The Walls Come True: An Opera for Spoken Voice: pt. 2 (The structure of destruction) - Softcover

In Part II of his trilogy, The Structure of Destruction - Douglas Messerli's study of evil in the 20th century - the mysterious Claude Ricochet makes an appearance once again, this time as the original author of a history of the French wartime Robert-Croset families, upon which The Walls Come True is based. In Messerli's hands, however, Ricochet's original "philosophical-historical murder mystery" becomes a large, sprawling theatrical work incorporating film, video, mime, dance, theater and the literary techniques of poetry, fable, fiction, and song.
Like Along Without, the first volume of the trilogy in which Messerli "restored" Ricochet's film Sans longtemps, The Walls Come True recounts the horrific effects of the 20th century upon individuals and their families and friends. This work retells the story of the Robert-Croset families in their travels throughout Vichy-run France in World War II, as the family falls into decline and the son is sold - for his safety, since he, unknowingly, is Jewish - to noted pederast, Jean Croset, a Paris judge. The final act of this three-hour "opera" traces the boy, years later, taking his revenge on the human race in New York, a revenge which ends in his own tragic death at the hands of a tramp whom he mistakes (?) for the detective who has been following him for years.