Actor #1
A multimedia ‘lecture radioplay’
Theatre takes place in real time: living performers and a living audience enter into direct communication in the here and now. What will the theatre of the future look like, in this era dominated by technology? For example, what if the actor disappears, to be replaced by a robot? Or even more fundamentally, why does man incessantly try to produce likenesses of himself in every possible way?
These questions are not new. Futuristic artists, and also writers like Samuel Beckett, have already examined them intensively. The theatre-maker Kris Verdonck brings these questions up to date. Over the last year he has launched an enquiry into the topic together with the dramaturge Marianne Van Kerkhoven. On the way they found a number of major scientists who were enthusiastic about joining them.
On Sunday 15 February 2009 you will have the chance to look at this research process. Writing by Beckett will be ‘brought to life’ by means of interactive media (Felix Luque) and a voice. We shall hear ‘live’ reactions to this from the geneticist Jean Jacques Cassiman, the neurosurgeon Dirk de Ridder and the philosopher and mathematician Jean Paul Van Bendegem.
concept & direction Kris Verdonck | dramaturgy Marianne Van Kerkhoven (Kaaitheater) | text Lessness by Samuel Beckett | voice Johan Leysen / digital voice | video Anouk De Clercq | light design Luc Schaltin (Kaaitheater) | multimedia programmation Felix Luque | production Margarita Production for stilllab vzw | coproducers Kaaitheater (B), Kunstencentrum Vooruit (B), Buda kunstencentrum (B), festival VIA (Manège.Mons (B) & Manège.Maubeuge (F)), LIRMM (F) | scientific research Jean-Jacques Cassiman, Dirk De Ridder, Philippe Fraisse, Luc Steels, Jean Paul Van Bendegem, Dirk Van Hulle | in partnership with La Chartreuse | support Vlaamse Overheid, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie
