i was asked by this performance/live art collective to respond to a weekly series of prompts as part of a dialog between American and British artists that will culminate in a 12 hour event in november.

this week’s prompt:

Using the “Special Relationship” between the UK and the USA as a startMing point. Create a fictitious discussion/debate/lecture event between two public figures (actual or fictitious, living or dead) – one British, one American ( e.g, Benjamin Disraeli and Madonna, PJ Harvey and Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Woolf and Lenny Bruce, Michael McIntyre and Agnes Martin).

i tried out all of these different ways to respond, none of which really worked, including the one below, which i ended up submitting because i was already past deadline.

Excerpt from the docu-drama, “A Special Relationship” (2013)

Bush               Hi

Blair                 Hello

Bush               I didn’t think you’d still be here.

Blair                 I’m still here. Where else could I go?

Bush               I don’t know. I thought you may have gone to Wisconsin for the weekend?

Blair                 Wisconsin? What the hell is that? Is that like a place? An actual place?

(pause)

Bush               What happens to people like us who have nowhere to go?

Blair                 I guess we wear out our welcome. But people are too polite to say anything.

(pause)

Blair                 Fewer pleasantries would make the world a lot easier for both of us.

Bush               I’m sorry that you feel that way. I feel somewhat responsible for that.

Blair                 Life is never what you think it will be until you’re almost finished with it.

Bush               What time is that supposed to happen?

Blair                 In about 20 minutes. At tea-time, of course.

Bush               I should know this. I think I watch too much television, but never live television.

Blair                 Me neither. Why should we?

Bush               I can’t even watch the news.

Blair                 I hate the news. I know nothing about what is going on in this world. And I am happy about that.

Bush               Me, too. At dinner, my friends were all talking about some revolution going on in Tunisia, and I was this close to admitting that I had no idea what they were talking about.

Blair                 I understand. I like being lost.

Bush               Me, too… I like living on a cloud. In a cloud.

Blair                 Yes. I like the world I have created. Alone. No interruptions from the bloody news.

Bush               I’m sorry I even mentioned the news.

Blair                 Yes, let’s never mention the news ever again.

Bush               Sounds good.