Upstaged

by Jacques Jouet, Professor of Literature Leland De La Durantaye (Translator)

A stranger takes over a role in a play, leaving the rest of the cast to ponder his motives.

Two minutes into the second act, there is a knock on Nicolas Boehlmer’s dressing-room door, just as he’s smoking his last cigarette before having to go back on stage . . . and, without thinking, he says,“Come in,” still in character. He quickly finds himself bound, gagged, and stripped by a man who appears to be his mirror image: costumed in the same wig, make-up, and clothes. Nicolas is powerless to prevent his usurper from going out and playing his role—with increasingly ridiculous consequences. Is this “upstaging” the act of a depraved amateur? Sabotage by a rival? A piece of guerrilla theater? A political statement? Whatever the cause, Nicolas and his fellow actors soon find their play—and their lives—making less and less sense, as the parts they play come under assault by this irrational intruder.

Genres: France, Fiction, French Literature, Novels, Contemporary, Literature

96 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2011

About the author

Jacques Jouet is a French writer and has been a participating member of the Oulipo literary project since 1983.

He is a poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, and plasticine artist specializing in collages. As a member of l'Oulipo, Jouet became its focus in June 2009 when he began publicly writing a serialized novel in five days. He first became involved with Oulipo in 1978, stemming from a writing course directed by Paul Fournel, Georges Perec, and Jacques Roubaud.

His serial The Republic of Mek Ouyes was broadcasted simultaneously on radio and on the web, through the site of his publisher, P.O.L.

Jouet wrote Poèmes de métro while riding the underground trains of the Paris Métro.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jouet is a prodigious and lesser-known Oulipian emerging into English via Dalkey translations of his shorter works. This 64-page “novel” (Jouet insists) concerns an actor whose identity is usurped (by The Usurper, who delivers a better performance than the gagged original) for the first half of a tiresome play on the French Republic (Jouet is working on a modern version of Balzac’s Comédie humaine). His earlier Dalkey title Mountain R was a satire with some disagreeable nastiness in its depths, whereas this is a lighter piece of the thought-provoking and amusing variety, helpfully explained by the translator in a page-bulking afterword as a potential potential novel (of constraints), or even a novel about the potential of constraints—at any rate, something Oulipian is never far away. $14.90 for this pamphlet is a little cheeky, so consult your nearest Dalkey-stocked library.

[jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

jacques jouet, french novelist, poet, playwright, and essayist, is rather prolific, yet seemingly little-known to english readers despite having authored some 50 books. a member of the illustrious oulipo group since 1983, jouet is "intensely interested" in the incorporation of literary constraints in his writing.

upstaged is a slim work concerning the production of a political play and a unique disruption that affects those involved in its staging. when the usurper forces his way into the performance, the bewilderment and confusion of the other actors, director, and stage crew give way to admiration and much-needed improvisation. although the usurper's intent remains forever shadowed, it elicits a variety of responses. a critic's review following the play adds an unexpected (and somewhat humorous) perspective.

upstaged, despite its brevity, is a charming and imaginative work. included in the book is an illuminating afterword by leland de la durantaye, upstaged's translator, in which he writes about jouet, his work, and his use of constraints a la oulipo.

think of all the things that must pass through an actor's mind when he or she is confronting something unprecedented onstage, and to which he or she must react in the unseen blink of an eye. question after question. has there been an accident? was this planned? is it a test? a destabilization exercise? an initiation ritual? a waking nightmare? but there's little time to wonder, and none to be shocked.

[Igor S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know what Jouet's constraint when writing this was but I do know mine - I need an extra star. A perfect book to quickly get a smile back on your face when feeling blue; reading it will be way less effort than jogging for an hour to get that runner's high.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sure I'll read this again. It was entertaining, funny, but I think there were depths to the story that I moved too quickly to fully appreciate.

Since it only takes about an hour or so to read, I'll enjoy it again sometime soon.

Jouet's very cool, especially _Mountain R_.

[Monica Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Usurper, however, did not allow his character to slide down the slippery slope of outraged stoicism, as is called for in Flavy's play (a development very much in accord with what we know of the historical Soufissis). He kept to his lines, and yet at the same time began to rebel against it. At first this was done almost imperceptibly. Only gradually did his undermining of the text become clear. The Usurper succeeded thereby in slowly unsettling the usually effortless assurance of Jean-Francois Ernu, and, thereby, of the President. At first it was a discrete clinamen, a slight deviation of the orderly descent of textual atoms--a not absent in one place and slipped in somewhere else.

Novelist, playwright and member of the Oulipo, Jacques Jouet's latest offering is a slim novel that lampoons the theater scene but also plays with the concepts of identity, the roles of playwright, actor and reviewer, and the politics of art. Regardless of all that, which are mere interpretations of the author, Upstaged is a very fun and funny read.


Narrated by the assistant director, Upstaged chronicles the events if one evening's performance of Marcel Flavy's play, Going Out to the People. In the audience are two critics, Alexandre Bostinas of The Morning Republic and an unnamed reviewer who sleeps through the unusual performance. The play had managed to go along as usual for the first act until one of the leads, Nicholas Boehlmer, is gagged and bound by a man dressed exactly like his character. What ensues after the presence of the Usurper as he is aptly named is an altered performance that can never be replicated. The Usurper has memorized Boehlmer's lines and blocking to such an extent that the other actors do not notice any difference. That is, until the Usurper begins to slight change the lines and meanings of the scenes. Because the play has political content, the Usurper's ad-libs and changes make the play seem as if it is a call to action for the audience. His changes and how the fellow cast respond to his improvisations only makes the play better, magical to the point of imparting political and philosophical messages. Once Boehlmer breaks free, the director whacks him on the head so that the Usurper can continue with his wonderful performance. Ultimately, after having sex with one of the female cast members, he disappears and is never heard from again.

The question of identity in this theatrical farce is a tricky one. There are the actors taking on another identity, their perception of themselves as actors, how the audience perceives their character, and the identity of self for the actors. The Usurper addresses this when he ties up Boehlmer and says to him:

"I am indeed taking part of you, but you will soon find it returned unharmed. You have my word." The Usurper added: "In case this does not go without saying, I very much admire your work."

The Usurper recognizes that he is taking his identity as the character, Boehlmer's own identity as an actor, and by admiring his work and stealing his role for the evening, he is using his own perception of Boehlmer's identity as an audience member and replacing that perception with himself. This may seem difficult and convoluted, but it is a concept that Jouet seems to be idly playing with in Usptaged.

Also, Jouet poses questions to the reader through the role of the Usurper. Once the Usurper goes off-script, we wonder what is the role of the playwright and of the actor? How can the playwright's intention be truly understood once it is vocalized through the interpretation of the actor? And if one abandons the words of the playwright, does the actor's changes belie his intentions, that of the character or a mere reaction to the playwright? As for the reviewer, is his interpretation true to the playwright or a critical response on a visceral level to the collaborative effort of the company's representation of that intention? The unusual role of Bostinas in his role as reviewer is one of witness and one who understands and praises the performance. Ultimately, most of these questions are not explicitly laid out, but they pulsate under the humor of the story.

The philosophical and political undertones are nestled in the play as well as the story, best described here:

These hopes were soon dashed, however, as it became clear that the man playing the Republican Theodore Soufissis (the rebellious object of the aforementioned presidential ingratitude) had begun to deviate from the text of Flavy's play. By his own admission, Marcel Flavy is by no means a revolutionary writer, and does not personally share the radical theses of his character Soufissis, or even those of the other more or less Soufissisian figures whom the president encounters during his adventure. Flavy's general intention was to advocate a certain tolerance without presenting the political theories of this or that individual in any detail. What he wanted to explore were the dramatic possibilities of the encounter between two main characters--and to play upon the traces of past complicity resting beneath the present resentment. Flavy's text is about friendship confronted with an ambition that has become too great to share. Complicating Flavy's undertaking was the people's image of Theodore Soufissis--held up as he is in our Republic as a hero whose life was rich in accident and adventure, full of a Romanticism remote from any Realpolitik.

The Usurper thus poses as revolutionary in the politics of Flavy's play as well as questioning the audience's image of Soufissis.



It was difficult to not think of Cassavete's Opening Night while I read this. Cassavete goes morbid while Jouet chooses the clever conceit. With Leland de la Durantaye's playful translation, Upstaged renders a original and creative take on theatrical farce. Witty and fast-paced, told in a conversational style, it is a entertaining, imaginative read that fits nicely into the canon of Oulipian works.

[Amy Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m sure the book was good in its original French form, but something always feels off when I read a translation. Things get lost in translation. It was interesting to read about the author though. I do think the book may be strange bc of him lol

[Ben Lawton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This constraint stuff is swell.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not versed in any of the context here, but I liked this exploration of freedom and constraint without any additional knowledge. I suppose that's also how I found Calvino.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The show must go on" - ah, theatre cliché. But Upstaged takes a "the show must go on" moment and explores it in a funny and interesting way. It's the eighth night of the run of a play, and one of the actors answers a knock on his dressing room door, only to be bound and gagged by a man dressed like his double, in costume and in character. This man, who comes to be thought of as "the Usurper" by the troupe, goes onstage on cue, and knows "his" character's lines and blocking, though he doesn't, alas, stick to the script for long. The rest of the troupe has to improvise to keep things moving, and the Usurper keeps everyone guessing through (and beyond) curtain call: his identity and motives remain a mystery.

Upstaged is short and funny but not slight: in a smart and interesting afterword, Leland de la Durantaye writes about what Jouet, who was a member of Oulipo, might be doing. If you know anything about Oulipo, a group of writers that included Georges Perec and Raymond Queneau, among others, you probably know that one of their big things is the idea of the constraint: a rule or set of rules that give structure to a work but also make space for that work to be itself or give energy to the work's creation. De la Durantaye points out that, given this, Upstaged can be read as an "allegory of constraint": the Usurper, by his presence, constrains the actors (quite literally, in the case of the bound and gagged one!) but also liberates them (from the text/from their usual routine of performance). Good stuff.

[Heronimo Gieronymus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it would be tempting to call Jouet's Upstaged a novella, if not for the fact that the man himself insists that he writes only novels, be they short or long. Upstaged is very short. There is a precision to it, and a sense of gainful mischief. It is clearly a comedy. An unknown usurper bounds and gags an actor in his dressing room after the first act and takes his place in the second, to decidedly anarchic effect. Clearly this is a comedy. However, it is so dry and matter-of-fact - only vaguely slapstick, only vaguely farce - that is is not actually really all that funny until the punchline arrives (in the form of a transcribed review of the resultant chaotic theatrical event by a noted theatre critic who is entirely unaware that what he has just witnessed was not intentional, despite the fact that the play veers wildly from the original text, which he happened to have w/ him at the performance). While Jouet is a well-respected member of the Oulipo group, little in Upstaged could be said to be emblematic of his status as such. It is a simple piece without obvious conceptual pyrotechnics or any discernible formal coup. It is clever and entertaining. A very quick and rewarding read. Clever, certainly, but by no reason the kind of stunner of which he has elsewhere demonstrated himself capable.

[Aaron (Typographical Era) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jacques Jouet’s Upstaged is a short novel (regardless of the length of the project the author refuses to label any of his works as being a novella) that documents the events surrounding the performance of a play that goes wrong, but in the process becomes something far superior in quality when compared to its original form.

Moments before the second act of Marcel Flavy’s Going out to the People an unknown male referred to only as “the Usurper” enters the dressing room of one Nicolas Boehlmer, ties him to a chair, steals his costume, and then takes his place on stage. Boehlmer’s role in the production is a crucial one. He’s supposed to be playing the part of rebel leader Théodore Soufissis who had formerly been best friends with the President of the Republican Council. Once the President took office however, for reasons unexplained, he exiled Soufissis. Unbeknownst to him however, the rebel has managed to disguise himself and remain within the republic and is preparing to confront his former ally.

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[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing short story about a theatre troupe and what happens when the role of one of the actors is taken over for one night by the mysterious Usurper. Jouet is a member of the Oulipo and this is an example of 'constraint' fiction. It is not known what the constraint is for this book but it packs a lot of action into its 73 pages and is well worth a read.

[Will E · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this quickly in two sittings on my lunch break at work... It's pretty funny but it didn't blow me away. I would not seed this very highly on my Best Translated Book Award bracket myself but it's a fun quick little read. Perhaps I just didn't get the political implications?

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great scenario for a novella, but I wanted more somehow, a payoff. I needed a punchline to this artful joke.