We all sneeze, don’t we?
Yet for Ivan it was quite a different story. It all started one evening at
the Opera House where Ivan was admiring the passionate adventures of divine Carmen.
O! Colors, gestures, lights, music, movement, romance, and o!
Ivan sneezes. Here comes a moment of stillness and immediately
after that something horrifying draws his attention.
Right in front of him – a man wiping his bold head with a handkerchief!
No, not just any man! It’s Mr. Brizzhalov!
Ivan immediately asks for apologies and consequently is pardoned.
But Ivan cannot enjoy the opera anymore, it all turns into a nightmare.
He had just sneezed at Mr. Brizzhalov’s head and it is a darn serious thing!
From this moment on, Ivan's days shall be doomed by this happening.
Sense of guilt, anxiety, and shame. Ivan gets into a whirl of fear a tornado of his
own mind interpreting the events in a self-destructive way.
Ivan will struggle for two long days, might be the longest days of his life, going to apologise
Mr. Brizzhalov five times, each time even more sure that
Mr.Brizzhalov does bare him a grudge
Mr.Brizzhalov does bare him a grudge
…until the moment when Mr. Brizzhalov explodes. This outburst brings a final liberation of
Ivan’s enslavement to his restless mind.
This story is about all of us, executing the will of the noisy despotic mind, overcharging facts, making them far more important , dramatizing our existence.
This story isn’t imaginary at all and could be happening to your fellows.
