I have no thoughts, and this is one of them

Why is it like it is?

I will never befriend a penguin.
I will not be bitten by a snake.
I will not be touched by God.
I will never acquire a look.
I will not be circumcised.
I will not be owned.

A woman on an almost empty stage. She lists what she does not want, what she does not want to happen to her, what she will not do... a litany of oaths and resolutions, a stream of near-thoughts, near-comments and near-questions. You are born into an average family somewhere in the Western world. You are halfway through your life, or that’s what you think. You have been reasonably well educated and you have an abundance of information and opportunities, or at least that’s how it feels. And you ask questions. Why is it like it is? Why don’t you understand it? Why do you not have any answers, why don’t you believe any answers?

I have no thoughts, and this is one of them starts out from the pettiness and futility of human experiences and frustrations and from there looks for the universal and the general. A script that wanders through past, present and future and puts the accent on the changing meaning of things.

The collaboration between Tine Van Aerschot and Claire Marshall grew organically. Van Aerschot, an artist by training, has done production work and graphic design for Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, Christine De Smedt and others. Claire Marshall has always been an actress and is a co-author in the English Forced Entertainment company. Luc Schaltin trained as a photographer and is a lighting and sound technician at the Kaaitheater. He has designed lighting for Raimund Hoghe, Jan Decorte and others.