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SECOND SKIN The Theatrical Passion of Tanja Jacobs Beth Herst Q uebec playwright Carole Frechetteâs La peau dâElisa (Elisaâs Skin) is a postmodern Scheherazade tale, the story of a woman compelled to collect, and retell, intimate histories of love and sensual encounter. Like Scheherazade, Elisa staves off an impending fate, in her case, a mysterious illness that is slowly imprisoning herâas she believesâin fold after fold of excess skin. Each story of longing and consummation she recounts releases a chemical that prevents her skin cells from multiplying, but only if her listeners participate in the sensations she describes, if they share âthe sweat, the shaking, the exact rhythm of the heart.â This is her fate: to defy the limits of language, to make words act upon the body like a touch. A metaphor for the writerâs self-appointed task? A parable of aging and its imposed isolations? A fable of the restorative power of love and/or language and of the inextricable connection between the two? Elisaâs Skin is a true rarity: a quietly subversive theatre text that is as ambiguous as it is engaging, as sensuous as it is intelligent. A virtual monologueâa young male interlocutor makes brief appearancesâthe
PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art – MIT Press
Published: Sep 1, 2003
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