My Dinner with Andre Page #3

"40 Jewish women who speak

neither English nor French...

"either women who've been in the theater

for a long time and want to leave it...

"but don't know why...

"or young women who love the theater,

but have never seen a theater they could love.

"And if these women could play

the trumpet or the harp...

...and if I could work in a forest, I'd come. "

A week later, or two weeks later,

he called me from Poland.

And he said, " Well, 40 Jewish women...

that's a little hard to find. "

But he said, " I do have 40 women.

They all pretty much fit the definition. "

And he said, " I also have

some very interesting men...

"but you don't have to work with them.

"These are all people who have in common

the fact that they're questioning the theater.

"They don't all play the trumpet or the harp,

but they all play a musical instrument.

And none of them speak English. "

And he'd found me a forest, Wally.

And the only inhabitants of this forest

were some wild boar and a hermit.

So that was an offer I couldn't refuse.

I had to go.

So, I went to Poland, and it was this

wonderful group of young men and women.

And the forest he had found us

was absolutely magical.

You know, it was a huge forest.

I mean, the trees were so large...

...that four or five people linking their arms

couldn't get their arms around the trees.

So we were camped out beside

the ruins of this tiny little castle...

...and we would eat around this great stone slab

that served as a sort of a table.

And our schedule was that usually

we'd start work around sunset...

...and then generally we'd work

until about 6:
00 or 7:00 in the morning.

And then, because the Poles

love to sing and dance...

...we'd sing and dance until about

And then we'd have our food, which

was generally bread,jam, cheese and tea.

And then we'd sleep

from around noon to sunset.

Now, technically, of course...

Technically, the situation

is a very interesting one...

...because if you find yourself in a forest

with a group of 40 people...

...who don't speak your language,

then all your moorings are gone.

What do you mean exactly?

Well, what we'd do

is just sit there and wait...

...for someone to have

an impulse to do something.

Now, in a way that's... That's something

like a theatrical improvisation.

I mean, you know, if you were a director

working on a play by Chekhov...

...you might have the actors playing

the mother, the son and the uncle...

...all sit around in a room and do

a made-up scene that isn't in the play.

For instance, you might say to them...

"All right. Let's say that it's a rainy

Sunday afternoon on Sorin's estate...

...and you're all trapped

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