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    The Blacks: A Clown Show
    The Blacks: A Clown Show
    The Blacks: A Clown Show
    Ebook108 pages1 hour

    The Blacks: A Clown Show

    By Jean Genet

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    An English translation of Genet’s classic symbolic drama, first performed in Paris in 1959.
     
    France’s master of the absurd explores racial prejudice and stereotypes using the framework of a play within a play. The New York Times hailed The Blacks as “one of the most original and stimulating evenings Broadway or Off Broadway has to offer,” while Newsweek raved that Genet’s plays “constitute a body of work unmatched for poetic and theatrical power.”
     
    “Genet’s investigation of the color black begins where most plays of this burning theme leave off. . . . This vastly gifted Frenchman uses shocking words and images to cry out at the pretensions and injustices of our world.” —Howard Taubman, The New York Times
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJan 18, 1994
    ISBN9780802194282
    The Blacks: A Clown Show

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      Book preview

      The Blacks - Jean Genet

      The Blacks:

      a clown show

      by Jean Genet

      TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH

      BY BERNARD FRECHTMAN

      Figure

      Grove Press / New York

      Copyright © 1960 by Bernard Frechtman for the translation

      Copyright © 1966 by Jean Genet and Editions Gallimard

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

      Originally published as Les Nègres

      by Marc Barbezat, Décines, Isère, France, in 1958

      Published simultaneously in Canada

      Printed in the United States of America

      CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that The Black sis subject to a royalty. It is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and all British Commonwealth countries, and all countries covered by the International Copyright Union, the Pan-American Copyright Convention, and the Universal Copyright Convention. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound taping, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction, such as information storage and retrieval systems and photocopying, and rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved.

      First-class professional, stock, and amateur applications for permission to perform it, and those other rights stated above, must be made in advance, before rehearsals, for the English market, to Rosica Colin Ltd., 1 Clareville Grove Mews, London SW7 5AH, England, and for the American market, to Samuel French, Inc., 45 W. 25th Street, New York, NY 10010.

      Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 60-6340

      ISBN 9780802194282

      Grove Press

      an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc

      841 Broadway

      New York, NY 10003

      05 06 07 08 0940 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32

      To

      Abdallah

      One evening an actor asked me to write a play for an all-black cast. But what exactly is a black? First of all, what's his color?

      J. G.

      This play, written, I repeat, by a white man, is intended for a white audience, but if, which is unlikely, it is ever performed before a black audience, then a white person, male or female, should be invited every evening. The organizer of the show should welcome him formally, dress him in ceremonial costume and lead him to his seat, preferably in the front row of the orchestra. The actors will play for him. A spotlight should be focused upon this symbolic white throughout the performance.

      But what if no white person accepted? Then let white masks be distributed to the black spectators as they enter the theater. And if the blacks refuse the masks, then let a dummy be used.

      J. G.

      The Blacks (Les Nègres) was performed for the first time on October 28, 1959 at the Théatre de Lutèce in Paris. The play was directed by Roger Blin.

      The Blacks was first performed in the United States on May 4, 1961 at the St. Mark's Playhouse in New York. The play was produced by Sidney Bernstein, George Edgar and André Gregory, by arrangement with Geraldine Lust, and was directed by Gene Frankel. The sets were designed by Kim E. Swados, the costumes and masks by Patricia Zipprodt, the lighting by Lee Watson, the movement by Talley Beatty, and the music supervised by Charles Gross. The cast, in order of appearance, was as follows:

      The photographs which appear in this volume are from the first American performance of The Blacks, and are by Martha Swope.

      The curtain is drawn. Not raised–drawn.

      THE SET: Black velvet curtains. Right and left, a few sets of tiers with landings of different heights. One of them, far in the background, toward the right, is higher than the others. Another, rather like a gallery, goes up to the flies and all around the stage. That is where the Court will appear. A green screen is set on a higher landing, just a trifle lower than the one mentioned above. In the middle of the stage, on the floor, a catafalque, covered with a white cloth. On the catafalque, bouquets of flowers: irises, roses, gladiolas, arum lilies. At the foot of the catafalque, a shoeshine box. The lighting: very garish neon light.

      When the curtain is drawn, four Negroes in evening clothes–no, one of them, Newport News, who is barefoot, is wearing a woolen sweater–and four negresses in evening gowns are dancing a kind of minuet around the catafalque to an air of Mozart which they whistle and hum. The evening clothes–white ties for the gentlemen–are accompanied by tan shoes. The ladies’ costumes–heavily spangled evening gowns–suggest fake elegance, the very height of bad taste. As they dance and whistle, they pluck flowers from their bodices and lapels and lay them on the catafalque. Suddenly, on the high platform, left, enters the Court.

      THE COURT. Each actor playing a member of the Court is a masked Negro whose mask represents the face of a white person. The mask is worn in such a way that the audience sees a wide black band all around it, and even the actor's kinky hair.

      THE QUEEN. White, sad mask. Drooping mouth. Royal crown on her head. Sceptre in her hand. Ermine-trimmed cloak with a train. Superb gown. At her right:

      HER VALET. A puny, mincing little fellow wearing a valet's striped waistcoat. On his arm a towel, with which he toys as if it were a scarf, but with which he will wipe Her Majesty's eyes.

      THE GOVERNOR. Sublime uniform. Is holding a pair of field glasses.

      THE JUDGE. Black and red robe. At the Queen's left.

      THE MISSIONARY. White robe. Rings. Pectoral cross.

      At the Judge's left.

      The members of the Court, all standing on the same tier, seem interested in the spectacle of the dancing Negroes, who suddenly stop short, breaking off the minuet. The Negroes approach the footlights, make a ninety degree turn, and bow ceremoniously to the Court,¹ then to the audience. One of them steps forth and speaks, addressing now the audience, now the Court:

      ARCHIBALD: Ladies and gentlemen . . . (The Court burst into very shrill, but very

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