In poker, money is transferred into psychic energy before the game begins. Table stakes. No one is allowed into their unique pocket in the middle of a hand. Capitalism is merely one more player, not the dealer. The banker short on culture or ethics must buy the Van Gogh Sunflowers for $40 million at Christie's before he looks at his cards.
The Lotto and NEA sell best in the welfare districts and small stakes tables. The lucky few winners of grants are then allowed to bid with the bankers at the Christie's auction. They too are respectable now, able to enter one of the many satellite tournaments.
But at the big table, the final table, theater is society's suicide. Social Stigmata. Imitating the cancer sore, thus stimulating the body's immune system. Theater uses its own body parts for chips. If the eye is evil, pluck it out and place it on the table in front of you. Van Gogh's ear. The stack festers with psychic energy.
Theater cuts up its painting into small pieces and sells it for more paint. All is Rehearsal for the big game where Sunflowers, now worth its psychic weight in gold, comes into play. Rehearsal from the French rehercier, harrow again. Originally, "to harrow" meant to descend to the underworld to bring back the souls that reside there.
"Theater should be performed one time only.
On top of a graveyard."
-- Jean Genet
