Eimear McBride
Mouthpieces
Mouthpieces is a set of three short plays which each depict a fragment of the female experience. They’re very intense and sharp as the inner voice is vivid, screaming to be heard.
The pieces were written during McBride’s time as a fellow in the Beckett archive and were published in 2021.
There is a feeling of being trapped in each of the pieces, as if walls are closing in, yet resistance continues at the same intensity. There is a violence which underlies each of the words as they scratch against the walls forcing them to be let out. Thoughts are quick as they dart past one another, pulled forcefully from the depths and immediacy of the experience.
The heart beats at a pace faster than it’s used to, and the reality of the internal is faced head on, from the misogyny to the pain to the violence. Searches are difficult when they keep being cut short. Real or not real, it is felt.
The pieces were written during McBride’s time as a fellow in the Beckett archive and were published in 2021.
Looking at me.
Looking. Look.
Staring at
Undressing me.
Hitting
Fucking
Teaching me to
Cry
Fight
Puke
Fall
Fail
Finesse.
Finish what I started
Finish what you started.
Owe you.
Owe you
EVERYTHING.
There is a feeling of being trapped in each of the pieces, as if walls are closing in, yet resistance continues at the same intensity. There is a violence which underlies each of the words as they scratch against the walls forcing them to be let out. Thoughts are quick as they dart past one another, pulled forcefully from the depths and immediacy of the experience.
The heart beats at a pace faster than it’s used to, and the reality of the internal is faced head on, from the misogyny to the pain to the violence. Searches are difficult when they keep being cut short. Real or not real, it is felt.
So.
Never mind all this.
Listen.
No listen.
I mean it.
Follow me. Follow me.
I am.
And she.
And I am.
A powerful eye staring out from the depths of your machine.
Black.