When the mystery is too great....

Robert Jeffery as Luc

In a period when a man's gayness was always shadowed by society's discomfort or hatred it can be difficult to unearth a true picture of historically what male lovers were like. (Equally true for lesbians too, of course.)  In this case discovering who Jimmy's lover was, what he might have been like and how they related was very difficult.  But in some ways that freed me, as a writer, to use more imagination to shape his character as it is embodied in this production by Robert Jeffery.

Robert has an all-American look (whatever the hell that is!) which he's able to adeptly transform so we feel the essence of the young, French painter I created to be Jimmy's lover and champion.  Robert attractively balances Luc's youth and French sophistication which makes Luc a worthy partner for Jimmy.  Luc has a great fondness for Le Petit Prince which, for him, embodies the depth as well as the ephemeral nature of love. "When the mystery is too great, one dare not disobey," he says when first meeting Jimmy.  Over the course of the play Luc learns what Jimmy must contend with in order to obey his heart and his conscience.

LUC

The United States is such a foolish place sometimes! We must stay away from there! 

Away from the anger and the fear.  So you can rest and not think of

these things.

                                         JIMMY

                              I can’t not think of these things, my dear Luc.

                                           LUC

Then the thinking goes much better here in a small village where they

speak French and make good cheese.

JIMMY

People back there should learn to speak French and make good cheese.

And drink it with good wine!  That might make freedom move along

much faster.

                                             LUC

They will move along whether you are there or here. And maybe here

you will not be so afraid.

JIMMY

                                   Afraid?

                                             LUC

Oui, mon cher.  You listen to too many voices.

                                           JIMMY

          One needs guides in the publishing jungle.

                                                       LUC

          Oui, like Lorraine, but not executioners.

                                                     JIMMY

          They worry, that’s all.  What this new novel will mean to the movement…

LUC

          Non.  They worry what will the book mean to them and their little lives.

                                                    JIMMY

But is this book a good idea?  Now? In the middle of all of these horrible attacks?

                                            LUC

The book is not good…it is brilliant like the star you are.

***

The Flea Theatre      theflea.org/        July 12-August 4 

See you there!