A Sketch by Jean-Pierre Martinez
A character enters, followed shortly by another.
One – What time is it?
Two – It’s 3:10. We go on in about fifty minutes.
One – I hate matinee shows… And by the way, why do we call it a matinee? No one performs in the morning, do they?
Two – Back in Molière’s time, they did. Troupes performed in the morning, in daylight. It was easier than using candlelight. Naturally, they called it a matinee, meaning before the midday meal. But back then, what we now call breakfast, they called lunch, and what we call lunch, they called dinner. So, people went to the theatre in the morning, before having dinner around 1 p.m. Nowadays, we don’t perform in the morning, we eat dinner after 8 p.m., but the term stuck. So when we perform before dinner, we call it a matinee.
One – I didn’t understand a word of that. But anyway, I usually take a nap in the afternoon. Can you wake me up?
One exits, leaving the other perplexed.
Blackout.
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A sketch from the collection Stage Briefs
Link to the collection for free download (PDF)
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