In Theatre I play two characters that can be seen as two distinct people and also as different sides of the same self. The two characters are completing each other's sentences and reliving a moment when both, or perhaps only one of them, first came on stage. What happens onstage parallels what happens off stage, what happens backstage influences what happens onstage. However in the video no stage is ever seen, time and place are presented solely through language. Physical and mental space collapse into one. The language hovers between speech and thought, collapsing stage directions ("i.e. "I enter", "I turn to the left" etc), internal thoughts ("I'm nervous") and conventional stage dialogue into one text, giving the narrative its labyrinthine structure.

 

2001, DVD-video 3.44 min
Written & Performed by Maryam Jafri

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