february 05 > 07, 2015

Théâtre Prémol, Grenoble (Fr)

may 16 > 19, 2015

UFER_STUDIOS, Berlin (De)

 

EXTRANEA “Dead Man”, Jim Jarmusch, 1995

 

[ Blake ] What is your name ? My name is Nobody. [ Blake ] Excuse me ? My name is Xebachae. He Who Talks Loud, Saying Nothing. [ Blake ] He who talks... I thought you said your name was Nobody. I preferred to be called Nobody. [ Blake ] Nobody ? [ Blake ] Um, shouldn't you be with your own tribe or somethin'? My blood is mixed. My mother was ungumpai picani, my father was habsoluca. This mixture was not respected; as a small boy I was often left to myself. So I spent many months stalking the Elk people, to prove i would soon become a good hunter. One day finally, my Elk relatives took pity on me, and a young Elk gave his life to me. With only my knife, I took his life. As I was preparing to cut the meat white men came upon me, they were English soldiers. I cut one with my knife but they hit me on the head, with a rifle. All went black; my spirit seemed to leave me. I was then taken east, in a cage. I was taken to Toronto, then Philadelphia, and then to New York; and each time I arrived in another city, somehow the white man had moved all thier people there ahead of me. Each new city contained the same white people as the last, and I could not understand how a whole city of people could be moved so quickly. Eventually, I was taken on a ship across the great sea, over to England, and I was paraded before them like a captured animal, an exhibit. So I mimicked them, imitating their ways, hoping they might lose interest in this young savage, but their interest only grew. I was copying them so they placed me into the white mans school. It was there that I discovered, in a book, the words that William Blake had written. They were powerful words and they spoke to me. So I made careful plans and eventually I escaped. Once again I crossed the great ocean. I saw many sad things as I made my way back to the lands of my people. Once they realized who I was, the stories of my adventures angered them. They called me a liar. Xebachae-he who talks loud saying nothing. Ridiculed by my own people, and I was left to wander the earth alone. I am Nobody.