Magic Theater, Fort Mason Centre, Building D 3rd Floor, Golden Gate Golden Recreation Centre

Suzanne Helmuth and Jock Reynolds, Hospital (26th April-19th July 1977)

Description

Limited seating lining walls/Reynolds environment scattered throughout the center/3 beds/sawdust floor/handsaw suspended from ceiling/bathtub/scraps of lumber/black medical bags/rollerskates/Venetian blinds/swing music/enter performers/environment activated/beds moved about/dancing with saws/wheelchair tracking up sawdust/mimicry/I’m ill…my heart is beating…I’m ill/collaborative dance with handsaw/assault with handsaw on near objects/I could cut the bed/my leg/my heart out/Do not destroy anything tonight…I promised/It’s impossible not to destroy/Let us look at your morals/can opener waving/Open my can/It’s your heart I want…not your genitals/I’ll seduce you/riding in a wheelchair/serious organ music/Is it fun/you get used to it after a while/from a bed: Nurse…I want color television…water…a telephone…a can of water kicked/from a bed; Better conditions or else/ceiling outlet fills bath with steaming stream of water/bubble soap added/hair washed/two in tub splashing/It’s time to explain the whole thing…It all started with a heartbeat/teapot whistles, steaming/steam breathing ritual/You’d better be careful/10 per cent pony ride brought in/Grandma…do you have a message/Your grandmother is disappointed in you/I’m afraid of dying/I want a baby/I don’t remember where to put the money in the horse/She’s afraid of horses/If we had a little more money everything would be all right/I wanted to be a cowgirl/Spare change man/I want a baby and I’ll cut your belly open to get it/exit horse enter steel bed frame and mattress, skeleton suspended above/lights out/skeleton: I want to dance with you/continued dance animates skeleton/phosphorescent applied to skeleton/space illuminated with greenish glow/dance continued to reclined position/Death is like a falling leaf…I’m ready to die now/white sheet covering skeleton/glow emanating thru/I’m ready to die now/end. (Loeffler 1976: 1)