Yesterday, Josie and I went for a Just For Laughs activity. An experimental stage play that is not really a stage play. It's called INTERNAL and it was quite something. Let me explain you the concept. It's a play with five actors, made for five people. Everybody gets a one on one discussion with an actor for about ten, maybe fifteen minutes and then there is this somewhat circle-of-truth discussion where the characters discuss with each other the truths they've learned about us. The whole thing lasts for about thirty minutes. It's way overpriced for what it is, but thank god we had some free tickets. I could have paid money for that. Not what they asked, but yeah. I could have paid and walked away happy and satisfied.
The whole thing started an inch away from the curtain. We had to place ourselves on a tape X and wait for the curtain to roll. Behind, every one of us was assigned a different actor. Mine was a skinny guy named Chris. About six foot five, six foot six and his eyes were steel blue. We dead eyed each other for about a minute or two. It's very long and very difficult to dead eye somebody for more than ten seconds. Time goes by very slow and it's difficult not to laugh. I held his gaze for as long as I could, but I cracked up twice. Finally, he shook my hand and guided me towards a very small booth, where he served me Porto. It was a very small booth and Chris was so tall he was like lurching over me. Somehow, I think I was dealt the most difficult character to talk with.
I went there with my usual earnest state of mind. Whatever question he would ask, I would answer my heart's ultimate truth and that was that. It's a stage play, I told myself, so I would play the game and he would have to deal with who I was. He kept asking me shit, trying to know who I was. His question were simple, yet very effective. Chris was nice, soft-spoken and he seemed to genuinely care. I felt comfortable, in front of somebody who appreciated my presence, yet wasn't desperate for human attention. Then it happened.
He took three photos of him, butt naked and put them in front of me, asking me to chose which one I liked best. I was about to ask him what the fuck was his problem, but I looked at them. They were good photos. They looked like stills from a Fassbinder movie from the seventies (Fassbinder was never scared by nudity). I was like "Wow dude, those are great", trying not to mention he was hung like a horse. And that was the thing, the trial he put me through. I like those things, but I am not sure whether I answered the right thing or not. Was he expecting me to ask him about his motivations for doing this? Did he want me to return the favor? He was so nice to me for the first few minutes, I felt like I failed him. I know what you're thinking. The guy was probably expecting me to jump from my chair, but I'm not the one easily offended by nudity. Not when it's not gross. Before ending our private talk he asked me: "Do you like me?" and I answered: "You're cool".
We left for the group discussion where we met the other characters. There was Yuri, who looked cold and self-centered. Josie had some flirty guy with a blond beard, who asked her to kiss him (yeah, she said no). There was a very vain girl who apparently didn't talk to her spectator for ten full minutes. She ended up showing him her titties, for some reason. There was also a girl in a white dress. They asked us our home addresses when we left and I refused to leave mine to Chris. Josie left her e-mail to her guy, but that was it.
Now I really liked the experience. Chris got under my skin BIG TIME and I took a good hour to get all my pieces back. It was thirty minutes, but there was unbelievable tension and the atmosphere was really thick. I don't know if it was his real name, but Chris played an obviously really lonely man, who wanted approval and admiration I might say. All in his very polite and mild mannered way. What could it have been more? A two hours show I guess? A true attempt at bonding with somebody and fuck them up for a good week. That I would have paid a good price to experience that. What can I say? I like to be challenged. Ontroerend Goed is a Belgian unit and they are starting their North American tour with INTERNAL after burning up the stage in Europe. Don't miss the opportunity to see them, if you can afford it.
We left for the group discussion where we met the other characters. There was Yuri, who looked cold and self-centered. Josie had some flirty guy with a blond beard, who asked her to kiss him (yeah, she said no). There was a very vain girl who apparently didn't talk to her spectator for ten full minutes. She ended up showing him her titties, for some reason. There was also a girl in a white dress. They asked us our home addresses when we left and I refused to leave mine to Chris. Josie left her e-mail to her guy, but that was it.
Now I really liked the experience. Chris got under my skin BIG TIME and I took a good hour to get all my pieces back. It was thirty minutes, but there was unbelievable tension and the atmosphere was really thick. I don't know if it was his real name, but Chris played an obviously really lonely man, who wanted approval and admiration I might say. All in his very polite and mild mannered way. What could it have been more? A two hours show I guess? A true attempt at bonding with somebody and fuck them up for a good week. That I would have paid a good price to experience that. What can I say? I like to be challenged. Ontroerend Goed is a Belgian unit and they are starting their North American tour with INTERNAL after burning up the stage in Europe. Don't miss the opportunity to see them, if you can afford it.