abonneer

#183

08.09.2026

—

14.01.2027

Nieuwsbrief

Advertenties

Medea’s Kinderen – Milo Rau/NTGent

Bringing a dragon to the shore of Oostende

Top of the show: a man dressed in black arranges seven chairs on the stage in front of red curtains. He takes a sip of water from a plastic water bottle, gazes out at the audience, tensely checks his cue sheet. He walks to the middle of the stage, but the lights remain bright on the audience. His name is Peter Seynaeve, the man says, and the aftertalk to Milo Rau’s Medea’s Kinderen will commence shortly.

Caroline Lee-Jeong

review 24.04.2024

Pledge under a tree

I invite you to eat some olives, preferably green ones. The way we eat them in the eastern Mediterranean, is with a generous squeeze of lemon, garlic slices and some olive oil—the longer you keep the olives in this mixture the better the flavour. It’s not easy to get good quality olives in Belgium, my recommendation is to buy the simple green variety from the smaller supermarkets run by people of Moroccan, Syrian or Turkish origin, selecting the most plain looking ones.

Samah Hijawi

column 07.04.2024

Nieuwsbrief

Voice Noise – Jan Martens / GRIP

The most powerful muscle

In the respectful and mindful silences between the dance and music numbers the audience at the premiere of Jan Martens’ Voice Noise was shifting in their seats and coughing. I’d never been so aware of the voice noises produced by the audience, the different pitches and ages of coughs amused me. That was the audience’s answer to the often strange manoeuvres that the voice and the body performed on the stage. Six very different bodies, a set of muscles, moved on the stage as if pushed by yet another muscle, the voice. Is the voice a muscle, I ask myself. It has the power of one, answers Martens. Assembling separate performances and a few choreographed group dances, he seems to ask the question of how different, specifically usually silenced or forgotten female voices can move us.

Ugnė Noreikė

review 28.03.2024

Donja Hota – Enkidu Khaled/Platform 0090

letters to the next female Don Quixotes

Firing off at a rapid tempo, Donja Hota gathers female artists on stage to share their reflections on the state of the world and the memories that make up their present. Lessons from their experiences are addressed to a young girl named Alma, who represents a new generation of female Don Quixotes ready for battle. But a battle against what? Despite the undeniable impact of the performers that drives Donja Hota forward, the audience is left with too many windmills at the end.

Caroline Lee-Jeong

review 07.03.2024

Pearls – Joshua Serafin

The poetry in the world of creatures undefined

The stage is dark. Bodies recline in darkness, mere silhouettes against the fog. A projection of a short poem about the sun and the sea and its vanishing edge flickers off, followed by a video of three bodies bathing in a stream. They are surrounded by nature. The narrator’s voice enters, addressing their love. They find themselves in a liminal space, a “multiverse,” a “swamp” where “undefined creatures” roam.

Caroline Lee-Jeong

review 27.02.2024