Revolutionary Road
STAN & De Roovers
In Revolutionary Road we meet April and Frank Wheeler, as well as a number of friends and colleagues. April and Frank are a beautiful couple. Life smiles upon them: a house, a garden, children, work... and love, so much love. They have it all. They dare to dream big and are determined to live life to the fullest. In order not to succumb to a narrow bourgeois existence in a society where conformity has become the highest good, they conceive the radical plan to leave everything behind and move to Paris to start anew. But they are overtaken by reality, and their dream is crushed. Out of frustration over their shattered dream, they aim their arrows on each other, turning their love into a nightmare.
Following the exploration of Ingmar Bergman's work with Infidèles, the performance by STAN & De Roovers from 2018, they now delve further into the realm of human failure with Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road. The story embodies the quest for freedom and selfless love, and the immense strength and courage needed to radically change one's life. Furthermore it’s a ruthless critique of the suffocating and soul-crushing nature of societal expectations, showing how difficult it is to escape them.
Two young actors, Ivana Noa (master student at the Antwerp Conservatory) and Flor Van Severen (Wolf Wolf, Camping Sunset), take on the roles of April and Frank Wheeler, while Jolente De Keersmaeker and Robby Cleiren play all other roles. Two generations of actors with a great love for text aim to create a "huis clos" where they engage in fierce confrontations with Richard Yates' razor-sharp dialogues. Something between Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf and a string quartet by Dmitri Shostakovich.
Duration: 120 minutes
In Dutch