“In a dark space, a woman in her underwear takes her place in the middle of the room. She begins to recite a list of dates and insults she found in the men’s restroom, using a Walkman. As the words pour out, she gently and slowly raises a flesh-colored fabric structure.” “When the structure rises, enveloping the body, darkness settles in. Followed by a blinding light. Then begins a dance of contact, of touch, of tension, as two bodies face each other. And always those cutting words. Until silence, until darkness—vivid.”
“In the men’s restrooms of university libraries, certain hospitals, train stations, trains, and even high schools, you’ll find a variety of messages addressed to men by men. Some make you smile, others intrigue you, and still others seek to provoke or reveal a sense of loneliness, a certain distress… plunging you into extreme, paradoxical atmospheres. […] For The First Date, it seemed obvious to me that I should ask another person to take on these aspects of life. Furthermore, the narrator’s body is strongly sexualized; the female body is emphasized by the wearing of underwear that allows it to “breathe,” in keeping with the carnal, even raw, nature of the dialogue. At the same time, the woman standing before us is instructed to repeat these words intended for men. This creates a distance between the narrative and the narrator—that is, an individual to whom the proclamations and insults are not addressed, or who could not have been their author. […] “We become that sensitive surface—attentive, accessible, perceptive—as these sentences affect us, move us, and touch us, much like photographic paper. The sentences are inscribed, imprinted on the body, in the flesh; the body physically receives the words. Reading is therefore an intimate act.”
Mickaël Phelippeau, Rendez-vous : trois petits essais de performance, mémoire de maîtrise d’arts plastiques, (sous la direction de Anne Kerdraon), université Rennes 2, 2000
