These Shy Smiles Are Like a Garden For Me

The Fever is a monologue written by Wallace Shawn that centers around a person, sick and feverish in an unnamed country in the midst of a political revolution. Thematically, it deals with the contrast between socialist revolution within the global south and the privileged classes within the United States. 

The Game itself is divided up into two sections: Nights and Days. During the Night portions, you are sick and feverish in the bathroom of a small foreign country, undergoing a revolution. You are alone with your thoughts, and tasked with fulfilling introspective and imaginative prompts. 

During the Day portions, you are in your actual life, and tasked simply with dealing with whatever small amounts of privilege that you have accrued throughout your life. The piece was written by a wealthy white man from New York City, and the prompts reflect that in an effort to maintain some foundation of the source material. If you find that as you play, you need to adjust prompts and tasks and personalize them in order to more fully grasp the ideas and themes present, I encourage you to do so. 

The game is meant to be played over the span of just over a week. Please print out the game if you are able to write in it and have some sort of record of the process. In addition to the game and the prompts, you will need the following: a pen or pencil, some candles, a smart phone, some photos of family or friends, and a copy of Marx’s Capital. 

Content Warning: Some of the night sessions deal expressly with death, capital punishment, and extreme poverty.