Caden rehearses a scene, he gives out each actor a small piece of paper and then ask them to follow the instructions on the paper written by himself. He says that “each day I will hand you a paper. It will tell you what happened to you that day. You felt a lump in your breast. You looked at your wife and saw a stranger, et cetera,” (Synecdoche New York 01:02:26–01:02:32). In this way, seventeen years have passed, and the play still keeps on rehearsing. Those actors begin to ask “when are we gonna get an audience in here? It's been 17 year,” (Synecdoche New York 01:02:36–01:02:41). Obviously , those actors cannot feel meaning of this great work and are psychologically exhausted because Caden's work devours everyone's patience and energy little by little. And Caden replies by saying “all right, I'm not excusing myself from this either.I will have someone play me,” (Synecdoche New York 01:02:47–01:02:50). Caden feels that God arranges his life in this way: one instruction a day, but the ultimate purpose is unknown. The play keeps cycling in this way, even the actor began to play the actor. Eventually Caden and custodian Ellen exchange their identities, Ellen becomes director Caden, and Caden becomes custodian Ellen.
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