Resourceful comedy that even makes Tsjechov laugh
Weariness and self-pity characterize Uncle Wanja by Anton Tsjechov. The title character has struggled for nothing for years and looks back at his existence with bitterness. Although he -like many Tsjechov characters- is stuck in a place where he doesn't want to be, he doesn't break out or take a risk. Everybody who raises his voice in the plays by the Russian, cools down – and eventually everything remains the same.
The iconoclasts of Superamas use a different strategy. Zapping between flashing light installations and stage performances the French-Austrian group always targets our mediatized culture. For this piece, a plea for courage and vitality, the company joins forces with young people from France, Iceland and Austria, which yields a performance in four languages. What is left of Tsjechov in this hypermodern, ironic comedy ?
Those who saw the multidisciplinary pearls Youdream (2010) and Vive l'armee! (2016) at NEXT probably have a suspicion. In the latter the extreme right Marine Le Pen seizes power, France withdraws from the European Union and racism against Muslims becomes legal. In Theatre Superamas sketches a completely different scenario : a civil war is raging in Belgium until the Arab world hastens to help under the leadership of colonel Khadafi, who shoots King Albert II in a computer game before appointing himself as our great liberator. Superamas doesn't shrink from the great political subjects and absurd twists and brings them to the theatre in a brilliant jumble of story lines, translated into text, image and music.
Since 2013 Superamas has been artist in residence in Maison de la Culture of Amiens. Until 2014 they also had a residence at VOORUIT in Ghent. Superamas has presented its work in internationally renowned art centres and at great festivals, such as Festival d'Avignon, Tanz im August in Berlin, The Kitchen in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Wiener Festwochen.
Free buss:
* 29/11: Departure at 19h from Valenciennes
Superamas
CHEKHOV Fast & Furious
DIRECTION, STAGE, SOUND, VIDEO Superamas / WITH Mamadou Barry, Clémence Bove, Mamoudou Celloudiallo, Alexis Decourtray, Esteban Dehon, Antonin Dewever, Ousmane Diallo, Donovan Fontenelle, Florence Goronflot, Valentin Heniart, Abdoulaye Koundouno, Marliatou Bachir Bah, Océane Merveaux, Angèline Soissons / VIENNA Yuria Knoll, Peter Alexander Kopciak, Richi Kuong, Naemi Latzer, Johanna Mettnitzer, Miriam Rosenegger, Gudrun Schmidinger, Katharina Senzenberger, Joseph Cyril Stoisits, Maya Unger, Maria Winkler, Lin Wolf / AMIENS Landri Badjiokila, Ludivine Caron, Elie Denoeu, Inès de Domahidy de Domahida, Vincent Do Cruzeiro, Julie Fortini, Samuel Grunenvald, Ramo Jalilyan, Chloé Monteiro, Léa Platerier / MAUBEUGE Marliatou Bachir Bah, Mamadou Barry, Clémence Bove, Alexis Decourtray, Esteban Dehon, Antonin Dewever, Mamoudou Diallo, Ousmane Labbo Diallo, Donovan Fontenelle, Florence Goronflot, Valentin Heniart, Abdoulaye Koundouno, Océane Merveaux /
REYKJAVIK Lakshmi Björt Þuríðardóttir Jacob, Célestine Coutouis, Alireza Darvish, Ágústa Marý Einarsdóttir, Birta Jónsdóttir, Helga Oddsdóttir, Anna Margrét Stefánsdóttir, Kristófer Baldur Sverrisson, Ingimar Tryggvason / COSTUME Sabine Desbonnets in collaboration with the fashion college Michelbeueren HLMW9 in Vienna (Monika Hartl, Hlazun Yuliya, Kmak Patrycja, Kuratova-Roither Maria, Ismael Maryam, Hofbauer Johanna, Katrin Hupf) / LIGHT DESIGN Henri-Emmanuel Doublier / PRODUCTION Superamas / COPRODUCTION Wiener Festwochen, Maison de la Culture d’Amiens, Reykjavik Dance Festival, Le Manège - Scène Nationale de Maubeuge, apap-Performing Europe 2020 - a project co-founded by Creative Europe Programme of the European Union / WITH THE SUPPORT OF City of Vienna - Dep. Culture (Austria), Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles Hauts-de-France, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (France), Région Hauts-de-France, Austrian Federal Chancellery - Arts and Culture, Amiens Métropole (France), Forum culturel autrichien Paris / COLLABORATION Le Grand Jeu (Sers), Théâtre Jacques Tati (Amiens), Everybody’s Spectacular Festival – organized with Lokal and the Reykjavik Dance Festival / TRANSLATION Ugla Egilsdóttir, Isolde Schmidt.
