Imaginons qu’on puisse être autrui le temps d’un instant. Dans HUIS, on est invité dans un lieu inconnu. En raison de la situation inattendue dans laquelle on aboutit, on ne peut plus assister en spectateur depuis la ligne de touche : il n’y a nulle part où se cacher. Sans aucune pression, de manière totalement naturelle, quasi surréaliste, on devient un élément d’un nouveau « chez-soi ».

Is there such a thing as a ‘European cultural identity’? The Berlin-based theatre collective Rimini Protokoll juxtaposes this abstract idea with the individual nature of a private home. You sit at a table in someone’s living room, together with 14 strangers. Maps are unfolded, joint decisions made, problems solved. Personal stories and parliamentary rituals intermingle while you zigzag from country to country, from citizen to citizen, criss-crossing the entire continent.

Ylka and Thomas are having their house renovated. Two renovators have been at work for months, but the plans keep changing. The renovation becomes a metaphor for all the futile tinkering on a marriage that doesn’t work. De verbouwing is a sublime blend of humour and sorrow.

PERFORMATIK 2015 - Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Xavier Le Roy in conversation, moderated by Elena Filipovic.