Darkest Corners Of The Soul Poem by gershon hepner

Making us laugh at our soul’s darkest corners
all writers who’re good should attempt when they warn us
of all the disasters we face before dying.
The only alternative that works may be lying,
not just to ourselves, but also to others,
like husbands and wives, and our fathers and mothers
and sisters and brothers, and friends who believe
there’s the people who we have no heart to deceive.

To lie is unhelpful, far better is laughter,
because you don’t feel at all culpable after
you’ve laughed as you feel when you’ve told a big lie
to others, or even yourself. That’s why I
spend my time being funny, although my soul’s dark
in its corners, except where I cause a bright spark
to shine with the laughter that comes to my rescue
like Chairs and Rhinoceros of Ionesco.

Inspired by what the Preacher says in Qoh.2: 2, which I reject, and Patrick Healy’s article about Geoffrey Rush’s forthcoming performance of the role of Berenger in “Exit the King” (“Re-enter Ionesco: Broadway Awaitrs, ” NYT, March 25,2009) :
“I like roles that are on the extreme ends of the spectrum, and there’s special appeal in exploring these slightly forgotten plays that people might think of as subjects for academic term papers instead of live theater, ” he said recently in an interview in his dressing room at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. “And when I discovered ‘Exit the King, ’ it just blew me away.” In a busy Broadway season for original plays — “God of Carnage” opened on Sunday, “Impressionism” on Tuesday, and “Reasons to Be Pretty” and “Irena’s Vow” open this week and next — “Exit the King, ” infrequently revived in New York, will also be new to many audience members. This production has long been a preoccupation for Mr. Rush, whose film stardom (he also earned Oscar nominations for “Shakespeare in Love” and “Quills”) followed an early career onstage in Australia.The play centers on a despotic madman who has overseen the slow ruin of his once formidable kingdom. Berenger is about 400, yet his advanced age does not keep him from careering and tumbling around the stage like a circus player in the full spirit of Ionesco…
Mr. Rush and Mr. Armfield began their adaptation with a word-for-word translation from French to English, and Mr. Rush estimates that “98 percent of our work absolutely honors the original.” The two men have added a hallucinatory chase sequence, complete with strobe lighting, that has reliably delighted preview audiences, and they have changed several words and phrases with modern theatergoers in mind. (One funny bit involves a reference to antidepressants that are described, in the literal translation, as “happy pills.”) Ms. Sarandon said, “What Geoffrey has done is present this wonderfully complicated ruler in a clownish kind of way, yet also show Berenger’s vulnerability and his desire to burn every book and name everyone after him.” That sort of absolute control, and the loss of it in the face of impending death, are among Ionesco’s chief themes in the play — heady stuff, Mr. Rush acknowledges, yet still accessible because of the humor and the heart that the author threaded through the story of the king’s demise. “I think that Ionesco’s greatest weapon is that he’s able to make us laugh at the darkest corners of our souls, ” Mr. Rush said. “When I’m performing the play, I think there’s 1,000 people out there who are collectively enjoying the boisterous burlesque of this charade. But I bet there are also 1,000 absolutely distinct human beings having a very private discourse with themselves, thinking, ‘I wonder how I’m going to be when I have to make my final exit? ’ ”


3/25/09