I Was Sitting on My Patio This Guy Appeared I Thought I Was Hallucinating
By Robert Wilson
Lucinda Childs (Co-Direction)
Original version premiered on April 5, 1977 at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, with Alan Lloyd (Music), Robert Wilson & Lucinda Childs (Performers).
Re-staged version premiered on September 20, 2021 at Espace Cardin (Théâtre de la Ville), Paris, France, with Carlos Soto (Costumes), Nick Sagar (Sound Design), Christopher Nell & Julie Shanahan (Performers).
After the monumental staging of Einstein on the Beach, Wilson decided to create a pared down theatrical production. In the first piece of Wilson’s not produced by himself or by the Byrd Hoffman Foundation, Patio consists of two identical 45-minute monologues played consecutively by Wilson and Lucinda Childs. The fragmented text of Patio, played remarkably differently by two very different performers, suggests the fragmentation of the mind in a state of nervous exhaustion—as is evident from the first line, which makes up the title of the play. (Text by Joseph Bradshaw)
“Jonny Jonny
Jonny Jonny
there's a snake behind you
don't move”
Wilson, Robert. “I Was Sitting on My Patio This Guy Appeared I Thought I Was Hallucinating.” Performing Arts Journal, vol. 4, no. 1/2, Performing Arts Journal, Inc., 1979, pp. 200–18, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4623775