The aleph diego matamoros & daniel brooks artist note: diego matamoros “The mirror, where a subject sees an object which is both itself and not itself, is a central metaphor of knowledge, and such words as “speculation” and “reflection” point to its importance.” – Northrop Frye “The Double Vision” Perhaps it is too strong a statement to make (but I don’t really think so) that The Aleph began as a love affair between myself and two old (middle aged?) friends I’ve loved and worked with over many years. Michael Levine and I went to the same high school and though we never really knew each other that far back we certainly shared many similar memories. And since then I often feel very much as if we grew up together in the same neighborhood. It has been my great privilege to have worked with him on the Chekhov productions he’s designed for Soulpepper over the past ten years or so. Daniel Brooks and I also go back a good long way. He has been my main collaborator on this project and the reason this piece exists at all. There is no Aleph without Daniel and I’m not overstating the point. He has been with me through both the thick and the thin of the creation of this often difficult, challenging, but never less than magical journey. Michael suggested I go back to Buenos Aires as I was first embarking on this project in 2006 and the very next year I went. In retrospect this was also a deciding factor for me in committing to creating this piece. I call it a ‘piece’ and not a play because it is just that. A piece. A fragment. A fragment of Michael, Daniel and I, all borrowed and inspired, I should like to stress, from Jorge Luis Borges’ masterpiece.
Diego Matamoros, co-creator and performer of The Aleph