chapter 11 the playwright

　Joseph's life after that was indeed as grueling as Armand had estimated, and he had to live on nothing but added black bread and cold water every day. This life lasted for about two months, and Joseph managed to get himself into a more bamboo-like shape.

　　"Joseph, there is a theater group that has recently been preparing a comedy called The Island Governor. Well, the story is taken from among Don Quixote. I think you are in perfect shape today to star as Knight Quixote in this comedy." Amand smirked at Joseph.

　　"Hell no!" Joseph said, "Surely Don Quixote is not the main character in this play right? The main character should be Sancho."

　　Saying this, he looked Arman up and down again and said, "I have to say, you need to make a great effort to play the lead role."

　　"Who said I'm going to play the lead role? How is that possible?" Ah Mang said, "Sancho is a short and fat man, and I, although I am slightly shorter than you by a tiny bit, but neither being short, nor being fat, has anything to do with me. Joseph, are you out of your mind or out of your eyes? Or maybe it's because you've completely gotten into character, so you've been able to see windmills as giants?"

　　Joseph listened and laughed out loud, "Ah, Armand, why is your brain so rigid? Is not comedy what makes it comedy, because of its absurdity? Ah Mang, you must realize that the world is absurd and life is painful. That, my friend, is the reality of the world.

　　Once upon a time, King Midas searched long and hard in the forest for the companion of the god of wine, the wise Silenus, but found none. When Silenus finally fell into his hands, the king asked him, "What is good and wonderful for a man? The god was so dumb that he said nothing, and when the king forced him, he at last uttered these words in a loud laugh: 'Wretch of life and death, son of inconstancy and sorrow, why do you force me to say what you had better not hear? The absolute best thing in the world is something you can never have - that is, not to be born, not to exist, to become nothing. But for your second best you have still time to seek, and that is - hurry up and die!'

　　What a terrible story is this, and what can we see when we lift the mists that shroud the towering Olympus and expose its foundations to our eyes? We find ourselves confronted with the overwhelming fear of the violence of nature, the fate that reigns mercilessly over all knowledge, the eagle that torments the great lover of man, Prometheus, the terrible fate of the wise Odipus, the plague of the House of Atreus that drove Orestes to matricide. We see that behind the sacred solemnity of the Greek gods lurked, in fact, none other than the Titans of terror. In order to be able to live, due to this urgent requirement, the sensitive Greeks had to create a dream world with which to ward off the horrible reality. Just as Apollo held Medusa's head aloft, thus making all sorts of horrible monsters retreat. And comedy and even art of all kinds is this dream.

　　The dream can be absurd, it even has to be absurd. Only a horrible Medusa can scare off other horrible monsters. So why do you cling to the idea that Sancho is a short, fat man?"

　　"Joseph, you abomination." Armand said, "You're a guy who is purely fooling people by your own learning. My head is wrapped around your head. While there seems to be some truth in what you're saying, the audience wants a beautiful dream, not a nightmare that scares them out of their wits. I don't think they'd accept a tall, handsome Sancho like me."

　　"Indeed, Sancho's image creates an interesting contrast with his intelligence, a contrast that elicits pleasure from the audience. You go straight up, and indeed there is no such contrast. But my friend, haven't you forgotten that there is a way, though not yet possible, to make a Glaie (the three gray witches of Greek mythology who shared one eye and one tooth and were ugly to look at) into Helen." Joseph laughed.

　　"You're talking about make-up, right? But how can make-up change a person's appearance at best, and how can it make a tall person, into a short person?" Armand said doubtfully.

　　"How can there be no solution? This world never lacks solutions to problems, it only lacks smart brains that can think of them." Joseph said as he fumbled with a pencil and a piece of sketch paper filled with math problems from a nearby table.

　　"Look, let's make a ... the same way we made a whale baleen skirt" Joseph said as he drew on the draft paper.

　　"This is ..." Amand stared wide-eyed, "Huh, this seems to work really well, but it's just that it's too tiring for the actors to act this out."

　　"It's a bit difficult, but it's not easy to find midgets who can act. But actors who can act and suffer can be easy to find no?" Joseph glanced at Armand and said, "Of course, a guy like you who loves art but lacks the spirit to sacrifice for it definitely can't suffer like this. Besides, this has another advantage, that is, when the theater performance is over and the actors go on stage to take the curtain call, the actor who plays the dwarf suddenly stands up straight, the effect must be very comical."

　　"Heh, heh ...," laughed Armand, as he pocketed the piece of paper Joseph had drawn, "Joseph, you should apply for a patent in England for this design. But there's no use applying for one because France doesn't recognize British patents and France has no legislation on patents."

　　"So England is superior to France in technical inventions." Joseph replied.

　　...

　　Two more days passed after this conversation. Amand came running to Joseph again and said:

　　"Joseph, that idea you had last time was good. Especially the one at the end of the curtain call, there was a lot of laughter down there. The effect was great. I think you could be a screenwriter, Joseph. You know, the Greeks, the Romans, those plays were good, but a lot of them were too old and not really suited to today's stage. And then there are the more recent ones from the Renaissance era, too. Also, even the works of modern literary figures are often so closely modeled after the ancients that they can't really be performed on stage without modification. That's why many theater companies need a playwright.

　　Most of these scriptwriters are ordinary actors by trade, who know the stage well but have a very low level of knowledge of the arts. So many theater troupes, in addition to having a screenwriter who comes from an actor's background, will also go looking for a screenwriter who has enough taste in art for them to work with each other. Like that 'Dragon and Rose' theater company that performed 'The Island Governor' last time, they would like to hire one of those writers nowadays. Also, a lot of artists started out in this kind of position.

　　Originally, they offered me to come and work for them as a screenwriter. But, you know, I'm very busy, and you need money these days. It's just that Joseph, my friend, do you have the energy and the time to do this work now?"

　　"Ah, thank you so much, my friend." Joseph said gratefully, "As for energy and time, my friend, those two things, they are like water inside a sponge, if you squeeze hard enough, you can always squeeze some out."

　　"Joseph, you know what? One of the interesting things about talking to you is that one can always hear some extraordinarily philosophical words from you. You're actually a very interesting guy, and if you didn't intentionally act like a clergyman, you'd be a hit with the girls. Of course, you might still be a bit behind me, but you're certainly better than Lucien. You see, Lucien already has a mistress."

　　"Lucien has a mistress too?" This news was a surprise to Joseph, because although Lucien's family had a lot of money, the money he could move in his hands was very limited, and his father would not support him to keep a mistress anyhow.

　　"Of course." Armand said with a fluttering brow, "Just now I met Lucien's new coat and hat and his shiny new shoes near the church of St. Genevieve, with a Lucien wrapped up in them and a bouquet of flowers in his hand, with such a wooden look that he didn't even hear me say hello to him. I look at his face that look of apprehension and anticipation, both like going to participate in the dissertation defense, but also like a general preparing to go to the battlefield. Ah, that look is familiar to me - because I've seen it a lot. I've given this state a biological name, 'rutting'. Well, Lucien is in that state today. I'm sure he's got a little mistress. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that!"

　　"From what you're saying, you're not sure?" Joseph said, "That's not like you. Didn't you secretly follow Lucien to see what kind of a girl could charm Lucien at once?"

　　"Of course I went along; I had thought the fellow would go into the little garden at the back of the church to have a rendezvous with his little mistress. At the time I thought, 'This kid really knows how to find a place.' I didn't realize that he actually got into a public carriage over there and ..."

　　"And then you lost him didn't you?" Joseph laughed.

　　"That's right. But I'm sure I can figure out what kind of a goblin could have charmed our Lucien like that. Hahaha ..." Amand laughed.

　　"Ah yes, the head of the Dragon and Rose troupe, Mr. Denardi would like to meet you sometime and buy you a cup of coffee. You'll see when you can find the time."

　　"How about Sunday afternoon, I don't have much to do that afternoon." Joseph replied.

　　"Good then, I'll go ahead and set up a time with Mr. Denardi then. Um, do you have any requests for the location?"

　　"Anywhere is fine." Joseph replied.