The Art of Entertainment, Needcompany plays the death of Dirk Roofthooft
A famous actor feels that his memory, the home of the soul, is slowly breaking down. He decides to end his life in a reality show with a worldwide audience: ‘The Art of Entertainment’. Until the bitter end he continues to play his role. The art of entertainment thus unfolds as an entertainer’s apologia and a conversation about the decadence of the Occident. A Monty Python style comedy: absurd, black, sharp, incisive.
• The art of entertainment is Jan Lauwers’ new play, commissioned by the Burgtheater. In 2011 Needcompany is celebrating its 25th anniversary. A quarter of a century of exciting theatre!
‘In the end, this evening of theatre is like the mussels with chips that they tend to serve in Brussels. One is at first surprised, but then it turns out to be very tasty. Nice.’ (Kurier, Vienna)
text, direction, set Jan Lauwers | with Dirk Roofthooft, Grace Ellen Barkey, Viviane De Muynck, Misha Downey, Julien Faure, Yumiko Funaya, Benoît Gob, Eléonore Valère | music Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Maarten Seghers, Jan Lauwers, Nicolas Field | costumes Lot Lemm | light Ken Hioco | production management Luc Galle | assistant to the director, dramaturgy Elke Janssens | apprentice dramaturgy Jonas Rutgeerts | technique Luc Galle, Ken Hioco, Frank Van Elsen | moulding Luc Cauwenberghs | dramaturgical introduction Erwin Jans | French translation Anne Vanderschueren | English translation Gregory Ball | photography Maarten Vanden Abeele | Burgtheater: production management Harald Brückner, assistent set & costumes Katharina Heistinger | production Needcompany (Brussels) & Burgtheater (Wien) | support Flemish authorities
