Benjamin Verdonck: notallwhowanderarelost

Wednesday, August 26th at 9.30 pm
Thursday, August 27th at 8.00 pm
Dijaški dom Tabor

The Mladi levi will host Benjamin Verdonck for the second time. Nine years ago he mesmerized the audience and theatre critics with his performance wewilllivestorm. His projects are a blend of theatre, performance, visual art and poetry; he is also fascinated by other modes of work – those that allow for an alternative kind of creative event, evading constant hyper-production and rapid touring performances. For example, he spent the whole of 2009 in Antwerp, carrying out an artistic action almost every day as part of the CALENDAR project.

Verdonck is coming to Ljubljana with the miniature performance one more thing and the performance notallwhowanderarelost, which borrows its enigmatic title from Tolkien’s poem. This is a performance of pure minimalism: it unravels on a wooden stage, where Verdonck himself uses the curtains, a handful of geometric shapes on strings, sparse text and a couple of humorous theatre tricks. Verdonck is an artist of tao – an artist drawing on minimal resources in a slow-paced and carefully premeditated sequence, only to trigger a tsunami of references, ideas and contemplation in his audience. Reminding us that creativity doesn’t arise from overwhelming stimuli saturation, but that the magic of theatre lies in its ability to trigger contemplation rather than disclose everything, and that the “drama” is created by refined dramaturgy instead of a spectacle.

By and with: Benjamin Verdonck, Iwan Van Vlierberghe, Sven Roofthooft, Sébastien Hendrickx, Han Stubbe, Louisa Vanderhaegen, Griet Stellamans
Production: Toneelhuis, KVS
Co-production: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Steirischer Herbst (AT), NXTSTP
Supported by: EU Culture Programme

Photo: Benjamin Verdonck

45 minutes