La mélancolie des dragons

Hard rock and mediaeval music

Six hard-rockers – long, greasy hair and Metallica T-shirts – have broken down in their old Citroën and are stranded in a snow-covered landscape. They make friends with Isabelle, who happens to be passing, and with childish enthusiasm show her their alternative mobile amusement park.

In 2003 the French artist and stage designer Philippe Quesne set up his Vivarium Studio theatre company to make assemblage theatre with a permanent group of actors, artists, musicians and a dog. They show a vivarium of the human species, a slice of life, detailed and humorous. Their sources of inspiration are Beckett and Maeterlinck, and Goya and Dürer too. It is not a script or psychology that provide the foundations on which the actors work, but music, in this case hard rock and mediaeval music. La mélancholy des dragons is above all a play about friendship.

‘A moment of charm and pleasure as rich and pointless as the life that inspires it.’
Jean-Marie Wynants (Le Soir)

‘The actors’ incredible naturalness, the poetic invention and a humour that never turns to cynicism make La mélancholie des dragons disarming and powerful theatre.’
Karlien Van Hoonacker (deredactie.be)

‘An absolute masterpiece!’
Pieter T’Jonck (De Morgen)

‘But what governs La mélancholie des dragons above all is an unprecedented version of absurdity, both ingenious and hilarious.’
Wouter Hillaert (De Standaard)