 We have blogging, and partying, and storybooking. We make some partying, and start out with partying, and a couple of things. I don't know. I'm not sure what it is. Examples of women sharing what it is they do, sharing how to do that. There's no way you can ignore Latinos anymore. I don't know. I don't know. What time is it now? I don't know. Can you help me? I'm starting out about different people, and about different things. A whole sea of phenomena. The hidden for everybody. Yes, everybody. That's what's really done. That's doing a pretty good job. And if you might understand your wife's relationship to them, I've already shown you. I'm not the CEO of the Tito Center here at the Guaranteed Security. This is day two of our, I think, truly significant and inspiring, Pinball Voices International Playwrighting Festival. My name is Frank Hengsternand, I'm the director of the program. We bridge academia and professional theater, international and American theater here at the Tito Center, and especially the International Theater is something we are struggling with here in the U.S. We do not hear non-voices compared to world music, which we listen to all around the world. We do not hear all the voices. 95% of all books published in the U.S. come from English-speaking writers. Only 5% that are left are half of them are German or French because of subsidies. So the 2% really do not allow us to get a full view of the world. It's, I think, as we all think, not a right only because they can perhaps also an explanation why things are so complicated at the moment. We are honored to collaborate with Pin, the writers' organization, an organization as we've heard this morning that they cross between the literature and the human rights. They have brilliant writing in prison programs. They get writers out of prison. They support truly the translators, you know, significant awards. And this is the most meaningful and significant literary festival in the U.S. in North America, perhaps, and perhaps all things the Americas would be up to, of course, discussion of these things, though. And it's an honor for the Tito Center to be part of it. We already heard yesterday voices from Australia, Ukraine, from Turkey, and from Brazil. And this morning, and now we're going to go over to Guinea. Unfortunately, due to the U.S. and with the nations, the writer was not allowed in the country. We fought very, very hard, but it was not possible. Ruk helped us to get a little miracle for the writer from Syria, from Spain, who worked in Guinea and came in for Sunday, but it's a very, very unsettling, disturbing reality we faced that because of the current political situation, the writer was not allowed into the country because of his passport. And we urge everybody to do work, you know, to change what it is here and to take that seriously. It's always the arts, very often, as seismographs very first detect what is coming and which those quakes might be waiting for us. But now, still, we have his play from Hakeem Bhai. I hope he will be seeing us if you are on the live stream. So we welcome you and we are terribly sorry. We apologize that you are not able to be with us here. And maybe we will skype him in and he will be somehow have a presence but not the real ones. This festival really tries very hard at every playwright here in person. So maybe the playwrights put up their arms, you see them here who came, also, Marcia, from this morning. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for coming with us. We had a very lively discussion with the bodies in the room and we think this is of importance. And this also changes, we think, people's minds. We would like to thank Ethan McSweeney for directing the play and Heather Danter for being the translator and also part of the discussion. Heather, who also is doing the work here. Also suggested this way, she really went on a big, big, big research with hundreds of plays from the African continent which she researched and she said this is something we should all listen to. So here we go. Before we start the reading piece, do take on yourself or I'll do the same. And make sure hours of taking duty all taken out and double checked that it doesn't ring, it never rings. Now it hasn't so far. So thank you for doing this and here we go. Thank you. Tisha Tisha by Hakim Bah translated by Heather Danter. The faint odor of rice, maniak, mango, guava, lemon, orange, banana, tomato, onion, outside. The stench of garbage strewn along the streets outside. The upheaval of dust with each upheaval of feet outside. The blares of cars outside. The gurgling of drinks going the wrong way and dry grills outside. The rumbling of the sky outside. It is going to rain again. Outside. One, here. This animal beauty, sexy chic, her hair smoothed out. Her almond eyes. Her little pointed nose. Her round mouth. Her plump lips. This long-limbed silhouette. Her never-ending legs. This nymph look that makes you throw up in your mouth this double X chromosome face. Her eyes, like jewels. Look at her again. The set eye. Her wings that cause you to burst, to slobber in your shorts. It's her. Our Tisha Tisha. Name Tisha Tisha. She. Likes to be called Tisha Tisha. She. Like Shimmer Maid with that lively, insincere, rosy smile. She. Clips her nails. She. It was what you know and what you don't know. That what you know in the worst cases. You know you don't need to try to know because you know. That what you don't know in the worst cases. You don't know. You try to know because you don't know. There's no point pretending to say that you didn't when you actually did. To say that you didn't break the glass, even though you broke the glass, if you know deep down that you broke the glass, there's no point to say that you didn't break the glass. If you break the glass and deep down, deep, deep down inside you know that you broke the glass. There's nothing more normal than to say, yes, yes, I broke the glass. Yes, yes, it was me. I broke the glass to not say, no, no, it wasn't me. I didn't break the glass when you know deep down, deep down inside, yes, yes, I broke the glass. There's a similar story of the glass between Michael, at least there was, between Michael and me, because I don't know anymore if there is, if there will be something between us. He broke the glass, and he didn't want to say that he broke the glass. If you know that you can't say yes, yes, it's me when you do something, then why do it? In the end, we're always smacked in the face by our actions, good or bad, whether we recognize them or not. It doesn't leave us, it always catches us. Nail file or nail polish, shoot, and it always taught that, that he was lucky for me. Knowing him was lucky for me. Having him by my side was lucky for me. He was really good and lovable, seemed to be good and lovable, Michael. At that moment, Ton Ton had finished stuffing himself with me. Ton Ton is his name, it's my uncle, I call him Ton Ton, because he told me to call him Ton Ton. At 12 years old, he deflowered me. In the house where we lived with two wives, Ton Ton arranged to find me a small room, very small room, reminds me still, reminds me where he came at night, every night, almost every night, after Master Quentus first before returning to his wives. When he left the little room, very little room, my room it was, what would you call it, ridiculous? There you go, there you go, it was ridiculous. I couldn't keep myself from laughing when he pushed, pushed, pushed in the door, the little door, the very little door of the room, my room, gently slowly when he shut it, gently slowly when he walked, gently slowly as if he didn't want to let his feet touch the ground out of fear that would make noise that would draw attention. Day after day this repeated, my belly started to become bloated, I was pregnant, I didn't know, didn't even know, but then again, how could I know? Was at the age of 13 or 14, I don't even remember too well anymore. All of a sudden I was kicked out of the house, I wondered the streets, scampered along the rooftops, slept by the light of the moon or under the street lamps with my stomach. When I gave birth, I didn't know how to do it, what to do with this kid, I detested this kid. I didn't know why but I detested him. I wanted to leave him on the street, the little body wrapped up in a cloth in the middle of garbage heap to rid myself of this burden. It was there, there, there that he appeared, Michael, like a holy light. He helped him to raise her and to support her, he loved her, he loved that kid. From the first steps it was clear, fluxed her eyebrows, she, he didn't want to have her clitoris cut, to have her private parts sliced like I had done to me little, very little and like they still do to all the girls her age. When he left me for her, Michael, it was then, then that I understood, understood everything, understood he didn't want for her clitoris to be cut but her private parts be sliced off like I had done to me like little, very little for him. He wanted to keep her intact without him doing anything for him. Idiot, idiot, what an idiot, what an idiot that was having her cut off her clitoris, sliced off her private parts like I had done to me, very little, very little and like they still do to all the girls her age. That would have been better, that would have been better, that would have been better. But fine, it's Michael, after all it's Michael, after all Michael is Michael. After all and then and then, after all and like, nothing is ever likey, likey to be. Things never follow the lines we've drawn, not one path really flat and really straight in life. It's packed with holes, hills, slopes, bends, zigzags. Two, you hear a door slam. Key that creep cracks in the mouth of lock. Bang of the door that opens and closes again. And there he is. Our man with the fake skin. Michael, as he's called, likes to be called Michael the king. Michael, the source of purgatory. It's him, bandage on the nose. Michael! It's Michael. It's Michael, finally, before my eyes, a few feet before my eyes and the flesh and bones. Has everything stopped? End of purgatory? Are you back for good? Why did you wait for so much time, all this time? It's days like that when you least expect it, that people show up. When you want them to show up, they never show up. It's when you least expect it that they show up like a disease, always without warning. No, I don't condemn, don't condemn, you don't condemn him. Maybe he was right. Maybe he was right. I didn't even want to know. Right or not right, he had to pack his bags and leave, whatever. The essential? He is here, before my eyes. I can even touch him. I want to touch him, I can touch him. I just need to. If I want to touch him, if I want to, I only need to. I get up, approach him. I really want to touch him. Does she really want to touch him? To stroke his face, to stroke his head, to stroke his limbs, to stroke his chest, to stroke any part of his body. To touch, to stroke. I just need to touch him with my hand. If I want to touch him. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. I won't touch you, it's fine, I won't touch him. I was going to touch him in that same instant. My hands were going to reach him out and touch him, he scolds, don't touch me, it's fine. You don't need to scold, I ever said you don't touch me, I won't touch you. You said don't touch me, I heard you don't touch me, I won't touch you. Looks that are exchanged. That are passed back and forth. Circular. Semi-circular. Direct. She stares at them. He stares at her. They stare at each other. Oval each other. Devour each other. At length. Deeply. Immensely. And then, and then, and then. Let it go, let it go, let it go with my suitcase. Can you put it in the bathroom for me, Michael? Your paws, your paws on my suitcase, don't even try. Just let me. Don't, don't need, don't need. I don't need you. Understand? Huh? Can you understand that, huh? I don't need. You don't need, you don't need. I understand. You don't need that I put it in the bedroom for you. Your suitcase, you don't need. I've understood, understood. Let go, let go of my hand. It hurts or hurting me. Really, really hurting me, Michael. There it is. It leaves to collapse on the sofa. Carly turned up, leaves to collapse on the sofa. Doesn't even take off his clothes or his shoes. Super low, smooth, criminal. Suit, shirt, pants, tie, shades, a wig, hat that he wears. He must be warm. He stares at me again. I stare at him again. Weak stare at each other again. Happy to just blink our eyes. He looks at me, senses my winks, my nymph look. I feel his winks on my breasts, my face, my lips, his eyes. I feel them like jewels. He looks away, and me, and me. I am still devouring him with my eyes. I can't help myself from devouring him with my eyes. Strong, become stronger. Whatever he's come from, have very good food. It's clear. I smell his perfume. Nice the smell of Nivia. Yes, he loves Nivia. His only fragrance, Nivia, for men, deodorant. I smell. I smell. What? How should I put this? Something reeks in my nostrils. Something smells. Me, I don't smell anything here. There's nothing but your savory odor, Nivia Michael that is admitted. Look at that. He puts his finger on the button. He wants to push it to turn on the TV. But, Michael, what are you doing? It doesn't please you? My picture doesn't please you? But you used to like it, my darling. That picture, your tisha-tisha, the low-cut dress that reveals the contours of your pretty little tits, you said. You said that, that said, that said, that said to me often. You remember? I know that you remember well. You could not remember. Well, he picks it up. Dear Michael. Oh, no, no, no, Michael. Don't throw it. Don't throw it. Don't throw it at it like that. It will break. He throws it. My picture, Michael, my picture. I'm speaking to you. I'm speaking to your bending over your suitcase. He opens his suitcase. Look at my photo with a broken frame. Don't come near. Don't come near. Don't come near me. It's fine. It's fine. You'll need to scold me again, Michael. I understand you. Don't come near. Don't come near. Don't come near. Don't come near me. Are you happy? You can be happy. Happy. I understood. Understood. Tisha Tisha always understands when you speak to her. You know, little darling. She's interested. But, but, but, what is there that's inside? Inside there, Michael. You brought me something, huh, Michael? My darling, you brought me a little something to Tisha Tisha. Huh, huh? Get back. Easy, Michael. Easy. You almost made me fall down. Does that make you happy that Tisha Tisha falls down? Doesn't make you happy, huh, darling? Have you got there? Not, not your business. Not your business. It's not at all your business. Stop messing around. Stop messing around, Michael. Let me see, just see. Get back. Photograph. It's a photograph that you have there. Michael, write a photograph. Who's in the photograph that you're hanging there? Who? You don't see. Don't see. Don't see anymore, huh? Not anymore? Michael, but, but, but, Michael. But, but, Michael, what? Can you just tell me? Are you going to tell me that you expected to find and emptying the house, huh? What did you expect to buy? She told you. She told you. She told me that she was coming to tell you. She can't have not told you, Penda. She told me she was coming to tell you to leave so we could finally have our house. And, and where is she anyway? Where is Penda? Penda, my daughter. What? Fifteen years? Maybe even more now. My undone sex, Penda, the female, never undone. In tact. To find Penda softer. Softer. Much, much softer than me. Nothing left in my sex. No pleasure. He said, he said, he said that no end, end. And for Penda, my daughter, left me. With her he finally found, found Heaven. Yeah, yeah. Heaven, he said, Heaven. In the sex of my daughter, he finds his Heaven blessed, Michael. And so he left. Left with her. I don't know. Never knew where they went. Far, far away from me to continue to calmly dream of their foolish actions in the heart of the body of peace as if there was nothing abnormal all this time. Salt on the wound. Just thinking about it makes me feel like salt on my wound. You shouldn't have asked me that, Michael. Where is Penda? Nearly a week ago, she told me that she was coming here and no news since then. Can you tell me where she is? After all your dirty tricks, you didn't ask me again. Where is she, Michael? My daughter. Can you try to imagine, Michael? My own daughter. You didn't hesitate. You didn't hesitate. You defiled her. Soiled her. Messed her up all this time like your little whore without the course. You just did just a little bit, Michael, about what you've done. Shame. Shame. Shame on you, Michael. Can you tell me yes or shame? You should be ashamed. Ashamed. Ashamed. Ask me that. Ask me that again. Where is Penda? That is my question. You hear me? You hear me? You hear me? I'm not detestable to speak of all hateful. I should detest you, despise you, hate you. I don't understand why I'm not able to. And I absolutely should detest you, despise you, hate you. You can answer me yes and stop whining like a kid. Fine. I don't know where she is. Is your Penda? Look for her. You'll find her. You won't find her. Seek and you shall find. What's that? You seek, seek and you shall find. Look for her and stop with your where is Penda? Where is Penda? Where is Penda? It's really annoying. And if Bors, Bors, Bors made more and more in my hard-hearing math. Just stop it. Stop it. Stop your chatter right now. I don't care if it bores you, bores you, bores you or not. I don't care. Don't care. Don't care. You hear? Don't care. I don't care. No, Michael, I beg you. I beg you. You don't need to get upset. Don't need to. Don't need to. He doesn't need to get upset, Michael. It's not good that he gets upset, Michael. Not good. Not good. Calm down. Please let me calm down, my darling. Calm down. It's all right. Voila. He finally turned on the TV. Sits in front of the TV. What is it that stinks? Stinks here? Stinks. Something stinks, stinks. Nothing stinks, Michael. My darling, nothing stinks. Except for the delicious smell that maybe you walked into here. It started to become unbearable here. Maybe it's just a bad smell coming in here from outside. Wait, wait. I'll bring you something from the fridge. I know that that makes you happy. We'll make you happy like that. Yes, yes. Wait, wait, wait. Drink. Drink. Drink. It helps to calm the nerves. It's even the bottles you adore, the whisky, though. Good stuff. Really good whisky, Michael. All that. Only for you. You see, you see, you see. You teach the teacher things of everything, of everything. When you're not here, my darling, he loves to live, Michael. And how do you drink? Drinks. Drinks. Scotch. Black label. Johnny Walker. How do you drink? Drinks. Drinks. It's his way of living. Living life. Living life. Living life well. Living life to the fullest. Living. Taking advantage of his life. Taking advantage of it with such inebriation. Pours his whisky in his glass. Look at the bottle of whisky pissing into the glass. Listen to the blood, blood, and whisky pissing into the glass. On the mind, mind, drink. Drink his whisky and listen, listen, listen to the blood, blood, blood, and his throat. He's laughing, Michael. He's laughing. His whisky and the blood, blood, and his whisky and his throat. He's laughing. It pleases him. It pleases him. Pleases him. Body, body, that is aroused. We need to drink, drink. Body, body, that is reanimated. Drink, drink, drink. Body, body, that is swaying. Drink, drink, drink. Body, body, that is fidgeting. Drink, drink, drink. Body, body, that is agitated. Drink, drink, drink. Body, body, that undulates. Drink, drink, drink. Fever of the moonwalk. Strong fever of the moonwalk. High fever of the moonwalk. That increases. That rises. That rises. Again. Again. Again. Only gestures. Nothing anymore. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I drink. I a life Michael doesn't drink. No longer drinks. Promised Pender. I stopped. I stopped. I stopped. Promised Pender. You drink. You drink. You drink. You lose your head. Your head is no longer in your head. You lose your head. You've got no more head. You grow. You grow. You grow. Like a dog. You piss. You piss. You piss. Like a faucet. You vomit. You vomit. You vomit like a hemorrhage. She said. She said to me, Pender. Well I stopped. I stopped drinking. Pender. That I said. I said to her. I said beer, whiskey, not touching anymore. Rejection. Never again. Of a bottle. Never again. Of a bottle. Never again. Of a bottle. And why not? Of whiskey. And why not? Of whiskey. And why not? Of whiskey. Scotch. Black label. Johnny Walker. Michael. Against the TV it breaks. Michael. Against the wall it breaks. Michael. Against the ground it breaks. Michael. Against the ceiling it breaks. Michael. Against the door it breaks. Michael. Against the window it breaks. Michael. Against the fridge it breaks. It breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it breaks, it You were burning inside, huh? You were going to die of need to put yourself at ease, huh? Isn't it true, isn't it true that the desire was gnawing away at you? So good to make yourself at ease, your home. Make yourself at ease, my darling. Take all the time you need and free yourself yourself, free yourself. You have all the time for it. You're at home, take your time, all your time and put yourself at ease. Put yourself at ease, put yourself at ease, Michael, my darling. All good, all good, all good, huh? It feels good, feels all good to put yourself at ease. If you need to put yourself at ease, if a little need pushes us, pushes us, pushes us, not stop. Michael, my little darling, it feels good, good, huh? Huh? That? I know something of it. We all know something of it. How good it feels to put yourself at ease when the need, that little need pushes us. Take your time, take your time. Michael, my darling, take your time. He takes his time, my darling. He must have a full stomach to discharge today, but be careful all the same, do not empty everything out to go to the point of emptying everything out. There are rumors spreading, my collar is strutting along the streets. Michael, good. He's finally calming down, I couldn't push him more. Michael, my darling, you hear me? Tisha Tisha's calling you, answer if you hear. Go away, go away. He speaks to me, speaks to me. Is everything all right in there, darling? You're going to go away, right? Everything all right, okay? Is everything okay in there? Why are you asking if it's okay? Just to know if it's okay. If my darling is doing well, okay? Okay? Michael, are you okay? Why? Why do you want to know if it's okay? Won't cease to ask, to ask me if it's okay. Everything is easy, Michael. Don't get upset, don't get upset. You're not going to get upset again. It's not good for you to get upset. You can catch a lot of illness in getting upset, you know? Seriously, what the fuck is it to you whether I'm upset or not? I like it when he speaks. When he speaks to me, we're sure you're going to speak on what? You know with the shards of a body you can split your skin and hurt yourself. I want to know if you have to hurt yourself. At least you hear about Michael, my darling. You see, Tisha Tisha worries about you, darling. She worries. She doesn't want you to be bad to hurt yourself, Michael. You don't have. You needn't. Me? Worry? For me? Need not. Need not, need not. Now listen. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. He's coming back to better feelings now. It's reassuring. It's reassuring. Reassuring. Tell me, Michael, your business there you're doing all right in there, huh? It's starting to rise again until it penetrates my nose. It sticks like nothing else. Have you been eating only American sandwiches or what, only American sandwiches stink like that? Stinks when you believe yourself. When it's good, it stinks. They say that, huh, Michael? When it's good on the tongue, it reeks in the ass. Ah! You nearly smashed my face. Look, it's bleeding a little. Yes, you made me bleed. See? Well done for you. That'll teach you not to accost the door when people are in the bathroom. What really changed, you know, Michael? Your nose, your nose, for example, it's no longer the same. No longer have the same. What exactly is this little bandage that I haven't stopped staring at? I was always waiting for the right moment to ask it that. I redid my nose, idiot. Idiot, you said. Said to me. It's good. It's a good sign. A good sign. It means that means he's really coming back to thoughts. He's in a good mood when he starts to say little words like that. It's remarkably better. Your nose. Become almost looks brand new. Your nose, Michael. Propenda, I redid my nose. For her. She didn't want my nose anymore. The other nose, the old nose, it was too much. What, how to put it? Too much. Hideous. There it is. Hideous. It made me too ugly even though deep down I know I'm not ugly. Needed to just rearrange my nose a bit, a tiny bit. And I became the handsome kid I was meant to be now. I feel, I feel it even myself. I'm no longer the same. My little nose bringing such luck. Panda, panda. Really sweet. We say panda. The photograph. Panda, the nose. Panda, everything. Panda. That's starting to annoy me. That panda, panda. No, no, no. Don't need to. Don't need to. Control, control, control. That's not good. Teach, teach, teach. Get worked up. Get worked up. Not good. Panda, panda. You're going to hear only that. Be a panda. Only that. Only that. Let that sink in well to your fucking brain. And then, and then, and then. Let go of my neck, mom. Come on, let go. What is it now? What is it now that you can never understand? Listen to me really well. It's time. Yes. Yes. Time. No more. No more. Time to lose. It's really time. For my home becomes my home again. My house becomes my house again. Your home is always your home. Your house is always your house. And me, like always. I'm here. I watch over the house. I tend to it like a baby. Order, organize, reorganize. Cleaning up all the time. Nights I clean. Days I clean. I mop. I re-mop. Non-stop. You end up telling yourself, certainly finished by telling yourself that this man, Michael, has left for good. Huh? This house, his house, became my house. I can die and dig my grave here. Not even one brick in this house, not even one belongs to you. So no need to leave. You need to leave right now. For you, I stay here all these years, Michael. You can't. No, Michael. You can't leave outside. No, no, Michael. I have nowhere to go. You're not going to go. Shouldn't. All the same, don't do it. All the same, Michael. Let go of me. Let go. Let me go. Let me go on. It's done. There's no more going back. My breasts, even bigger, even larger, they become. You don't want to fill me up. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. You could just. No desire. My tears, I kept even bigger, even larger. My breasts, you can't. No desire. Look at my ass to you. Like it, huh? The melon cheeks, you like it? You want to? No, don't want to. My undone sex. I remade it. Dr. Fozl, we made my sex for you. Michael, a simple surgery, effective. He resuscitated my sex. Gave me back my soul. My sex. That, which interfered with our body to body, smashed my urogynous zone more and more than pleasure for you. You want it? Don't want to. Don't want it. Then let me touch you. Feel your body. Touch you to feel your body. Just a second, you'll be asking me for more. Shut up. Then then, Michael, I give you my body. Shut up. Touch, touch my body. You'll feel my body. Shut up. Stroke my body. Touch my body. Feel my body. Stroke my body. Come in my body. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. I know you have it in your mouth. Shut up, Michael. Be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet. I'm not in the mood. It's not in the mood. That's it, Michael. Walk under the hot sun. You get hot, right away. You're dripping the sweat. It dances all over your body. The sweat. The heat, Michael. The heat, the sweat. The heat, the heat, the heat, the sweat, how you can see that heat. The drops of sweat and the dance on your feet. Look, Michael. You're sweating like nothing else. Your jacket, take it off. Let me just… Not me. It's all right. It's all right, Michael. I understood. You're not me. I won't. I still get you some water. How, Michael? I smell like something rotten stinks. That stinks. You're gonna ask, Michael? Michael, a good bath will only do you good. Your water, your bath, your good bath, no desire. And then, and then, and then, you don't stop, don't stop, don't stop, you don't stop, you don't stop. Speaking to me, it makes me sick to my stomach when you speak to me. When I speak to you, I speak to you, you get sick, that makes you sick. You speak to me, you speak to me. I feel sick, that makes me sick. All of a sudden, I feel a fever climbing my flesh. Listen to him, I speak to him, I speak to him, he feels that sick, that makes him sick. All of a sudden, he feels a fever climbing his flesh. You have bad manners, Michael. Yes, you really do. You're always the same. Always have been the same. We've always doubtless be the same. You'll never change. Silence. I want silence. Can you understand that? Silence. Silence. Okay, silence. He likes silence. I like silence. I like it when you mix his silence. In silent mode, I prefer him when he says nothing. Hands up. In silent mode, more hands in the silence mode. When he lets the silence drift. When he lets the silence float. When he lets the silence dominate. Hands up. When he says nothing. When I say nothing. When no one says anything to handsome. We're only happy to just feel our presence to smell the fragrances of our presence. His nivia ferment deodorant, I smell it. Four, your body starts to shiver. Pestulant odor, rotten rotten. Avarity rotten, varity rotten. That more and more increases, increases. What is it that stinks? Stinks endlessly. Rotten chicken or rotten pork that makes me want to vomit. My word, that makes me want to vomit. He has skin softer, whiter. There, a fly lands on his softer, whiter skin. He wants to swat it, mist after a seat. The fly is a long way. I am drinking in my eyes. He brushes me away with a brisk look. He put me in the way. I don't know what he did with Penda all this time. And I don't want him to tell me. I don't want to know only as he is there, right in the line of my eyesight, just a few inches in front of me. It's enough. Just a kiss. Give me a little kiss. I want you to give me a teeny tiny, tiny kiss on the lips. Now look at how they shine, Michael. I'm not touching your body. Take good stock of that in your thick head. When you left it was sad in the house, Michael. It was sad in the house. All they caught in the house. All they silenced in the house. Only barking dogs and only chattering toad fly here. Sometimes, weekends or holidays, only intermittent humming of cars, screeching or tires or the pavement, blaring or music I would hear. Stench, stench, stench. It stinks. It stinks. It stinks. I was listening to the nightly rituals night after night, Michael. It seems so big to me the house, as if suddenly the house, since you left had increased in surface area, in length, in width, in height. I would spend my lonely nights staring at the ceiling, lying on the mattress, my eye, pissing, tears, dream after dream. I saw you again far into my intimate space. God, how it stinks. It stinks. It stinks. It stinks. I only smell that subtle and agreeable fragrance and nitty of the space from your body that crosses my nostrils. What is that horrible odor of rotten meat that chokes the breath out of you? Vomit. Vomit. Vomit. Vomit. Vomit. Vomit. You vomit. You vomit. You don't stop vomiting. Who makes you vomit like that, Michael? Let me smell your fragrance again. Let me go. To smell I want to again, your good smell of nitty, I want to again. How long was I waiting for this moment? These flies, mosquitoes starving. Can you explain to me why these rude flies, mosquitoes, who kiss my skin without permission? This white skin that you have that I've never seen so white. Oh, what, really? This white skin that you have, white skin just as soft as flies, mosquitoes are dying to touch. It pleases them too, flies, mosquitoes, the white skin soft. Didn't redo my skin for these flies, mosquitoes, and flutter, flutter, flutter. They are over there, here, over there. Tell me, Michael, over me. Let me ask you, your epidermis that I see has become even clearer, whiter. Is it yours or did you wipe your skin further? Sometimes black your skin, sometimes white your skin. I knew it, read illegal, your illness. The doctor said you do remember. I redid my skin. Can't you see any more? White, very white, my skin, whiter. Couldn't stand my skin discolorations anymore. Pender, no longer accepting the blotches of depigmentation. Pender. 50 even, older than age, young as you look. Quite young, I am. Look, look, my white skin just as white, soft, just as soft, innocent. I still have some adolescence in me. Hands on it, Michael. Even more handsome than you become, adorable, even more adorable you have become. This body, your body, glistening like a ray of sunshine, let me, I want to, can I touch your skin? Feel your skin, stroke your skin. Don't touch me, definitely not, don't even try. It's fine, I've understood you, don't even try. It's still what you want, and I do not touch you, okay? I won't touch you, won't touch you, won't touch you anymore, won't touch you ever, try again. The odor, the odor, the odor. The odor? What odor? The odor, the odor, in the name of God, that vague and unbearable odor that's emitting vague. Unbearable. Pierces me, pierces me, pierces my nose. Pierces, pierces you? Cuts off, cuts off my breathing. It cuts off my breathing, that filthy odor. You're breathing blocks. Stop, stop, stop, stop taking me for an idiot. Tell, tell, tell me, tell me what this pungent, what this unbearable odor emitted by rotten chicken, by rotten pork, by rotten dog, by rotten cat, or what, huh? Chicken, rotten chicken, pork, rotten pork, dog, rotten dog, cat, rotten cat. I'm asking you, you're asking me? You can cut that out, yes. And tell me this elusive odor that incessantly blocks my olifactory sense, prevents me from breathing well, well, truly, well, well. Where does it come from? It comes from, from, from, where does it come from? From, from, from, from, from, from, from. If that's not the stench that prevents me from inhaling deep, deep, deep breath, it's the flies that are fluttering, fluttering in my ears. Worse, bite me, prick me, prick my body without my permission, my skin how it itches. Itches, itches, where does it come from? From where? From where? From where? From where? From there? Over there? Over there? Where? From? From over there, over there. Where, where are you going like that? Over there. Where? Over there. In the bedroom? Where? This filthy odor is coming from over there? Where? Five, rotten side of corpse's shell. Covered, it's covered, it's covered. The corpse stashed away in the cupboard. How many days stashed away in the cupboard? How many already? Fluttery, florns, mosquitoes. The smell of a perch-affection. The petrified flesh. Stench, ah! Stench, oh! Stench. It smells of a repugnant perfume of death. It's the repugnant perfume of death. It smells of the repugnant perfume of the rotten corpse. It's the repugnant perfume of the rotten corpse. Stench, oh! Ah! Stench, ah! Stench. The terrible odors compressed in the rotten corpse. The feast for the flies and mosquitoes rats roaches. What is it? What? What is that? What is there inside? What is there? You did not really say that you did not, not, not, not. That's not you, not you who did that. You did not, not, not, not, not at all. You did not, did not, no, no. It's not you, you did it. Not you, not, you tell me. It's not you, not you. To say that no, no, I didn't. Yes, yes, I did it. Not for to say that no, no, I didn't. When yes, yes, I did it. To say no, no, it's not me. When yes, yes, it's me. It's you who, no, no, no, it's not you, not you who swear that it's not you who swear that I hear you swear that it's not you who, not you who, not that you did nothing, nothing that you did not, not, not, not, not, did, do, not, do that, did you did that? No, no, no, you didn't swear, swear that, swear that, swear that, swear that. That's it, what, swear that, what? Nothing to swear, Michael, it's not why, my good child. Why did you? You did, you did, you did, you did, you did, why? Do you realize what you did? What, what, what, what, what, what you done? What I had to do. What, what you have, have, have just done? I've just done what I had to do. I did what I had to do. What's more normal? You leave Penda to rot in this fucking cupboard and you talk, talk calmly as if nothing like nothing happened. You say, you say again what you just did. You, you had to do what you had to do. You had to do what you had to do. It was necessary to do. I did it. Did what I had to do. I did it. For better or worse. Good for her. Good for me. Even good for you. You don't drive over the mother. You drive over the daughter like a highway and she lets you. She's dead. You realize dead, dead, dead, empty of her breath, of her blood, of everything, of everything, of everything. The disgusting body in the process of rotting in this fucking cupboard. Rotting stash away in this fucking cupboard, the body. The body, Penda, impossible to even go near it. You love her. You love to touch her, to fuck her. So touch her, fuck her there again. My daughter, the way you like it. Take her skirt off and force yourself into her sex. That's your heaven truth. Isn't it, Michael? She needed to die. She's dead. What I like about death is you can never pretend. That joke isn't funny. It's not amusing. Either you're dead or you're not dead. You die. It's final. Death is for good. She had to die. She's dead. Nothing better. Evil, evil in the flesh. In the mind. In the body. In the organs. In the sex. Evil, evil everywhere. Emptied out of her sex. The female emptied of her sex. A female emptied of her sex. Crickled. Amputated. Altered. Decimated. Injured. Blinded. Dark rattles. The lungs grown. The head ransacked. Very young. From a very young age. What to do? How to act when you're emptied at a young, young age. And though you fight to stay alive. Though you fight to stay alive. And though you fight to stay alive. Dead. Dead for good. Dead. It's death. It's the end of death. It's a while. She stopped dying and rotted, rotted, rotted. She rotted. What do you want? Me? I'm not suffering anymore. She made me suffer. That releases me from my suffering. Only why it feels good. So good when you're relieved. When you're relieved of suffering immediately. It pumps well-being in your heart and your whole body. You finally breathe. If you knew how good it feels to relieve yourself. To be able to relieve yourself. To breathe, breathe, and breathe again. You see that she's dead. You killed her, killed. And it's clear that she's dead. Dead, dead. It's clear. Clear as sunlight. That's funny. You can be funny sometimes. My goal? Funny. Yes, yes. You can really be from time to time. You think that I don't know? Don't see that she's dead. Really dead? Penda? You tell yourself that she's become crazy, damn crazy. The teacher, teacher, huh? He laughs. He laughs. He laughs. He doesn't stop laughing. I laugh. I laugh. I shouldn't laugh at this. Not shed one single tear of laughter. I laugh. All the laughs of my body. Because when in reality, when reality surpasses the imagined, you have to laugh at it. I laugh. I should be crying. Crying, crying, crying. I laugh. I laugh. I laugh away my tears. I laugh. I laugh. I laugh. You think I'm laughing. Theories, theories, theories, theories. My heart is blowing up with rage against this demon that took possession of your body. And you think you say that I'm laughing. Laugh, laugh, laugh, Michael. Laugh. You should laugh about it. Laugh. Maybe it will help you understand the pain, all the pain that I have endured. Laugh, laugh, laugh, Michael. As much as laughter reigns in your throat, but I beg you, rid yourself of this rage of this taking possession of your body. My remade sex. You, me, together, like a single body. What could be more beautiful? Crying. You're crying, Michael? There it is. He's crying, Michael's crying. You don't need to, Michael. Not you, Michael. Michael, you don't need to. Not you, Michael. You shouldn't know. You need to, need to. Come on, come on. Not you, not you. Let her rot peacefully. It should rot. A person always ends up rotting. I will end up rotting. You will end up rotting. Everyone will end up rotting. Don't make such a big deal out of it. It's not a big deal at all. It's only a body rotting. Hits himself. Don't always hit himself. Stop hitting yourself like that. You want to hurt yourself, Michael. Stop right now. No need to hit yourself, you will hurt her. It hurts, hurts, hurts. You just know it doesn't want you to hurt yourself, Michael. To kill Penda, stuffed her body in this covered bathed in her blood for what? I don't want her to die. I was dying of envy to see her die. She is dead. She will understand that she no longer has reason to start over. Maybe I will love her now. Maybe she will love me now. Maybe we will love each other now. Isn't it true that we will love each other now? After all of this, we always love them because we pity them, because they are calm and obedient, because they do nothing and just let things take their course. Dead. Dead. When she came back to find me sitting around the sofa, she couldn't stop vomiting and I understood, understood, understood everything. Everything, everything understood. She was pregnant. Pregnant? By whom? I'm bullshit, he asked. By whom? By you, Michael. By you, don't mess with me. And then I always, always wanted to have a child with you, Michael, not fair. You're not fair, Michael. The mother that died, the daughter of the mother she came to cry in my arms to ask me to forgive her, to let her come back with you in this house? Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. I didn't say anything right away. Her eyes were drooling with tears to no end. You had to see it. And there, right away, I said to myself, this little girl, little girl came from my boy. Michael touched her, touched her again. Filthy, soiled. She should rest in peace at last and be able to rest in peace. So there, right away, I gave her water with good intention. She got to appease her heart. I put a little something in it, just a little something that will do a trick. A little, just a little something after you let it take its course, it sneaks the body, it breaks it, disintegrates it, it devastates it, it eats it alive, and then gently, slowly, calm it, it takes care of itself. The breath evaporates. The body lets it take its course. And after nothing, nothing left pulsating, everything becomes remains. A sticky shell, and this all scary, you Michael, huh? You're telling yourself that she's supposed to mind T.J.T.J., huh? You stirred rage, I think. You stirred my rage against her, and there you have it, there you have it. She found peace, sleeps peacefully in the cupboard. I couldn't take it, Michael, that you have a baby with her. I couldn't, more than my father, more than my mother, I trusted you. Mother, mother, you never had either. They had killed everything when you were still crawling. You told me. More than a father, more than a mother to me, and then shit, shit all, shit all this time, Michael. You should have been ashamed of yourself. Hate, detest, despise, of war, every part of your body that's soiled, spoilt, tarnished her body. To do what you did is unacceptable. To do what you did is unforgivable. To do what you did, it's intolerable. To do what you did, it's inexcusable. Chase, chasing games. Body, body, fighting. Body, body, struggling. I'll catch you, I'll catch you, I'll catch you, I'll cut you up into little pieces, any teeny, teeny, tiny pieces. I'll add salt to add flavor, and offer you as a feast to all the stray dogs in town. The need to not remain sitting, their arms crossed as clear. You will see, you will see, we'll see, I will make you see. I need to do something. I will make you believe it. These situations always need to do something. You will understand, you will understand, we'll understand what it takes, what it tastes like rotten flesh. 99% of people will have done something. You are gonna die, and I will delight in the deliciousness of your death, of giving you death. I want you dead, dead, dead. Nothing more than dead, emptied out of your breath, of the body, disgusting. How creative people can be. And Russia, one young girl, kills another young girl with a hundred clips of tweezers. It's clear that it's a compromise. That would do the trick. But, one hundred clips of tweezers, that's slow. That takes time, and no time. You're going to die to be buried. Michael. You're going to be buried to die. Michael. To die to be buried. Michael. To be buried to die. Michael. To die. Michael. To be buried. Michael. Die, die, die. Race, race is running out. Competition, competition is weakening. It's creeping, creeping. Lobbles, stumbling. Tangle, collapsing. Pain, pain and straightening. Ow, ow, ow. You're hurting, hurting, hurting me. That hurts, hurts, hurts. And then, and then. Pop, flower, pot. Bangs, bangs. Breaks, breaks. I give you the head. Hurts, hurts. Ow, ow, ow. You made me bleed, bleed. Six, creatures crawl in search of blood. Head, head, head, pissing, pissing blood. Red, red, the blood, squirt, squirt of blood. What, what, what is it? Red, look like running down your body, Michael. Pepsi, or Coca-Cola. Look at your clothes. Red, all red. Let me clean that for you. Panda, panda, panda. It's you. It's you, it's you, panda. Nothing clearer, nothing clearer, nothing clearer than that. Nothing clearer than that. I see, see, see, see you, panda. Beautiful, became more beautiful. Oh, my, the beauty of an angel. What beauty. The snot's there. Oh, heaven, the snot's running from your nose. What is it, Michael? Let me take care of it. Touch, touch, you can touch. Do you feel the bandage on my nose? I made my nose more handsome for you. My nose no longer pleased you. You, you were saying. Remember, panda? There you have it. It became proper your nose. Even glistening your nose. Come here, come here, come here, so that I can inhale your personal scent under your armpits, between your legs, all these goodness smells contained in your body that I touch, touch, you touch, you. Saliva, you're saliva there. Oh, how funny, let me look at it. You're drooling like a baby, my darling. Hands. Come here, come here, come here, panda. I want to touch your body, feel your body vibrate under my fingertips. You like to, huh, to feel my tongue on your lips? They've become softer, my lips, you feel that? I drink your saliva, you're filth. I adore your filth, you know. I drink your filth like wine. Here, sit down on the sofa, put it, these tears. You're crying, Michael, you're crying again. Stop sniffling like a child, you're not a child, Michael. Babe, you hold me again, touch me again, stroke me again, there, panda. Stay still, stay still, Michael. You're clean now, don't you see it now? There's no more blood that pisses, pisses on you. Look at how your handsome again, more handsome, and your smooth criminal, and your gentle scent of Nivia, I smell it again. Again, full on in the nose, it penetrates me. Don't move away, don't move away, don't move away, panda. Where are you going like that? Give me your hand, come back, come back, come back. Seven, you see a sight that almost stops your heart. Look at me when I'm speaking to you, Michael. I can strip, take off my clothes, take off my bra, take off my underpants, become naked, spread myself like the hands of a compass for you. Let you drive into my sex, smash into me. That would satisfy you to spread my thighs up the hand of a compass. Just smash me like a windowpane, do you remember? A drink, a drink. I think it lasts all night long, from midnight to the end of night. A drink, a drink. Just spread my thighs like the hand of a compass on the living room sofa to smash me like a windowpane all night long, from midnight to the end of night, you could. A drink, a drink. To hear me vibrate like a yamaha. He looked to hear me vibrate like a yamaha, so I vibrate like a yamaha. I would feel the ejaculation of his member in my sex when I vibrated like a yamaha, pain or pleasure. He didn't care when I vibrated like a yamaha. I just wanted to hear me vibrate like a yamaha. Wind, wind. His member was on the verge of drooling. It was ridiculous. Wind, a drink. No, not ridiculous, more terrible. Wind, wind. Terrible when he clutched onto my body like he was clutching onto the trunk of a palm tree. Air, air. Terrible when his body twisted in every direction. The heart, air. Terrible when he bit me with his teeth. Heart, heart. Terrible when he scraped me with his nails. Air, heart. That pleased him. Air, heart. He liked it too much, actually. Lungs, heart. When he clutched my body like he was clutching the trunk of a palm tree, when his body twisted in every direction, when he started to bite me with his teeth and when he scraped me with his nails, then only then I know how spontaneous, then only when I how spontaneously, like an old ruined truck, and he erupted and laughed like a crazy person. Lungs, lungs. He looked like I only know pain when I spread my thighs at the hand of a compass when he smashed me like a window pane, when I vibrated like a yamaha, when I howled like an old ruined truck from midnight to the end of the night I would try to hang on to my courage to withstand it. Lungs, air. The important thing was that he was there. Breath, wind. I had someone to share my nights with. Breath, breath. One morning I woke up, nothing but a paper left on the kitchen table. Breath, breath. On my phone in the house, even a smell had left his gentle scent, but maybe I evaporated. Life, air. What is a love? My love. Life, life. The house was deserted. Air, breath. Heart to swallow. What is that dark thing coming from no one knows where? Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, not to include all that horrible thing that holds me around the neck, blocks my nose. They're out to get you, whose demons closing in on every side. They will possess you 15 years, maybe even more, maybe even less. Air, breath. Living with you for 15 years. Breath, air. And to leave me suddenly like that, heart to swallow. Air, wind, breath, air, breath, breath. Michael, answer me when I speak to you. Take your eyes off the ceiling, look at me. Talk to me. Asphyxia. Asphyxia. Asphyxia. They will possess you. They will possess you. They will possess you. Wind, air, breath, life, air, wind, life, longs, breath, air, wind, life, breath, air, breath, air, breath, wind, breath, life, breath, air, life, breath, air, life, breath, air, breath, air, wind, breath, air, breath, air, breath, breath. The stomach isn't moaning anymore, not moaning anymore. Not beating anymore, not beating anymore. The heart isn't beating anymore, isn't beating anymore, not pounding anymore, not pounding anymore. A chest isn't pounding anymore, isn't pounding anymore. Eight, let me hold you tight. Corpse on corpse, damned cocktail of the stench of putrefaction, the atrocious perfume of moldy corpses, hazy and unbearable, a fluvium of musty meat, baneful, abominable aroma of rotting flesh. I had her, I had her, Michael stubbed out. Never, never is the word right in the chicken brawl. Look at her blood in my palm, look. That's what you need to do with flies. Never rush, wait, that's the secret. They always end up coming back, and when they come back, you let them parade around until the right moment and then bam, bam, you kill them. It's nothing to kill a fly. Everyone, men and women are unanimous on that, flies are annoying, so you need to kill them when you can, no sin to pay for that, a fly, no sin to pay for it, the neighbors, the neighbors pile behind the door many more and more and that, knock, knock, knock, tap, tap, bane, bane, bane, knock, tap, bane, tap, knock, bane, knock, bane, tap, tap, bane, knock, bane, knock, tap, bane, tap, knock, who is knocking ceaselessly on the door like that? I hear voices, do you have as normal that all the bio women in the neighborhood are dying to touch you? My word, who is at the door? I don't even know what you want me to open the door. Your mouse, your mouse, your mouse, your mouse, your mouse, I hear you, I hear you, I hear you, I hear you, your skinks are fully mouse, I hear everything, everything. Of course, stinks, they know, it stinks, stinks, stinks. Stinks, stinks, stinks. It stinks, stinks, stinks. I can't smell your gentle, agreeable scent of Nivea anymore. Who smells, Michael? Where is that sudden order of crap coming from? From your body, Michael, your body, huh? Not possible, your body can't have that horrible order of crap, it still is due to scent of Nivea. From your body? The atrocious perfume of future faction. She wants to look at her, she involves him with Nivea. She wants him to smell good that the agreeable odor of Nivea exudes from his body. I breathe, I breathe, I breathe, I smell it. Michael, Nivea, whispers, baffled, capos, mournful, intense, from behind the door. One from us, Michael, they don't stop, don't stop, don't stop, making noise behind the door. Michael, look at me, Michael should get me there. A child, a child, I could love for one, I could pour over them the immense love of a mother to finally have a child of whom I'd be proud to be a mother, a child whose father isn't a grandfather, agreeable. Give me that child who will be my child, Michael, I want it. The foulest stenches in the air, the foulest stenches in the air, the foulest stenches in the air. It's coming back to smell of crap, Michael, you don't just smell of Nivea. Where is it, Michael? I barely just finished embalming you with Nivea. Your deodorant is actually empty. Why is that stubborn smell of crap still exuding your body? Let it exude Nivea, I'm having trouble breathing. The smell of crap is stifling me. Look at how I'm breathing. A child, I want it there, there, there, there, not Michael before my breathing cuts off. For that door is open before it was piled up, before the door empties into the house, I still hear them more numerous than they're becoming. Pleasure me so that I can breathe. Pleasure me before the door opens, Michael. They're pushing, forcing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing the door. Do you hear them? Do you hear the bangs? They don't want to stop, Michael. They'll end up smashing in the door. You hear? You hear? You hear? Listen, listen, the bangs on the door, the brouhaha, it's full of rage. I feel it, Michael. The brouhaha that I hear, the brouhaha that I hear, it's full of rage. Look at me when I'm speaking to you. Open your mouth, wet your lips, speak, speak, speak. Speak to me, Michael. Lift your body up a bit. Michael, I don't feel you inside me. I want it in my depths. I want to meet you if you don't know what you're making. You're only a pleasure I want. You're a strong man. Show me that you're a strong man. Flood me with pleasure. Drill with my sex. Dance with my sex. Blow's on blows. Blow's on blows. Sharp, sharp, sharp, quick. Wake up, little Michael, I'm talking to you outside. Listen outside, the brouhaha outside. I didn't even hear the rumbling of the sky that we've heard before anymore. Michael, they're still pushing, forcing, pushing, forcing, pushing, forcing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing. Pushing the door, the knock, tap, slam, bang, tap. I suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, I suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, I suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, Stop, stop, stop anymore, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me, suffocate me First of all, before we start, I'd just like to say it's kind of a pleasure to work with all of the artists this festival, and Hakim Ba did everything right to try to get here, and it is a true shame that our government decided not to let him be here. So Hakim, thank you for being here via the internet, and thank you for this piece. First of all, I'd like to thank you for being here, in principle, for telling me now, and you're asking me to thank you for the piece. Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you a little bit. Yes, thank you everyone too. I listened to the link you sent me. That's great. So he was able to watch with us in live streaming, and he thanked everybody. And then I want to thank Ethan and the entire cast for a truly beautiful reading that was wonderful. And so I'd like to start with a couple of questions maybe for Hakim before I move on and talk to you guys a little bit about interpreting this piece. Hakim, one of the things that struck me most about this piece was the use of thriller. And I just, I think Michael Jackson is such an interesting, iconic character for how he spreads globally, and I'm interested in really why thriller for this tale. So Hakim, Brough had asked me the question, why thriller, why Michael Jackson? And what does it mean for Africans in general, for you maybe? And what made you think of Michael Jackson for the piece? Well, I grew up with this music a little bit of Michael Jackson, so the pop. So he grew up with Michael Jackson. And so he was wondering about writing a character who decides to change his skin color. So why is changing his body his own body? So for me, Tisha Tisha is a reference to the body where Tisha Tisha calls herself to preserve the organ of her daughter. And then she finds herself caught by that, by Michael. And on the other side too, it's the figure of Michael Jackson who changed his skin because he was... So on the other hand you have Tisha Tisha who preserves the body of her daughter when you have somebody else who's defacing his own body in the case of Michael Jackson. Heather, can you speak just more into your mic? Oh, I'm sorry. That's okay. Excellent. So I think one of the things that strikes me most about this piece is the language and the use of language. Whether it be how you use stage directions and write stage directions to repetition, to a really kind of sensory experience. And just wondering how language works for you and what's really important to you as a playwright with language. So Bruca was very surprised by how you use language in a piece. He understood poetry, he understood repetition and also the way you don't always separate the words that you say and the directions. So I wanted you to talk a little bit about language. Well, I work a lot with repetition in my play. So in Tisha Tisha, as there is already a relationship, it's all about the situation. She killed her daughter and sometimes she's looking for the words and how to say them. And then after that, Michael also has the ability to adapt. That is to say, it's an impossibility of the parents. I work a lot in this piece and there's a lot of this question. So he uses a lot of repetition in all his work. But in this piece in particular, it was Tisha Tisha not being able to find language to deal with what she's done and what she's lived through. Michael not being able to find language to accept or talk about what he is coming to realize is the truth. Okay, I'm going to open it up a little bit to you guys considering I've had the privilege of seeing the text. First of all, there's no markings for who says what or what is stage directions and what is not. So I'm curious when you first encountered the text, what did you make of it? And how did you make those decisions about who did say what? Clearly it's obvious in some parts, but it's not always. And I'd love to know a little bit more how you engage with the material when you first encountered it. Heather, why don't you talk? I'm just going to translate for you. You asked the question to the teacher and the comedian, how did they decide who was going to say what? And how to divide the text. So the way it's laid out, and this is also true in the French, is the stage directions. Some of the stage directions are in italics, but they are written in verse lines, quite a bit of them. And then although we know who says the first line, after that it's just indicated by a dash. So I think we can sort of figure out who's who in the dialogue, but there aren't sort of conventional dialogue markings indicated in the text. Which I think is what sort of led us to the sense that we should, A, incorporate all the stage directions in verbally, and B, share them corally, so it's not simply that sometimes the characters are capable of narrating some of their own experience. Yeah. He then mentioned that, since the directions are written a bit like a poem, and it's not always clear who's speaking, it's always very clear when one speaks to the other, but compared to directions it's a bit more. So they decided to divide that a bit like a heart in the Greek sense, so that we can hear all the words and then divide the directions. So I like the word heart and myth that you used in there, because to write this piece, I often went to Mede also. So there was this meeting between the figure of Mede and Maikajat Sornan, who somewhere brought me something very, very close. So he said that he likes the fact that you brought up the chorus and the connection with ancient Greece, and actually he was inspired by Medea, which Brooke was talking about earlier. Steams under Heather. So the story of the myth and the play of Medea was influential for his piece. Next one. The third piece is about Tiest, but the second one? The second piece is about... Yes. So it's called The Night of Calcum, but it doesn't necessarily relate to the famous myths. So he wanted to point out that this is the first of three plays in a trilogy. The third play is inspired in no way by Thayestes, by Seneca, and all three are connected through different love relationships and how that's explored. The second piece, he said, the husband kills the wife. Cool. Very cool. Sorry, that was maybe creepy. It's a comedy though, right? He asked if it's not a comedy, the second piece, no? I don't know. He said it's not a comedy because it's presented. Ah, okay. It's a lot about sports that happened in Brazil, the repression for the World Cup. And as I said, there's a lot about the tragedy in it. So someone who changes his job becomes a bit of a policeman. And that's it. There's always a tragic relationship in it. Well, he says it is tragic. It has, in some way, it was inspired by situations going on in Brazil when they were preparing for the World Cup. I know you do a lot of supporting of work in Guinea, even though you live in Paris, Hakim. And I was just curious to know who do you write most of your pieces for? What are your audiences? Are they both in Europe? Are they also in Africa? Or in Guinea where you, I know you produce a festival there. So I'm curious to know in specific this piece, who is your intended audience? So as you are between Paris and well in France and Guinea and Africa, you have asked the question, who do you write for? Who is your ideal audience? Who is the audience or the reader that you want to learn about your pieces? Well, I think about writing. In fact, as much as I write, I take more about the world, about what I see and what I hear. So I try to make sure that my texts can open up to others, that they are not just, for example, in Africa, that they don't address the African people, but that they can understand the world. So in short, he said that he likes to think that when he writes, he is reflecting what he sees in the world and that he wants to open his writing up to everybody in the world, not just for an African audience or a French audience, but for everyone in the world. Hence the use of myths that are well known, but I cannot iconic figure like Michael Jackson. I was going to say Michael Jackson crosses borders. I think it would be really great to open up questions to the audience to see if anybody else would like to ask a question of either Hakim or this beautiful team up here did a great job. I just thought that was an amazing reading and I'm wondering, this is really for you as translator and also for Hakim, are the rhythms similar in the French and the English because it was just extraordinary, the propulsion of this piece. Thank you. So Hakim said that it was extraordinary the fact that the words were designed to continue like this. So the rhythms and the words, she had asked if it was the same in English and French. So Hakim was an incredibly generous playwright to work with as a translator and I really tried to keep true to the poetry in his words and the sense of rhythm and sometimes I would make choices because when we discuss things, when I wasn't sure I could go one way, I could go another way and obviously in French there are a lot of connotations of particular words that may not exist in the English equivalence. So he, and I think we both felt that it was more important to get the idea, the essential idea across than it was to keep the same exactly on words and sometimes those shifted a little bit but the rhythm was really crucial to that going. I'd love to just throw that to the cast too. Inside that rhythm, was there anything that struck you reading it today because we were very taken just earlier with how it sort of keeps, it just keeps coming at you and there's a kind of like a word web that gets, the words keep getting hit over and over and over again that they accumulate through the course of the play. But was there anything that you noticed today? So he had remarked that the words are all connected and the repetition and how the way of playing and he asked the question again. I think what really struck out to me was which specific words were being utilized over and over and over again within a sentence and if I had more time to kind of dissect it I would be wondering why Michael is reiterating this word over and over and over and over again. Why specifically if it's a verb or noun or an adjective and how that, what that does to the text and his psyche in that particular moment. That's one thing that really stood out to me. There's something so delightful working on a piece with language like this where the playwright has worked so specifically and done so much work in detail so as an actor you feel like you can really just release yourself to the language and just like focus on the words and the vowels and the consonants and that that evokes the essence of what's happening and when you say suffocating me, suffocating me, suffocating me over and over again you start to lose your breath, you can't do it and so it's the exact essence of what it is that you're saying so it's such a wonderful piece because you really can just like turn your brain off and just get your body to it and the language just guides you through in such a beautiful way and it's so much fun as an actor to get to work on pieces like that. My favorite part about both of their characters were their death scenes and I've never heard death scenes verbalized before like they're talking along with their emotions and physical deaths, you know and I thought that was really interesting to watch and hear and I've never seen that and that was amazing to me. The language is so powerful at times and it absolutely sneaks up on you and is so moving and surprisingly moving and I thought about the staging of it all the time because the language is so in essence theatrical and I thought if they ever touched I feel like something would be lost that the language is the thing and I wonder about the staging and whether how frightening it would be that it became illustrative and how I can seize it being staged. It's another writer who asks you a question and she said that the language is so remarkable it's so strong but she asked how can it be staged because if we're going to stage an action instead of hearing it, when you write it we might risk losing something. Before I came to the theatre I started with poetry and that's why I liked the word poem that we were talking about earlier so when I write I think rather I consider the culture as a gesture and the staging as another gesture so when I write I don't necessarily think about what it will be on stage. So he started writing poetry that was what he first wrote he then went on to start writing short stories and then came into theatre and he kept the poetry so when he writes he doesn't necessarily think about the staging so much as he thinks about bringing the words into the characters. I can just quickly for the writing of this piece I worked with the actors on the stage so I tested things with them the rhythm and the repetition so it allowed me to dose and then supplement other things so to be in the right place so it was a work on the stage so I finished writing on the stage there was Aquarium with the collective I discovered in 2013 so it also allowed me to see how the response to the stage and then the engagement of the body of the comedian. You worked with Aquarium when you were training the writing of the development of Aquarium and it was in France, right? Yes, it was in France and Aquarium. So he just noted that when he was writing the piece he actually developed it with actors so that he played a lot of them speaking the words and hearing it and the repetition and everything. It's interesting, the very first stage direction is one about smell which is one of the few things we really can't do effectively on stage the olfactory theater is still in its absolute infancy technologically so it's just you look at that as a director and the first thing you think is well that's interesting how could we get that on stage well we can get that on stage via words obviously so I would think any staging would maybe would borrow something from an approach you might take to a Greek text or something like that where you would try and incorporate some of the descriptive elements of the text into the actual performance really directly because I think they'll be more evocative that way than anything we could do. But if we did all of them exactly as described I think they would lose some of their power as you suggested you should always keep in mind a sense of poetry which we can't achieve in the same sense by gestures simply. What did Hakeem ask? Oh excuse me What did Hakeem ask to pay my think of the speed of the artist? He asked what you thought about the comedians because can I say one thing before Hakeem answers we didn't tell him how fast we were going to do it and he doesn't speak English so we might have had a different relationship to the speed So what did you think about the comedians and the artist? It was the fact that in another language it was an effect I don't know if I understood what he was saying but it was through the rhythm so I could see the rhythm of the comedians in the way he wrote the text and it allowed me to follow the one who played Tisha Tisha she was amazing and when I wrote the piece there was a lot of movement in the body of all comedians with respect to the movement we felt it was a very good lecture I watched it in a video he said it was a beautiful reading so he doesn't speak English and the fact of following the reading in a language I don't understand despite that, because of the rhythm he was able to understand exactly what you were saying and he was particularly struck by the reading of Tisha Tisha but also by the way that you both embodied so much through your breathing and the way that you spoke One thing about the text that we paid attention to is there's very little punctuation that suggested to us that there was a real urgency to sort of rush to get to where the punctuation was and then sometimes he'll set one or two words on a single line and those are much as you would do with the Shakespeare text that might be an indication to give that more weight and more space and I think we could with more time probably develop that more intricately and maybe even make more sense out of that than we were able to add a sort of first first pass I think we have time for about one more question Bring the play, is this okay? I constantly thought about Beckett and I constantly thought about Gertrude Stein and they were both on speed but the Greek chorus was in the background and I have to say as a translator of poetry and now Strinberg's verse play that's the most important thing is always the rhythm so I had it was fantastic thank you for the play and thank you for the performance she said in my piece the rhythm was very important it was very strong so we had to thank her she also noticed that she thought about Beckett and Gertrude Stein it's funny both of those came up today working on it Beckett and Stein and the other person I thought of interestingly was Joyce and a bit of Finnegan's Wake and the end of Ulysses particularly and then we also thought about Beckett and Gertrude Stein when we were discussing the piece with the comedian and then we also thought about James Joyce's book Finnegan's Wake it's quite a pantheon Shakespeare, Joyce, Beckett it's good she's my father Shakespeare, Joyce, Beckett and Gertrude Stein and so in Beckett that's it yes, Samuel Beckett yes, in fact it was Beckett who gave me the idea of writing the theatre when I saw in the photo that I wrote my first piece and then I read it the next day and then Finnegan's Wake for me it was a piece that goes through my writing to this day and the other thing there's an American author named Faubner I also wrote Tisha Tisha through a new Faubner I read a lot at the time the new Faubner at the time who brought it to me so some of the first plays that in first literature that Hakim Redd were the plays of Beckett and that inspired him to write the theatre in the beginning and I didn't know this part but he also was really inspired in this play by the novels of William Faubner so there we go there's our American connection aside from my connection I'd like to give you a special thanks you brought us the text you translated the text and Hakim I'm sure it's probably midnight or 1am in Paris thank you for joining us even with the new baby we miss you and we wish you were here and I also just want to finally thank this cast what a great job it's been a true honor thank you for taking the time guys thank you to you from ETA and the actors the engine so it was a great moment for me to watch you like this so thank you thank you