: “She heard.”
Ac­tress: “He im­plied.”
Ac­tor: “She didn’t un­der­stand.”
Ac­tress: “He gave to un­der­stand.”
Ac­tor: “She missed the point.”
Ac­tress: “He point­ed out”:

Table 2 close-​up

Ac­tor: “If you saw noth­ing there, maybe you heard some­thing.”
Ac­tress: “He con­tin­ued.”
Ac­tress: “Where?”
Ac­tor: “Well, there.”
Ac­tress: “He turned his head away from her to­wards there.”
Ac­tor: “Where?”
Ac­tress: “There.”
Ac­tor: “There?”
Ac­tress: “I mean there, in the di­rec­tion of the next room.”
Ac­tor: “Is that re­al­ly how it looked? I just did that in­vol­un­tar­i­ly.”
Ac­tress: “He said slow­ly.”
Ac­tor: “She said.”
Ac­tor: “That was slow? I thought I was speak­ing fast.”
Ac­tress: “He replied quick­ly.”
Ac­tor: “She said.”
Ac­tress: “That sec­ond bit was fast.”
Ac­tor: “She replied.”
Ac­tress: “He said.”
Ac­tress: “I heard al­most noth­ing.”
Ac­tor: “She nod­ded his head in the di­rec­tion of the room.”
Ac­tor: “And she con­tin­ued.”
Ac­tress: “I had a feel­ing as if I was there alone.”

Table 3 close-​up

Ac­tor: “She con­tin­ued to look in the same di­rec­tion.”
Ac­tress: “Af­ter a while he looked there too.”
Ac­tress: “Are you go­ing to go and take a look there?”
Ac­tor: “She asked in re­sponse to his look.”
Ac­tor: “No, prob­a­bly not.”
Ac­tress: “He said.”
Ac­tress: “But you should.”
Ac­tor: “And now she looked at him.”
Ac­tor: “She turned silent­ly and stepped to­wards the door. She opened the door and went in­to the next room.”

Re­place­ment of the Ac­tress num­ber one for Ac­tress num­ber two

Ac­tor: “Af­ter a while she re­turned. She was dressed like any­one else.”
Ac­tor: “She ap­proached.”
Ac­tor: “She drew her breath.”
Ac­tor: “She opened her mouth to speak.”
Ac­tress (two): “I told you, noth­ing can be seen there still.”
Ac­tor: “She said.”
Ac­tor: “She turned in the di­rec­tion of the de­scribed room.”
Ac­tor: “Her gaze turned back to­wards the room.”
Ac­tress (two): “He looked back at her.”

Lamps close-​up

Part two:
Change of en­vi­ron­ment. A cou­ple sits at a table.
Cast: The first
The sec­ond
He/ ac­tor
She/ Ac­tress – num­ber two

The first: “Ex­cuse me, how did you get here?” The sec­ond af­ter a mo­ment’s hes­i­ta­tion sits down next to The first.
The first: “Don’t you recog­nise me? Af­ter all, we met not so long ago. That evening…, at that girl­friend’s, the one we used to go with… you know where…”
The sec­ond: “You mean that…? What’s her name, I…, or E…, I can’t re­mem­ber.”
The first: “Right, that’s the one I’m think­ing of, she’s the daugh­ter of that…”
The sec­ond: “No, I’m think­ing of some­one else. But I know who you’re talk­ing about.”
The first: “We met there, you know, what’s it called there? At that film…, yes, at that…, I think it was that film with what­ser­name…”
The sec­ond: “I have a feel­ing I know who you mean. She was the wife of that ac­quain­tance of our’s, the first wife, that is. As a mat­ter of fact, wasn’t his sec­ond wife that ac­tress you were talk­ing about, who played in that…?”
The first: “I don’t think so, be­cause I heard that that ac­quain­tance of your’s, that his sec­ond wife, damn it, what’s her name… help me out here, she played, you know,… not in that film, as you said, that was some­one else, this one played in that… you know, there’s that well known scene there that takes place in… you know, in that….”
The sec­ond: “Yeah, I know, along­side…”
The first: “Yeah, ex­act­ly, along­side… what are their names…?”
The sec­ond: “Some­thing like…, what­sis­name of­ten goes there. We both know him, don’t we?.”
The first: “No, he doesn’t go there any­more. I have a feel­ing he moved…..”
The sec­ond: “Re­al­ly? I saw him re­cent­ly, though.”
The first: “Well, he re­al­ly looks like some­one else, prac­ti­cal­ly his dou­ble. That oth­er one, you prob­a­bly know him, too…. You know where we saw him…? When we were there, you know…?”
The sec­ond: “No, I wasn’t there. Af­ter all, I called you know who, yeah…? I called to say I wasn’t com­ing…”
The first: “Yeah, some­one there said that.”

The cou­ple from part one ap­proach­es the two men. She (the sec­ond ac­tress) and He. The first looks in sur­prise at the ap­proach­ing cou­ple and then at The sec­ond.
“My apolo­gies, I mis­took you for some­one.” The first says to The sec­ond and ex­tends his hand to the new­ly ap­proach­ing (He).
The wom­an at his side, how­ev­er, is look­ing at The sec­ond.
“I have a feel­ing I’ve seen you some­where be­fore…”

Song (with­out the im­age):

All is played out on­ly in con­ver­sa­tion. Even a pause is con­ver­sa­tion. We have di­vid­ed the sur­round­ings be­tween I and You. When it is I, You waits in or­der to be He. Or She. “It” is too third.
I dis­putes with You over He or She. He (or She) is much more cred­i­ble than I or You. I de­sires to be He. As You does.

The end