A Two Dogs Company / Kris Verdonck
H, an incident

Theater / Premiere in German-speaking countries

Dates
20.–21.9.2013

Details
Premiere:
20.9.2013 15.30
Wiederholungen:
20.9.2013 19.30
21.9.2013 17.30
21.9.2013 21.30
In englischer Sprache mit deutschen Übertiteln
Talk im Anschluss an die 4. Vorstellung

Location
Helmut-List-Halle
Graz

Production specifics
Erstaufführung im deutschsprachigen Raum

Produktion A Two Dogs Company in Kollaboration mit Shalala

Koproduktion steirischer herbst, Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brüssel), Kaaitheater (Brüssel), Göteborgs Dans & Teater Festival, Spring Performing Arts Festival (Utrecht), Théâtre national de Bordeaux en Aquitaine

Mit Unterstützung durch Flemish Authorities, Flemish Community Commission, Brussels-Capital Region, iMinds Art&D program, National Theatre of Iceland & Zinnema

Kopräsentation NXTSTP, unterstützt durch das Kulturprogramm der Europäischen Union

Projektsponsor AVL Cultural Foundation

Actors who look like they’ve just stepped out of a cartoon, an orchestra made up of robotic instruments of such technically ingenious design as to be fully-fledged members of the ensemble: an Icelandic women’s choir populates the stage designed by the Belgian theatre-maker and visual artist Kris Verdonck whose work is based on the writings of the Russian author Daniil Charms (Harms) (1905–1942).

A masterly language and machine theatre, menacing and yet trapped in a seemingly childlike fantasy. And perhaps that is why it is so close to Charms who, against the background of Stalinism, was an inimitable expert in combining the description of harsh social and political reality with the lightest, absurd gesture. His protagonists fall out of windows, dissolve into nothing, suddenly get beset by the mob, vanish without a trace or die. But the way they do all of this in his short texts and plays can cause fits of laughter. Personally, Daniil Charms paid dearly for his writings, getting arrested several times under Stalin and finally starving to death in a lunatic asylum.

Kris Verdonck has made reference to works of literature before – for example to Franz Kafka (“K, a society”) or to writings of the theatre-maker Heiner Müller (“M, a reflection”). But “H, an incident” is his first piece of music theatre. What interests him about Charms is the relationship of the individual to the group and to society and how this relationship has changed within conditions of increased social and technological control. He is accompanied by a group of robotics researchers, the Icelandic choreographer Erna Ómarsdóttir, the musician Valdimar Jóhannsson – who together with Ómarsdóttir is also responsible for the dark metal project Lazyblood – and the composer Jónas Sen, who has worked with Björk.

Autorin / Autor, Text: Daniil Charms
Konzept / Idee: Kris Verdonck
Konzept / Idee, Regie: Kris Verdonck
Dramaturgie: Marianne van Kerkhoven
Musik: Valdimar Jóhannsson
Musik: Jónas Sen
Choreinstudierung: Erna Ómarsdóttir
Schauspielerin / Schauspieler: Marc Iglesias
Schauspielerin / Schauspieler: Jeroen Van der Ven
Schauspielerin / Schauspieler: Jan Steen
Schauspielerin / Schauspieler: Erna Ómarsdóttir
Schauspielerin / Schauspieler: Thyrí Huld Arnadóttir
Schauspielerin / Schauspieler: Thorun Arna Kristjansdóttir
Schauspielerin / Schauspieler: Brynhildur Gudjonsdóttir
Schauspielerin / Schauspieler: Katrín Gunnarsdóttir
Schauspielerin / Schauspieler: Sigrídur Soffia Níelsdóttir
Kostüme: An Breugelmans
Lichtregie: Jan van Gijsel

Mediathek

Retrospective
Retrospective
Retrospective