After a couple of hours of scrambling and running errands, we met at Nowy Targ Square for a bus to the production of Krystian Lupa’s THE TEMPTATION OF QUIET VERONICA, based on Robert Musil. My only encounter with Musil before this has been in a seminar on his MAN WITHOUT QUALITIES, an unfinished novel which is far too long for its own good. I did a lot better with the play than I did with the book.

The production took place in the largest warehouse we’ve been in yet, and the acting was very understated and sometimes so quiet you could barely hear them speaking. But the staging was so vivid that we listened to every word. I’m now a card-carrying member of the Lupa acolytes. I haven’t seen something that shook me up so much in a long time. It’s hard to describe, but the production was largely about alienation, sexual alienation, and being trapped in situations with people you don’t love. Good stuff. Great theater.

We returned to the Club again for another round of goodbyes: the 3 J’s and B are all gone, on a train last night at 3 AM, and others are starting to drift away. Those of us who are still here have one last US Artists Initiative goodbye session Tuesday morning.

- Dara

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