St. Rudolf and the opened wax abdomen
-
while I am still lying in bed undressed, with the blanket pulled up under my chin.
The uncle begins, away from me, facing the audience, or rather, as if there were an audience he could turn to:
(Uncle)
”This is Rudolf Lunkenbein, saint of July 15th, missionary in Merure among the Indians in Brazil, loves the mission among the Indians above all, makes the life, the feelings and the language of the Bororo his own, is shot in the courtyard of his mission station by hired pistoleros in the fight for the land of the natives.
One of the most distinctive features you should know about the Bororo is their use of geometric shapes. These shapes are often arranged in complex patterns that represent the Bororo's understanding of the natural world and the cosmos. For example, the circle is often used to represent the sun, the square to represent the earth, and the triangle to represent the sky.“
Relics misappropriated from St. Rudolf because they are needed as objects of interaction on stage:
Wax figure with a circular open abdomen (intestinal loops, stomach walls and a very small embryo are visible), a glass pitcher of water, a glass pitcher of milk.
(Nicola)
I can't see anyone, but I can't rule out the possibility that people have gathered in the street, listening intently to what my uncle is saying, which is clearly audible through the open, double-winged balcony door.
(Uncle)
"Let us say July 15, 1984; Rudolf appears, followed by three natives who, barely on stage, begin to paint each other's faces, fanning themselves with round-cut palm leaves. The stench coming from the red glowing ox blood is almost unbearable“.
(Nicola)
In 1984, I continued my studies, which I had started three years earlier and stopped immediately. I shared an apartment in the old city with my brother. I count the months on my fingers: two years. I have known Constanzia for exactly two years.
(Uncle)
”Are you listening to me?“
(Nicola)
The uncle suddenly turns to me. I nod, pulling the blanket up to my nose. I'd like to get up and get dressed. The uncle says, Rudolf says:
(Rudolf)
”If we want to get closer to people, don't we have to open our innermost selves to them? But yes, the innermost!“
(Uncle)
”What Mr. Lunkenbein meant by "the innermost" was that he had a copy of Venus made with her abdomen open, one of more than a thousand anatomical wax models that the Emperor Joseph II had commissioned in Florence at the end of the eighteenth century and then had transported on pack mules over the Brenner Pass to Vienna.
Father Lunkenbein was interested in only one of them, the Venus with the abdomen cut open in a circle, which he brought to the mission station in Merure, carefully wrapped in wood wool and linen, along with all kinds of sacred equipment.“
(Nicola)
On the stage, the Bororo paint with red ox blood to protect their souls. They stand at a good distance from the woman, who has no belly covering. Lunkenbein smiles, beckons them closer, and the Bororo tremble.
(Rudolf)
"Do not be afraid, my children! Whoever looks into the womb sees the wonders of God, come closer! Come closer! Look, just look! See the tiny being, so well protected, resting in her womb! Look, she is pregnant, like the Mother of God, without a man ever touching her!“
(Uncle)
”The next day the pistoleros came, shot Father Lunkenbein, and took the pregnant Venus to a place unknown to this day. It was inevitable! Even if I do not share the judgment of those in whose name the pistoleros committed their heinous deed, I know the object of their trial. Those who pronounced the sentence say:
As soon as those who claim to be the guardians of the truth proclaim the conversion of the innermost to the outer as the will of God, they deform the spirit, cut deep into the flesh of the community, tear to pieces what can only endure as unity, dismember and devour what gives us a home and a future, they spill your blood and that of your children and your children's children! So it is no wonder that what has happened is happening!“
Rudolf, pausing at the edge of the stage:
(Rudolf)
”I don't like this at all! No - not at all!“
(Uncle)
Nicola, whose bed is at the back of the stage in the twilight, sits up, realizes that he is still naked, lets out a sharp cry. Then, with the blanket wrapped around his body, he shuffles to the edge of the stage, stopping close to Rudolf. In the center of the stage, the wax Venus with her belly cut open, around her the trembling Bororo, their eyes fixed on the internal organs.
(Nicola)
Whether they let it enter their hearts - let us not condemn them if it happens, just as when they close their hearts, disgust seizes them, spitting on the body of Venus, seizing it and smashing it, no, we are not angry, do not accuse them, simply let what would have been so or so be.
Play on Stage / Rudolf and the open wax abdomen
The Bororo's dream