We don't speak to be understood
Pieter Ampe & Benjamin Verdonck / Toneelhuis, KVS & CAMPO
I am arguing that the Theatre of the Absurd is not about absurdity,
but about making life meaningful given our absurd situation.
(Michael Bennett - Reassessing the Theatre of the Absurd)
Among other things, the dancer and choreographer Pieter Ampe and artist and theatre-maker Benjamin Verdonck share a raw physical style and a love of slapstick. Their encounters go way back. Benjamin Verdonck assisted Pieter Ampe with O Feather of Lead, the project with which he graduated at P.A.R.T.S., Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s school for contemporary dance, in 2008. And Pieter Ampe helped Benjamin Verdonck with the dance sequences in Song#2, the performance he made with Abke Haring in 2012.
These encounters boosted the wish to actually really work together on a performance. Given these two artists’ different artistic backgrounds, We don’t speak to be understood could result in a clash of artistic disciplines, but nothing is certain.
press
credits
by & with Pieter Ampe, Benjamin Verdonck, Korneel Coessens, Louise Crabbé, Peter Seynaeve & Iwan Van Vlierberghe production toneelhuis, kvs, CAMPO executive producer CAMPO coproduction BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen, NO) & la bâtie, festival de Genève (CH)