Membrane is the first queer science fiction novel in Chinese, written in 1995 by Taiwanese author Chi Ta-wei, a fervent defender of LGBTQ+ rights. The story takes place in a distant future where ecology is disrupted by capitalism and the earth’s surface is nothing more than industries and battlefields. Humanity had to settle in underwater cities where it could reconnect with the pleasures of the spirit and the flesh. Sexuality and gender have acquired a stunning fluidity. While identities and bodies are in constant metamorphosis, a fundamental question arises: what defines the human being?
After Olga Ravn’s Employees last season, Cédric Delorme-Bouchard continues his approach to stage writing around futuristic universes. The director and scenographer transposes this innovative text to the stage, in a sensitive adaptation by Rébecca Déraspe. Between shadow and light, dystopia and utopia, the piece performed by six exceptional performers explores with humanity the notions of identity and free will. A work with powerful resonance with today’s world.
Text: Chi-Ta Wei
Adaptation: Rébecca Déraspe
Director: Cédric Delorme-Bouchard
A creation of Prospero and Chambre noire.
Hosted by Théâtre du Trillium
Interpretation: Amélie Trottier, Evelyne de la Chenelière, Pascale Drevillon, Marie-Christine Lê-Huu, Sébastien René, Ines Talbi
L’état du monde pèse lourd sur les épaules de Jeanne et Olivier. Elle vandalise des pubs. Il rêve qu’on brûle sa génération comme une guimauve. C’est alors qu’une élection scolaire est organisée dans le cadre de la — honteusement sous-financée — Semaine du futur. Étant tous deux catalysés par l’espoir qu’ils pourront changer les choses, ils décident de s’affronter dans une campagne électorale ponctuée de discours enflammés, d’expéditions ninjas, de collusion et d’ost*e de licornes.
À la fois satire politique hallucinée et radiographie de nos angoisses collectives, Le poids des fourmis jongle avec des questions de résistance citoyenne et d’abus de pouvoir. Aussi exubérante que caustique, la pièce invite le spectateur ou la spectatrice à réfléchir au poids qu’il porte et plus particulièrement à celui qu’il possède.
Pour les 13 ans et +.
Auteur : David Paquet
Metteur en scène : Philippe Cyr
Théâtre Bluff
Théâtre Catapulte
Texte : David Paquet
Mise en scène : Philippe Cyr
Distribution : Nathalie Claude ou Dominique Quesnel
Gaétan Nadeau ou Philippe Cousineau
Gabriel Szabo ou Lou Savoie-Calmette
Élisabeth Smith
Direction de production : Émanuelle Kirouac-Sanche
Direction technique : Mélissa Perron
Assistance : Vanessa Beaupré
Scénographie : Odile Gamache
Costumes : Étienne René-Contant
Éclairages : Cédric Delorme-Bouchard
Conception sonore : Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux
Équipe technique en tournée : Audrey Janelle, Antoine Breton et Frédérick Bélanger
Codirection artistique : Mario Borges et Joachim Tanguay
Body, can you become (be) a hypothesis, a galaxy in full acceleration, a monstrous liquid star that cannot die?
In the duo DARKMATTER, Cherish Menzo and her partner Camilo Mejia Cortés seek, with the help of a Distorted Rap Choir, ways to detach their bodies from the daily reality of this imposed perception in which they operate.
For DARKMATTER, Menzo draws his inspiration from post-humanism, which aims to transcend corporeality. She also examines Afrofuturism, which means considering science fiction, technology, fantasy, etc. from an African or black point of view. The human form becomes something achievable that allows us to dream. Menzo also weaves a poetic layer inspired by astronomy. She is interested, among other things, in dark matter and black holes which meet and collide to create a new futuristic and enigmatic body.
DARKMATTER wants to wipe away this preconceived way of looking at our own body, the body of others and the stories we attribute to them. Menzo throws herself body and soul into the fray, which gives rise to a complex conversation that she wants to be both engaged and overcome. It is this duality that DARKMATTER helps to fuel.
As in JEZEBEL, she extends her gestural vocabulary by integrating techniques from hip-hop music. She thus applies the Chopped and Screwed method to her movements, a process which considerably slows down the tempo of the music. By stretching the notions of time, the register changes and the performing body emerges.
COPRODUCTION : Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Bruxelles, BE), CCN-Ballet national de Marseille in the context of l’accueil studio / Ministère de la Culture (FR), actoral festival (Marseille, FR), STUK (Louvain, BE), La Villette (Paris, FR), Festival d’Automne à Paris (FR), Beursschouwburg (Bruxelles, BE), Perpodium (BE)
Théâtre du Trillium.
PREMIER : mai 12-15 2022, Beursschouwburg/Kunstenfestivaldesarts Bruxelles (BE)
CONCEPT ET CHOREOGRAPHY : Cherish Menzo
CREATION AND PERFORMANCE : Camilo Mejía Cortés et Cherish Menzo
LIGHTING CONCEPTION : Niels Runderkamp
MUSIC COMPOSITION : Gagi Petrovic and Michael Nunes
MIX : Gagi Petrovic
COSTUME DESIGNER : JustTatty.com
SCÉNOGRAPHY : Morgana Machado Marques
DRAMATURGY : Renée Copraij
STAGE PRODUCTION : Pauline Van Nuffel
SINGING COACH : Daniël Bonsu et Shari Kok-Sey-Tjong
ARTISTIC COACH : Benjamin Kahn, Christian Yav and Nicole Geertruida
Act I of the American opera “Troubled Island” by William Grant Still (1949)
‘BLACKSPACE: ON THE POETICS OF AN AFROFUTURE’
‘The Mask’ de Paul Laurens Dunbar
Choreography from Missy Elliot’s video clips: ‘Throw it back’ (2019). (If you are the choreographer or rights holder, please contact GRIP, so we can credit you correctly.)
The Mythology of the American electronic music duo Drexciya
RESIDENCES: STUK (Louvain, BE), La Villette (Paris, FR), Frascati (Amsterdam, NL), Beursschouwburg (Brussels, BE), CCN-Ballet national de Marseille as part of the studio reception / Ministry of Culture (FR)
IN COLLABORATION WITH: Trill (Leuven, BE), WijzijnDOX (Utrecht, NL), De Coproducers (NL)
FINANCIAL SUPPORT: Flemish government, The Performing Arts Fund NL, the federal tax shelter of the Belgian government and Cronos Invest
