Samuel Beckett - " Eh Joe"

To "Eh Joe" (1965), είναι το πρώτο έργο γραμμένο στα αγγλικά, το οποίο ο S. Beckett έγραψε αποκλειστικά ως “A piece for television”, για την τηλεόραση. Η συγγραφή του ξεκίνησε στο πεντηκοστό ένατο έτος της ηλικίας του συγγραφέα, 13η Απριλίου 1965, και ολοκληρώθηκε την 1η Μαΐου του ίδιου έτους. Η πρώτη αγγλική εκπομπή βγήκε στο BBC2 (4 Ιουλίου 1966) με τον Jack MacGowran παίζοντας τον Joe (αρχικά «Jack», κατά την έναρξη του πρώτου σχεδίου) και Siân Phillips ως Voice (η Φωνή), για τους οποίους ήταν ειδικά γραμμένο το έργο.
 
Πρόκειται για έναν ηλικιωμένο άντρα γύρω στα 50-60, ο οποίος είναι μόνος σε ένα ανεπίπλωτο, μοναστικό δωμάτιο, ευκρινώς φοβισμένος από κάτι αθέατο. Εκεί δέχεται τη βασανιστική κριτική μιας μυστυριώδους γυναικείας φωνής, για προηγούμενες πράξεις του, η οποία επανακαλεί στη μνήμη του, μια ερωτική σχέση του από το παρελθόν, η οποία είχε τραγικό τέλος, καθώς ο Joe οδήγησε την γυναίκα στην αυτοκτονία.

Η παρουσίαση που προβάλλεται στην παρακάτω οπτικομαγνητική εγγραφή (παρουσιασμένη αποσπασματικά σε τρία μέρη), συμμετέχουν οι Klaus Herm στο ρόλο του Joe, και η Billie Whitelaw στο ρόλο της Voice.

Η  σκηνοθεσία ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέρουσα, με την κάμερα και την Φωνή, ασύμπτωτες χρονικά, εναλλάσσονται με «επιθέσεις» στη σκέψη και το ασυνείδητο του Joe, αναδεικνύοντας τις αντιδράσεις του, τις οποίες ο θεατής, σχεδόν ηδονοβλεπτικά, προσπαθεί να αναγνώσει στο βλέμμα και στους μυικούς σπασμούς του προσώπου του.

Carina

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WOMAN'S VOICE:

    Joe ...

    Joe ...

    Thought of everything? ... Forgotten nothing?... You're all right now, eh? ... No one can see you now .... No one can get at you now .... Why don't you put out that light? ... There might be a louse watching you .... Why don't you go to bed? ... What's wrong with that bed, Joe? ... You changed it, didn't you? ... Made no difference? ... Or is the heart already? ... Crumbles when you lie down in the dark .... Dry rotten at last .... Eh Joe?

    The best's to come, you said, that last time .... Hurrying me into my coat .... Last I was favoured with from you .... Say it you now, Joe, no one'll hear you .... Come on, Joe, no one can say it like you, say it again now and listen to yourself .... The best's to come .... You were right for once .... In the end.

    You know that penny farthing hell you call your mind .... That's where you think this is coming from, don't you? ... That's where you heard your father .... Isn't that what you told me? ... Started in on you one June night and went on for years.... On and off .... Behind the eyes .... That's how you were able to throttle him in the end .... Mental thuggee you called it ... One of your happiest fancies .... Mental thuggee .... Otherwise he'd be plaguing you yet .... Then your mother when her hour came .... 'Look up, Joe, look up, we're watching you' .... Weaker and weaker till you laid her too .... Others .... All the others .... Such love he got .... God knows why .... Pitying love .... None to touch it .... And look at him now .... Throttling the dead in his head.

   Anyone living love you now, Joe? ... Anyone living sorry for you now? ... That slut that comes on Saturday, you pay her, don't you? ... Penny a hoist tuppence as long as you like ... Watch yourself you don't run short, Joe ... Ever think of that? ... Eh Joe? ... What it'd be if you ran out of us .... Not another soul to still .... Sit there in his stinking old wrapper hearing himself .... That lifelong adorer .... Weaker and weaker till not a gasp left there either .... Is it that you want? ... Well preserved for his age and the silence of the grave .... That old paradise you were always harping on .... No Joe .... Not for the likes of us.

I was strong myself when I started .... In on you .... Wasn't I, Joe? ... Normal strength .... Like those summer evenings in the Green .... In the early days .... Of our idyll .... When we sat watching the ducks .... Holding hands exchanging vows .... How you admired my elocution! ... Among other charms .... Voice like flint glass .... To borrow your expression .... Powerful grasp of language you had .... Flint glass .... You could have listened to it for ever .... And now this .... Squeezed down to this .... How much longer would you say? ... Till the whisper .... You know .... When you can't hear the words .... Just the odd one here and there .... That's the worst .... Isn't it, Joe? ... Isn't that what you told me .... Before we expire .... The wisper ...The odd word .... Straining to hear .... Brain tired squeezing ... It stops in the end ...You stop it in the end ... Imagine if you couldn't .... Ever think of that? ... If it went on .... The whisper in your head .... Me whispering at you in your head .... Things you can't catch .... On and off .... Till you join us .... Eh Joe? ...

How's your Lord these days? ... Still worth having? ... Still lapping it up? ... The passion of our Joe .... Wait till He starts talking to you .... When you're done with yourself .... All your dead dead .... Sitting there in your foul old wrapper .... Very fair health for a man of your years .... Just that lump in your bubo .... Silence of the grave without the maggots .... To crown your labours .... Till one night .... 'Thou fool thy soul' .... Put your thugs on that .... Eh Joe? ... Ever think of that? ... When He starts in on you .... When you're done with yourself .... If you ever are.

Yes, great love God knows why .... Even me .... But I found a better .... As I hope you heard .... Preferable in all respects .... Kinder .... Stronger .... More intelligent .... Better looking .... Cleaner .... Truthful .... Faithful .... Sane .... Yes .... I did all right.

But there was one didn't .... You know the one I mean, Joe .... The green one .... The narrow one .... Always pale .... The pale eyes .... Spirit made light .... To borrow your expression .... The way they opened after .... Unique .... Are you with me now? ... Eh Joe? ... There was love for you .... The best's to come, you said .... Bundling her into her Avoca sack .... Her fingers fumbling with the big horn buttons .... Ticket in your pocket for the first morning flight .... You've had her, haven't you? .... You've laid her? ... Of course he has .... She went young .... No more old lip from her.

Ever know what happened? ... She didn't say? ... Just the announcement in the Independent .... 'On Mary's beads we plead her needs and in the Holy Mass' .... Will I tell you? ... Not interested? ... Well I will just the same .... I think you should know .... That's right, Joe, squeeze away .... Don't lose heart now .... When you're nearly home .... I'll soon be gone .... The last of them .... Unless that poor old slut loves you .... Then yourself .... That old bonfire .... Years of that stink .... Then the silence .... A dollop of that .... To crown all .... Till His Nibs .... One dirty winter night .... 'Mud thou art.'

All right .... Warm summer night .... All sleeping .... Sitting on the edge of her bed in her lavender slip .... You know the one .... Ah she knew you, heavenly powers! ... Faint lap of sea through open window .... Gets up in the end and slips out as she is .... Moon .... Stock .... Down the garden and under the viaduct .... Sees from the seaweed the tide is flowing .... Goes on down to the edge and lies down with her face in the wash .... Cut a long story short doesn't work .... Gets up in the end sopping wet and back up to the house .... Gets out the Gillette .... The make you recommended for her body hair .... Back down the garden and under the viaduct .... Takes the blade from the holder and lies down at the edge on her side .... Cut another long story short doesn't work either ... You know how she always dreaded pain .... Tears a strip from the slip and ties it round the scratch .... Gets up in the end and back up to the house .... Slip clinging the way wet silk will .... This all new to you, Joe? ... Eh Joe? ... Gets the tablets and back down the garden and under the viaduct .... Takes a few on the way .... Unconscionable hour by now .... Moon going off the shore behind the hill .... Stands a bit looking at the beaten silver .... Then starts along the edge to a place further down near the Rock .... Imagine what in her mind to make her do that .... Imagine .... Trailing her feet in the water like a child .... Takes a few more on the way .... Will I go on, Joe? ... Eh Joe? ... Lies down in the end with her face a few feet from the tide .... Clawing at the shingle now .... Has it all worked out this time .... Finishes the tube .... There's love for you .... Eh Joe? .... Scoops a little cup for her face in the stones .... The green one .... The narrow one .... Always pale .... The pale eyes .... The look they shed before .... The way they opened after .... Spirit made light .... Wasn't that your description, Joe? ...

  All right .... You've had the best .... Now imagine .... Before she goes Imagine .... Face in the cup .... Lips on a stone a stone.... Taking Joe with her .... Light gone .... 'Joe Joe' .... No sound to the stones the stones ... Say it you now, no one'll hear you .... Play 'Joe' it parts the lips the lips... Imagine the hands .... Imagine The solitaire .... Against a stone a stone .... Imagine the eyes the eyes.... Spiritlight .... Breasts in the stones .... And the hands .... Before they go .... Imagine the hands .... What are they at? ... In the stones the stones....What are they fondling? ... Till they go .... There's love for you .... Isn't it, Joe ? ... Wasn't it, Joe? ... Eh Joe? ... Wouldn't you say? ... Compared to us ... Compared to Him .... Eh Joe?...

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-Πηγή: http://www.samuel-beckett.net/ehjoe.htm

-Ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέρουσες πληροφορίες για το έργο (στην αγγλική γλώσσα)  εδώ

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