Beckett op zijn plaats
Waiting for the tram, waiting for the espresso machine, waiting for a lettre, waiting for a lover. We are daily confronted with waiting in a thousand and one shapes. It is a part of life, or maybe, it is life in itself.
The theme of the performance consists of this action. What is more, it is the performance itself.
Voluntary participants are asked to wait in a certain place in public space, for a certain lapse of time. Arranged in a geometric pattern, they are silently passed on to the hands of time. This permeable army formation provides a sharp contrast with the speed of life with which hundreds of passers-by cross them.
In this exciting manner, the boundaries of theatre are exceeded. “Are Leentje Vandenbussche’s installations in public space physical? Are the extra’s she invites performers or rather actours? Is the coincidental passer-by part of the performance or part of the public? And so on. Fascinating questions that prove that the intrinsic themes from the classic Waiting for Godot have, in the year 2006, not yet been robbed of their relevance – providing they be formulated in a contemporary fashion. Which is what Vandenbussche does: “Alles en Niets/All and Nothing raises the action of waiting to the level of discussion.” (Steven Heene, program director TAZ/Theatre By The Sea)
First performed in Ghent on Samuel Beckett’s one hundredth birthday, April 13th, 2006.
Becket in his place is the first part of the diptych All and Nothing.
Marianne Hommersom
Thomas De Meyer
Thomas De Meyer
Credits
concept: Leentje Vandenbussche
dramaturgy: Björn Van Heddegem, Marnix Rummens.
photography: Marianne Hommersom
production: Hiros/Mokum
thanks to: all volunteers who make the performance possible