The Chairs A Tragic Farce

Version originale de ce texte en français THE CHAIRS is about an old couple living alone in a house in the middle of an island. To justify their long life of failures and humiliations to the world, they organize a big reception to which they invite imaginary guests: personalities of different status, including the Emperor himself. Only the increasing number of empty chairs emphasizes the absence of the crowd, only visible to the two heroes of the play. The old couple may be as unreal as the crowd; they are here to show emptiness, its indispensable form, and the powerful presence of its absence. When the stage is completely filled with empty chairs to the point where the couple is trapped, as in an immobile shipwreck, the narrator appears. For the old couple, this is the sign of deliverance: they can finally commit suicide in peace. They have passed on to the narrator the task of delivering the important message meant to save humanity. They then kill themselves shouting "Long Live the Emperor". The narrator, alone, facing the chairs, opens his mouth; nothing comes out except for rattling and guttural sounds... the narrator is deaf and dumb. Translation by Cheryl Wong Po Foo and Lori Crawford-Dixon.

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This page was first posted on September 21, 1998 and last updated November 29, 1998. © Marie-Magdeleine Chirol, 1998.
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