Needlapb 19

Needcompany is 25 years old… hurrah! The group was created in 1986 by theatre-maker and artist Jan Lauwers and choreographer Grace Ellen Barkey, and has been one of Belgium’s top international ensembles for years. These days, Needcompany is more than just a theatre company; it is also a production company, producing work by the ‘associated artists’ MaisonDahlBonnema and Ohno Cooporation. To celebrate its anniversary, Needcompany has presented no less than three world premieres: The Art of Entertainment (which premiered in Vienna’s Burg Theatre and was shown in the Kaaitheater at the beginning of this season), MaisonDahlBonnema’s Analysis – The Whole Song (shown last December in the Kaaistudio’s) and Marketplace 76 (which will premiere in September 2012 at the Ruhrtriënnale in Bochum, and will be performed at the Kaaitheater next season).
  
Every year Needcompany gives fans a glimpse behind the scenes: in the notorious Needlapbs, you can get a taste of ‘work in progress’, at the point where the approach is still fluid and dynamic, and the piece is yet to be moulded into its definitive shape. In 2011, Jan Lauwers wrote the play Marketplace 76, which will be read during Needlapb 19.