Les B@lges › Transquinquennal

How to write about Belgium? How to represent Belgium on stage? How to bring to life a text that essentially consists of hidden allusions to a reality that is itself so fleeting? This is the challenge taken up by Jean-Marie Piemme and Paul Pourveur, who together wrote the play Les B@lges. Performing the play is another challenge, taken up in turn by the companies Dito’Dito and Transquinquennal, which collectively form the bilingual collective D’DT.

Brought together by their shared reflections on the status of representation, they focus their work on collective deliberations and discussions. The result of the many questions they ask themselves is a show that is only the visible part of the iceberg of their collective reflections. The slow gestation of their work is as important to them as the final result performed on stage, and the material, subject to perpetual improvements, undergoes changes which they wish to see through to the end. Self-reflection being essential to their work method, each show is only finalized shortly before the premiere. With this in mind, and given the complexity of the text by Piemme and Pourveur, we here wish to give an account of a step in this gestation, a joint writing process which the authors were willing to comment. The authors were interviewed after the companies and in their absence, hence the contrasting points of view …

Credits

Production: Dito'Dito.

Coproduction: Théâtre National et Kaaitheater

Press

C'est quoi, les Belges? La question ne date pas d'hier. En 1912 déjà, le député socialiste Jules Destrée lançait, ambigu, au roi Albert Ier : Sire, il n'y a as de Belges. Il y a des Flamands et des Wallons. Se riant de cette antique question, le Wallon Jean-Marie Piemme et le Flamand Paul Pourveur réponde par la pratique, en écrivant à deux mains "Les B@lges", métaphore féroce du plat pays. L’article complet
06/12/2002, Laurent Ancion, Le Soir

Dit is België. Via de omweg van een theatrale vertelling trekken Dito'Dito en Transquinquennal een spoor door een land dat het onze zou kunnen geweest zijn in de jaren negentig. Wij gingen al kijken naar de Franstalige versie, en merkten dat een bandopnemer de hoofdrol speelde. Vanaf morgen ook in het Nederlands. L’article complet
10/01/2003, Geert Sels, De Standaard

C'est quoi, les Belges? La question ne date pas d'hier. En 1912 déjà, le député socialiste Jules Destrée lançait, ambigu, au roi Albert I : Sire, il n'y a pas de Belges. Il y a des Flamands et des Wallons. Se riant de cette antique question, le Wallon Jean-Marie Piemme et le Flamand Paul Pourveur répondent par la pratique, en écrivant à deux mains « Les B@lges», métaphore féroce du plat pays. L’article complet
06/12/2002, Laurent Ancion, Le Soir

Video of the show

In accordance with copyright legislation, this video is only available on request, by sending an e-mail to scapin@aml-cfwb.be.

Photos

Dates

15/02/2003: Kc nOna, Mechelen (BE)
14/02/2003: De Werf, Brugge (BE)
13/02/2003: Cultureelcentrum Genk, Genk (BE)
12/02/2003: De Velinx, Tongeren (BE)
11/02/2003: Limelight, Kortrijk (BE)
06/02/2003: Vooruit - Minardschouwburg, Gent (BE)
05/02/2003: Cultureel Centrum De Ploter, Ternat (BE)
04/02/2003: Cultureel Centrum Belgica, Dendermonde (BE)
28/01/2003: De Brakke Grond, KD - Amsterdam (NL)
27/01/2003: Toneelacademie - Theater aan het Vrijthof, Maastricht (NL)
24/01/2003: Monty, Antwerpen (BE)
23/01/2003: Cultureel Centrum Maasmechelen, Maasmechelen (BE)
22/01/2003: Cultureel Centrum Meise, Meise (BE)
10/01/2003: Kaaitheater, Bruxelles (BE)
03/12/2002: Théâtre National, Bruxelles (BE)