They produce and mail to subscribers 20 issues a year, in a form factor that is more like a small book than a magazine. Each one is devoted to a show that has recently played on the French stage, and includes the full script as well as some articles, interviews, and tidbits about it. Think of it as an extended program from the theater, but bundled with the script. The magazine has an interesting history dating back to The first issue of my subscription arrived this week in a quaint airmail envelope from Paris.
There are no pictures other than the front cover. Inside, there is a 10 page preface article about the show, followed by an unannotated text β an uninterrupted monologue by the sole, eponymous character of the work. It was a quick read that I managed in two sittings. Tertullien was a Roman, born in the 2nd century A.
He grew up well educated and became a lawyer before converting to Christianity and becoming a fundamentalist, puritanical zealot. He is known to have written over 40 works, many of which survive to this day. I had never heard of him before, nor read any of his works, but apparently he was unwaveringly severe, an extremely black-and-white thinker. The play is an attempt to take the argument of De spectaculis and present it in modern terms for the modern audience. The argument is: Theater is demonic, as are horse races, gladiator fights, the Olympic games, and competitive sports.
Theatrical productions are the work of the Devil. They corrupt old and youth alike, they feature prostitutes and wastrels, and they reify our basest instincts. So shun the theater, and instead dream of the glorious day when Christ returns and all involved in the theater β playwright, cast, crew, and audience alike β will be tortured horribly in Hell for eternity.
No acknowledgement that the listener is in a theater, or the speaker is treading the boards. In an article appearing as a preface in the volume, Daniel Loayza asserts that the play forces us to re-examine why we do go to the theater, why we do find it valuable and rewarding. No second voice offering rebuttals, no self-doubt lurking under the surface of the 40 page diatribe. Just your routine fire and brimstone. The closest that you get to a refutation is a strawman that Tertullien-the-character offers translation mine :.
