My sister Tamar is starring in a production of Lorca's "Yerma". On the surface, this is a play about an infertile woman's decline into insanity. Beneath the surface it portrays the moment in which our pain becomes who we are. Beyond that point we will accept neither condolences nor solutions. We must continue to suffer or we forsake our identity. The implications of this in the Israeli political sphere are boundless.
One replica from the play remains strongly in my mind since last night's performance. Yerma speaks to her husband Juan, trying to convey her plight to him. "I want to drink water," she says, softly and poignantly, "and I have neither glass nor water, I want to climb a mountain and I have no feet."
This line is the apex of the play, the moment of transition from the freedom granted by hope to the prison of ultimate self pity. On one hand is the metaphoric lack of water, but water and a glass can be found somehow. If you have no feet, well, that's a bit different. You're not going to climb that mountain. I want what I lack to always be water, even if I lose my feet. As long as we hope, we're fine.
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3 comments:
Why do women have feet? So the won’t leave wet marks on their way from the bed to the kitchen…
You're funny Yuval - I mean I'm kind of amused when I read your blog 'cos it seems to me that there is so much of the prophetic in what you write, but I don't know how aware of this you are? White horses wandering your neighbourhood streets, rain mingling with war (snow is another a sign in the real - and it's used in tons of movie battle scenes - a beautiful example is at the end of 'The House of Flying Daggers'), holding on to hope - because we do need it! And these are only a few.
Anyway, hope you and Jaffa are well.
Girl who speaks in tongues : )
"...the moment in which our pain becomes who we are. Beyond that point we will accept neither condolences nor solutions. We must continue to suffer or we forsake our identity."
Fuck the political implications, this is a mental health issue. This, to my mind, is just the point where you should start forcefully stuffing medication down the throat of whoever feels that way. They will resist, as only people who are about to lose their identities can. And they will hate you, as only people who's identity is threatened can. And it might not work anyway. But can you do less for someone you love?
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