Description
A regular on the international stage, Flemish artist Lisbeth Gruwez delivers a mesmerising solo performance of masterful precision. Then actor Simon Roth takes to the stage to perform a samba that is both socially conscious and cathartic, giving free rein to rage and frustration.
Having moved to the other side of the stage many years ago, Lisbeth Gruwez – best known as a masterful performer in the works of Jan Fabre and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui – explores through movement the power of speech, as wielded by great orators, over their listeners, and the trance-like state of the speaker. The references are manifold: charismatic heads of state with immense powers of persuasion; dictators of terrifying madness; evangelists with a formidable capacity for manipulation, and so on. Lisbeth Gruwez dances this trance of discursive ecstasy, accompanied by a soundtrack composed by Maarten Van Cauwenberghe. It is captivating and frightening.
All French People:
In a climate of anxiety, what remedy can there be to release anger and powerlessness? Set to a compilation of archive recordings of political speeches, Simon Roth invites a crowd of amateurs onto the stage – all French people (including residents of Audon? Come along!), to take part in a political and cathartic samba.
This short, powerful piece, discovered at the Festival Danse élargie organised by the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris (in collaboration with the compagnie terrain–Boris Charmatz, the Fondation Hermès, the Cndc d’Angers, and La Comédie de Valence), is full of irony and humour, and offers a glimmer of hope with these forty or so very different people sharing the stage.