ABSTRACT
It begins without words. A man walks out onto the stage and takes up his position, evidently as a sentry. Another man, also evidently a sentry, follows shortly after him. Approaching the first man, the second suddenly halts, seems apprehensive and afraid. The long military spear he is carrying, the partisan, is quickly brought into an offensive position. That movement— before a word is spoken—immediately pushes the action forward: it enters a different dimension. A mystery has been posited (why are the sentries nervous, why do they make elementary mistakes of military discipline?) and a story starts to unfold.
