WHEN DID WE EVER HAVE BREAKFAST TOGETHER?
Performance by Mara Ravins with Paul Landon and Silvija G., Actor’s Lab, Spring, 1982. 20 minutes with video projections.
Throughout the performance, two simultaneous scenes take place. In the first scene, an elegant woman goes through the motions of being in a singles pick-up bar. In the second scene a man and a woman wearing black masks over their eyes are in bed. The woman pulls a wire hand out from under the covers and reaches secretly around the man to turn on the television. A tape dialogue between a frustrated couple beings.
The live action accompanying the dialogue is a choreography of emotional isolation and the inability to communicate, for example: the woman visibly irritated by the man’s smoking turns her back to him and reads a photo romance magazine, and as he rolls over to sleep she secretly pulls out a bottle and pours herself a drink of wine.
The taped dialogue begins to break down, revealing more emotion than real communication. The performance ends with the man leaving as the woman from the bar tableau enters into the bedroom tableau and turns off the TV.