‘Bunny’ by Samuel Buckett, and a review

‘Bunny’ by Samuel Buckett*

Act 1 Scene 1

A bunny nibbling grass.

Background: Giant advertising billboard

Foreground: Cigarette butt

Enter, stage left, a newspaper. Headline: Quo Vadis?

The bunny continues nibbling.

Enter, stage right, a pigeon.

The pigeon pecks around, then picks up the cigarette butt and carries it offstage.

- Final Curtain - 

Bunny, a review, by Jean de Jeaneaux**

The most important development in theatre in the last decade, recognized both on the Continent and abroad, has been the discovery of Samuel Buckett’s groundbreaking play, Bunny, found underneath a moldy bread crust in Orwell’s old Parisian apartment on Rue de Clochard.

Of all Buckett’s work, this is the most avante-garde, clearly belonging in the très avant-garde genre.

It is a simplistic rendition of a complicated theme, which many capable playwrights have understandably avoided.

The mise en scène appears simple enough, two independent perpendicular forces, each a triptych of contrary intents, and at the centre of both is Man. The longitudinal pull is external to Man, the lateral dynamic is internal.

Once this pragmatic map is understood, Buckett’s genius becomes evident. The physical interaction of life is not where life occurs; rather, it is in the mind. It is within the mind where Man faces the Universal Imperative, that he must account truthfully for his decisions.

In this sophisticated and intelligent rendering by Palais Garnier’s superb directeur artistique Jeanette de Jeaneaux, Man is represented as a Bunny, and is at the crossroads.

• In the longitudinal pull he is placed between commercialism and indulgence, where commercialism is the provider of said indulgence, and wishes even to be the creator of it. The indulgence is further symbolized as death, a claim Capitalists maintain in the hope of the employee’s healthy preference to the Monolith of Labour. Marxists abhor this viewpoint, believing indulgence is a fundamental right; the implication is that anyone believing in freedom is thus a Marxist.
• Juxtaposed to the longitudinal pull, the lateral dynamic shows Bunny divided by group interest and individual caprice, and for his own sense of self (sentiment d'identité) he has to serve both masters. The newspaper, a metaphor for the public voice of group interest, asks Bunny, ‘Where are you going?’ This key question set the tone for 19^th century intellectual discourse from Goethe to Offenbach. This question does not stand in isolation, nothing stands in isolation, which is a typical Buckett theme. This question arises in opposition to Renaissance art’s focusing on penance and Original Sin, implying a state within Man which is corrupt, of which he has no knowledge but for which he must still atone to God. The Age of Enlightenment produced many changes, the key one being that Man accounts for his intents and actions to … Man.

The Universal Imperative demands these two questions be answered: Where are you going? and How do you account?

In the developing tension, which leads to a tremendous concatenation of intent, conscience and duty, the audience experiences the tumultuous opposing forces swirling furiously in Man’s mind, an eternal imbroglio, attempting to resolve these two fundamental questions.

The moment of crisis passes, indulgence marries with caprice, but the outcome is a conundrum; the two questions of the Universal Imperative cannot be answered for Man knows truth not. Bunny continues eating, for Bunny realises, as did Pythagoras, that Man and Man alone is the measure of all things: He demands the world be defined by constructs yet cannot define himself.

The play is as demanding as it is stimulating, and concludes in the first-person celebration of self.

The music accompanying this remarkable play is Dvorak’s Symphony 9 (largo), and it’s the perfect choice. But for the cruel fate of time and place, Dvorak and Buckett could have been best of friends; without evidence to the contrary, Buckett is Dvorak’s reincarnation. Très avant-garde voire.

Bunny runs until the end of February at Palais Garnier, Paris.

-        Jean de Jeaneaux

*Play by E. Strauss, 2015©

**Review by Mark van Vuuren, 2015©