Melanie Jame Wolf:
Finite Jest

»Finite Jest« is a work-in-progress presentation of material for a new solo about comedy, tragedy, and death. »Finite Jest« is an anatomy of The Joke. The Joke is that everybody dies. The question is: can we laugh about that? Together? In a theater? Melanie Jame Wolf’s suspicion is that we need to.

The work is an exploration of stand-up comedy as a form. In stand-up, when a joke fails, the comedian is said to have died on stage; stand up, drop dead. »Finite Jest« will develop ideas and personas from Wolf’s 2024 experimental essay for Delfi Magazin, called »The Mean Well«. Based on the artist’s experience of having breast cancer, the essay explores ways that a lack of social scripts for dealing with death and illness can produce failures in maintaining cohesion and material care both as a society, and in our personal relationships. It also examines how people‘s desire to be ‚A Good Person‘ can sometimes come from a bad place. And, ironically, get in the way of being practically useful in states of emergency (of which we are facing an increasing amount). Finite Jest is a companion piece to Wolf’s 2015 solo work »Mira Fuchs«.