Synopsis
Ah, Paris in the spring! Legendary architect and theatre designer Louis Daguerre has come up with a new, incredible invention which may change the world, if only he can get the funding to develop it further. A young actor and artist’s model who calls himself Anonyme is about to throw himself into the Seine because he can’t get work and seems destined to remain unknown. And Mme. Brillante, former music-hall hypnotist, mind-reader and fortune-teller, now reduced to shining shoes on a corner of the boulevard, must find a way to save Daguerre’s invention and save Anonyme’s life – for her own destiny is intertwined with theirs in mysterious and unexpected ways. A bittersweet comedy about art, science, love, and other good things, inspired by the historical fact that the first photograph of a human being was taken entirely by accident, and the man photographed has forever remained anonymous.
Critical Responses
“SHOES AREN’T THE ONLY THING THAT SHINE IN LAZARUS’ EXPOSURE… The concept for Exposure is extremely unique… Lazarus makes us care… A semi-fictional masterpiece starring characters we can’t help but love… a brilliant hanging ending that leaves you hungry for more… A delightful fringe must-see.”
– Veronica Appia, Editor-in-Chief, The Theatre Reader, July, 2015
“It will … satisfy on a dramatic level… part of the fun of the play is in watching the characters slowly figure out how they’re all connected to one another… I really enjoyed Exposure… The audience loudly guffawed all the way through a 10:30 [P.M.] show, so I think there’s a particular kind of fun to be had.”
“Mooney On Theatre” review by Lin Young, July, 2015
“Lazarus has devised a delightful play that would fit in very nicely at the Shaw Festival. He invents the relationships … that are gently comic in themselves but also explores the revolutionary implications of Daguerre’s device that fixed a moment in time.”
– “Stage Door” review, July, 2015
Production History
Exposure was performed at the Toronto Fringe Festival, in July of 2015, directed by Kathryn MacKay.
Requirements
2 M, 1 F. A single outdoor setting. A one-act play in 45 minutes. Suitable for high-school drama festivals and Fringe festivals.
Excerpt
MME. BRILLANTE has disguised herself with a veil and a fake accent, so that LOUIS DAGUERRE, with whom she has a past, will not recognize her. He is on his way to a meeting with the Académie Francaise, to raise money to develop his invention further, and he has stopped for a shoeshine and has been explaining the invention to her.
BRILLANTE: I am nearly finishing shoes and you do not yet sell to me these things.
DAGUERRE: Well, of course not. You just told me to explain it. The only things that’ll sell these things are – these things. (Looks through his bag.) Here. Look. Tell me what you see. (Takes from the bag a framed metal plate, under glass, and shows it to her. BRILLANTE stares at it.)
BRILLANTE: Is this same Boulevard du Temple. Is superb engraving. Very detailed.
DAGUERRE: No. Is not superb engraving. Look closer.
BRILLANTE: You can see every brick! A block away! (Looks off.) In the real life, I cannot see each brick a block away. Is not engraving. And you did not draw this, and you did not paint it –
DAGUERRE: No. Nobody did. The light did it. I have captured light, Madame. I have arrested it in its flight. My partner Niépce called it “light drawing,” in Greek: “photo – graphie.” Personally, I prefer “daguerreotype.”
BRILLANTE: And this is where we are standing right now. You had camera in Diorama Theatre? Upstairs?
DAGUERRE: Yes. My office. I made this picture yesterday morning, in bright sunlight. You need all the light you can get, because it’s made out of light. There’s no artist.
BRILLANTE: Of course there is artist. Artist decides where to point lens, yes? This looks like one of your own drawing. It looks like a Daguerre.
DAGUERRE: Yes! Thank you! I thought so too!
BRILLANTE: But is mirror image. Backwards.
DAGUERRE: Yes, that’s one of two problems I’m still having.
BRILLANTE: And also, where is the people?
DAGUERRE: And that’s the other one.
BRILLANTE: Is beautiful sunny day, but Boulevard is deserted. The adults, the
childrens –
DAGUERRE: The life. I know, Madame: the life.
BRILLANTE: The horse and carriage, dog and cat and birdie. How you do this? Make them vanish?
DAGUERRE: I don’t! I can’t make them appear. I keep the lens open on all that life, for an exposure of ten, twelve minutes at a time. And then the plate shows me the Boulevard – deserted.
BRILLANTE: “Exposure”?
DAGUERRE: Of course, sorry, it’s the time spent with the lens open and the light coming in.
BRILLANTE: Ten or twelve minute. So the peoples go too fast.
DAGUERRE: The peoples go too fast. They don’t even make a blur.
BRILLANTE: You could hire professional model, to stand still for ten minutes.
DAGUERRE: You know, I’ve thought of that, but – again – time and money. Tomorrow’s the last day for submissions this year. So I’ll just show them what I’ve got. Deserted streets and all. (He is putting the photograph away. He stops.) Oh, dear. You don’t think that’s a mistake, do you? Should I have hired a model? Surely they won’t turn me down over such a detail!
BRILLANTE: Course not. Who knows, maybe they like your empty boulevard better. What I hear of Academy, some would love to get rid of theatre riff-raff.
DAGUERRE: Hah! True. Anyhow, a model in a pose isn’t the same as this (indicates surroundings). This is normal life. And normal life goes by too fast.
BRILLANTE: That is so true. One moment we are young, beautiful and in love, and the next moment, old, ugly and alone.
DAGUERRE: Er, yes.
*****