Note on theater at the end of history

Fools and actors come in two genres, like history's stories of power and art's of the play.

Trivially, some know what they are doing and some don't. The actor’s modernity is to also read what is said, to be a witness to what is demonstrated. In this he double-folds time. Performance demands a mirror, and vision is shattering.

The losing fool, who only wants to get what he wants, is so attached to his need that he can't clearly see his own mask even in a mirror. The other fool is the master. He has many masks, but does he know what he wants? The first is either comic or without interest and boring; the second is either tragic or evil. Would you rather be bored or defeated? Is your Christ a scholar or a warrior? The master must keep his mask. The wise gentleman scholar is also a master, and that's what is the matter with being wise. The master must get what he wants. Theater begins when will goes wanting, when even oracles and sacrifices fail, when the real stakes became a game whose stake is understanding. Then all is thrown into question. But theater found its thinking in conflicts, taking from war struggle, from politics a smarter victory or council for speaking at the city’s gate, from science and medicine solving and resolving, from law and sacrifice the grasping and seizure of persons. In the city at the end of the story, we leave the space of the scene wondering not what we want and how to get it, but what our actions, gestures, and movements mean. Then, as laughter takes the place of violence, we walk backwards, as we shall, into a happier future remembering.