They attend the famous theatre and see the play. It begins. It ends. Months later, they still cannot get the play out of their heads – like a song but longer, more intense. Each audience member feels – knows – that the play was about him, his flaws, the miserable cheat he’s been, the sins he thought no one knew….
Finally, they return to the theatre. They demand to unsee the play, to take their fear and pity back. They are permitted this indulgence. Then they look at each other, wondering why they were there at the theatre, what the play they didn’t see might have been about. Nothing very important, surely. Or they would have remembered.
[– after Thomas Bernhard]
Memorable Fancies 
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