One Song
A group of performers enters the arena for a mesmerising ritual about farewell, life and death, hope, and resurrection. Together, they go through extremes: through sung text, images and objects, oxygen and sweat, they evoke our ‘condition humaine’. Again and again, someone stands up to push their boundaries. They defy time and express a deep human need: the moment when we can transcend our thinking body. In One Song, a history resonates that has both artistic and personal significance for Miet Warlop. Her reflection on theatre as an art form leads to a physical concept in which we recognise elements from previous productions. It typifies Warlop’s artistic signature that such themes and motifs sometimes resurface years later: in her oeuvre, everything is connected, implicitly or explicitly. It is circular, like life itself, in many ways. Through the metaphor of a live competition/concert, including a commentator and a cheerleader, Miet Warlop invites us in One Song to form a community and lift each other up, as in a celebration. The temporary thus becomes the universal, and the personal becomes something of the collective. That is the subtext of One Song: how one song can give meaning to a whole society. Unity in diversity.
In cooperation with
Artist Talk following the show on Sat 11.11. Moderation: Laura Amann (Curator, Kunsthalle Wien). In English.
By loading the video, you agree to Vimeo’s privacy policy.
Learn more
studied Multimedia Arts at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent; she lives and works between Ghent, Berlin and Brussels. Her multiple award-winning work range between performance and installation. Warlop usually leads the audience into surreal worlds and weird experiments with perception. In 2012 she created Mystery Magnet, which premiered at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels and has been shown more than a hundred times worldwide. Her most recent works were Big Bears Cry Too and Ghost Writer and the Broken Hand Break, shown at Tanzquartier Wien in October 2020. This was followed in 2022 by One Song: Histoire(s) du Théâtre IV, commissioned by NTGent. The piece premiered at the Festival d’Avignon in early July 2022. Since then, it has been touring Europe.
Credits
With Simon Beeckaert, Kris Auman, Elisabeth Klinck, Willem Lenaerts, Milan Schudel, Melvin Slabbinck, Joppe Tanghe, Karin Tanghe, Wietse Tanghe With the participation of Imran Alam, Stanislas Bruynseels, Judith Engelen, Flora Van Canneyt Concept, direction, set design, text Miet Warlop Text consulting Jeroen Olyslaegers Music Maarten Van Cauwenberghe Sound design Bart van Hoydonck Costumes Carol Piron & Filles à Papa Light design Dennis Diels Dramaturgy Giacomo Bisordi Assistant dramaturgy Kaatje De Geest Production management Greet Prové Production, stage management Oliver Houttekiet Production assistant, tour management Elli De Meyer Technique Flup Beys, Bart Van Hoydonck, Raf Willems, Laurent Ysebaert Props, costumes Ateliers NTGent Acknowledgements Kris Auman, Barbara Vackier, Jasper Houttekiet, Familie Warlop, Rossana Miele, Lotte Van Craeynest, Christel Simons, Patrick Vanderhaegen, Diana Campbell Betancourt Production NTGent & Miet Warlop, Irene Wool vzw Co-production Festival d’Avignon, de Singel (Antwerp), Tandem Scène Nationale (Arras‐Douai), Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne Centre dramatique national, HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, La Comédie de Valence – Centre dramatique national Drôme-Ardèche, Teatre Lliure (Barcelona) With the support of the Flemish Government, the City of Gent, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government Distribution Frans Brood productions.
In English