Rather Not

The performance is based on a stage play written by Taavi Eelma after being inspired by Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (1853). In an ordinary copying office, people are working hard and all work-related joys ranging from being in the same office to having a pleasant lunch are encouraged. To add a sense of ceremony, the office manager introduces special rituals which add an emotional value to everyday work. As the amount of work increases, the office is forced to find a new copier and their arrival means that the work will be done even more efficiently. But the new employee does something that no one was expecting. Something that no one has done before. The pillars of the world as they know it start shaking and the voice of the people gets riddled with anger. Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” was written over 150 years ago but it still feels timely. This text has influenced not only literature (Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, etc) but also philosophy and contemporary social theory. Slavoj Žižek claimed that the the central conflict in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” plays an essential part in the contemporary world if we wanted to think about freeing ourselves from the governing economical, ideological and other norms.