For IDIOMATIC, the next show of the Brussels theatre company Transquinquennal about the diversity of languages, we are looking for a German act·or·ress also able to speak Romanian (or able to fluently speak both languages). Transquinquennal is an artistic partner of the project “Dub it – One Voice, Many Language” that is being developed in the frame of the European Theatre Lab by Théâtre de Liège and Teatrul Național “Marin Sorescu”, Craiova. IDIOMATIC is an inherent part of the project.
The Show
In Idiomatic, the company will explore the adventures of understanding and misunderstanding in a multilingual context, and new technologies will also play a role in it.
Five actors who do not share one single common language, but who can communicate in pairs, stand in front of us with the mission to present a show. They try to elaborate a common communication tool in order to execute the show the audience has come to see. The dynamics of the show are structured by incomprehension and cultural differences. It is a participatory show in which the spectators find themselves in the same position than those who are making it. Will ITC help them find ways to communicate after all, or will they only add more confusion ?
Like all learning processes, IDIOMATIC adapts and modifies itself by trial and error. The participation of the audience and the progress of each actor in the elaboration of comprehension will modify the show in real time. The “text” of IDIOMATIC, the script, will be similar to a computer program. It will consist of instructions or commands for procedures to be followed by the performers, in reaction to what happened previously, and will also include some text to be pronounced. We have entrusted the conception and the writing of that quite particular text to Marie Henry, author and installation conceptor.
From a potentially frightening starting point (“We don’t understand each other, it’s awful !”), we imagine that the show will evolve toward a rather optimistic statement. The need for communication is rooted in human nature. The absence of a common language is not an obstacle. The desire to communicate and to meet others eventually appears to be far more fundamental.
The Company
Transquinquennal hates theatre, and that’s why it performs. With or without text, high-tech or low-tech, alone or in collaboration, they create shows that are like then, yet no two shows are alike. The spectator and the relation that we create with the latter are always at the core of our preoccupations. They work collectively, obstinately and with pleasure, in Brussels and elsewhere, since 1989.
Partners
By its connection with “Dub It”, the project is part of the European Theatre Lab of the European Theatre Convention. Several theatres are involved in the coproduction:
• Théâtre de Liège, Belgium
• Teatrul Naţional Marin Sorescu, Craiova, Romania
• Det Norske Teatret, Oslo, Norway
• Slovene National Theatre of Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Practical Information
Schedule of rehearsals and performances:
◦ 5 > 16/03/2018 : 2 weeks of rehearsals with the 5 actors in Belgium + Bernard Breuse, Miguel Decleire, Stéphane Olivier and Marie Henry.
◦ 1 > 15/05/2018 : 2 weeks of rehearsals with the complete team in Craiova (Romania).
◦ 16 > 19/05/2018 : Première + 4 performances.
◦ 29/05 > 5/06/2018 : Rehearsals in Oslo (Norway)
◦ 6 > 10/06/2018 : Performances in Oslo (number to be confirmed)
◦ 8 > 12/01/2019 : Rehearsals in Liège (Belgium)
◦ 13 > 19/01/2019 : 1 week of performances in Liège.
◦ January/February 2019 :
▪ 2 weeks of performances in Théâtre Varia (Brussels)
▪ 1 performance in Théâtre Paul Éluard in Choisy-le-Roi (Paris, France)
▪ Performances in Nova Gorica (Slovenia)
Please send us a CV and a motivation letter to info@transquinquennal.be. Don’t hesitate to contact us for any information.
Applications accepted until 15 September 2017.
