The Show Must Go On
The Show Must Go On (2001) by the French choreographer Jérôme Bel has already been performed several times at the Kaaitheater. It has become a ‘classic’ of the new dance. There are about twenty performers on stage in this open and humorous production: a wide variety of bodies, ages, colours, movement idioms and so on. Their main ‘opposite number’ is the DJ who sits right at the front and plays a series of pop songs, hits and evergreens past and present one after the other on his CD player. The performers ‘react’ unpredictably to this music. However, the leading role is taken by the spectator himself: he makes the performance by his response to what is shown. By means of his imagination he complements Jérôme Bel’s ‘proposal’. And that is precisely what Bel wants to achieve in his work. He expects not only the performers but also the spectators to transform and emancipate themselves. After all, in our society the image, the thing watched, is an area that has been colonised by advertising and ideology. Bel wants to try out new strategies for looking, in the theatre.
concept & choreography Jérôme Bel
actors Eric Affergan, Sonja Augart, Nicole Beutler, Matthias Breitenbach, Olivier Casamayou, Carine Charaire, Muriel Corbel, Dina Ed Dik, Gilles Gentner, Marie-Louise Gilcher, Gaspard Guilbert, Antonio Lopes, Viviana Moin, Frédéric Moreau, Ion Munduate, Gisèle Pelozuelo, Aldo Lee, Hester Van Hasselt, Peter Vandenbempt
music Leonard Bernstein, Galt Mac Dermott, David Bowie, John Lennon & Paul McCartney, Erick ‘More’ Morillo & M. Quashie, Lionel Richie, Mark Knopfler, A.Romero Monge & R. Ruiz, Nick Cave, J. Horner - W.Jennings, Louiguy - Edith Piaf, Paul Simon, The Police & Hugh Padgham, George Michael, Norman Gimbel & Charles Fox, Queen
assistants Frédéric Seguette, Olga de Soto
casting Barbara Van Lindt & Jérôme Bel
technical direction & dj Gilles Gentner
production manager Sandro Grando
production Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Gasthuis (Amsterdam), Centre Chorégraphique National Montpellier Languedoc-Roussilion, Arteleku Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia (Donostia-San Sebastián), R.B. Jérôme Bel (Paris)
R.B. reçoit le soutien de la direction régionale des affaires culturelles d’Ile-de-France -Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication - au titre de l’aide aux compagnies chorégraphiques et de Cultures France - Ministère des Affaires Etrangères - pour ses tournées à l’étranger
