Pablo Picasso wrote Desire Caught by the Tail in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1941, four years after completing Guernica. Like his paintings, his words overflow with abstract and poetic images, depicting the ridiculous conversations and actions of comical, metaphorical characters “Tart” and “Big Foot.” The play’s premiere took place in the spring of 1944 with the occupation still in effect, held as a secret reading in a room in Michel Leiris’s apartment. With Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir as the actors and Albert Camus as the director, it figured as an assembly of the cultural figures who had dedicated themselves to the French Resistance.
Director and playwright Takashi Shima, who usually works with Marebito Theater Company, will bring Picasso’s words to Tokyo 80 years later. From his direction notes: “Picasso depicted neither those who criticized the administration, nor all of the people who were living in misery. No, I feel very strongly that he was depicting the desires of the people who lived under those conditions – or otherwise, perhaps this piece represents his own attempt to reach out to someone. What does “resistance” mean to us? We have no understanding of that kind of oppression and unfreedom.” When his play is read aloud as if to trace those explosive images, mimicking Picasso’s touch, how will “our desires” whirl through the air, and where will they land?