Conversations (at the end of the world)

Wrapped up in the beauty of a disaster

Conversations (at the end of the world) brings together five figures who are totally absorbed in the beauty of an imminent disaster. They had to give up all hope but that's precisely why they seem to be in a new situation with a lot of possibilities. They can do nothing but wait for their approaching end, so they engage in conversation.

The texts for Conversations consist a.o. of war poetry, testimonies of bored prisoners or crazed philosophers and the last pieces of music of dying composers. Together they weave a portrait of Man in the mad twentieth century.

The five characters – faced with death – fall prey to panic, madness and absurdity. They are like Francis Bacon figures :distorted lumps of flesh waiting in a cage without exit. In fact they are in shock but they still try to understand what is going on inside and outside of them.

Kris Verdonck is fascinated by the moment right before the catastrophe. In his theatre, which is always multidisciplinary, the atmosphere of Samuel Beckett and his Waiting for Godot is never far away. At previous NEXT Artsfestivals he already showed END and H, an incident : also two performances that herald the end of Man and a post-human community.

For Conversations he works together with actors Jan Steen, Johan Leysen, Jeroen Van der Ven and José Kuipers, ánd with the Italian pianist Marino Formenti, well-known for his contemporary interpretations of a.o. György Kurtag.