Engels toneel 2005

Vita et Pax-college Schoten

Director: Daniel Sossi

Teacher: Kristin Demol

Play title: “I L L U S I O N S

 Synopsis:
The writer was under pressure and losing his grip on reality. He had a week
to finish his book. That's five working days. The book was supposed to be
his 'Masterpiece'. But something was keeping him stuck in one endless
chapter, like some drunk to his last drink. With the clock ticking and his
family increasingly estranged, would Michael the fearless detective be the
one to save the day?

Actors:

Ellen VdVelde /Annelies Timmermans /Charlotte Verbrugge/ Sofie Zwijsen/ Nathalie Rots /Maxime Verhoeven/ Stefanie Peeters /Caroline VdPut/ Alicia Cabuy /Johan Bosschaerts /Marilyn De Bisschop/ Katrien Van Tichelen /Nils Goovaerts /Frederik Degryse/ Caroline Van Gassen/ Stefaan Keyzer/ Filip Verheyen /Thomas Verellen/ Joke Frencken/ Dieter Peeters/ Pieter Schrijvers

April 26th 2005

I’m writing on the Tuesday after the festival. We took the train back home last Sunday morning.

When I try to recapitulate: the three days we spent in Gand, I automatically end up with a superlative: FANTASTIC. The things we in fact already knew were once again confirmed: Ghent is a magnificent city! How proud we, semi-Antwerpians, may be… we can learn a lot of Gand. What an atmosphere! Of course, we couldn’t resist the call of the dozens of pubs. But simply chilling on the waterside at the Graslei was heavens as well…

Regrettably, this made our disappointment only bigger:  we couldn’t spend the night at the local youth hostel. Because of a booking problem, we had to stay in a Formula 1 hotel in the port area. Talking of bad luck!

With al this flattery, I would almost forget why we were in Ghent in the first place! Our play of course! The Artscene Festival was fun and fascinating at the same time. We had the chance to see real professionals at work. Apart from the different Flemish groups, there also were actors from England, Hungary and Rumania. Especially the first group of Rumanians (there were two groups of them) really made a big impression. They brought a play about the dictatorship in their country and a hero of the people who stood up against it. The play ended dramatically with the same people killing their hero. I think it’s getting time for me to read George Orwell’s 1984, on which this play is partly inspired. These gifted actors showed us the legacy their country and its citizens still bear.

Not all plays were as dramatically as this one. A Flemish school performed their adaptation of Monty Python’s Life of Brian. The way they preserved the absurd humour and the convincing way they performed, really raised our admiration. This performance was finished in no time!

And our play? I’ve got the impression that we did rather well. It’s of course much more difficult to judge yourselves than it is to judge others. But the reactions were, on the whole, rather positive. After each performance, a ‘forum’ followed. In this group conversation everybody was given the opportunity to share his findings with the rest of the group. They seemed to find it brave that we brought such a difficult play and still managed to bring it  convincingly. I think we may be happy with such remarks!

Thomas Verellen,

Vita et Pax Schoten ‘Illusions’

  Link naar Toneelproject Frans - Engels

Pictures: