Billy’s Violence

Shakespeare is the most widely read and performed author in Western literary history. Yet many of the Bard's texts are almost unplayable because of the violence, horror, racism and misogyny. What does violence mean in art today? Why do we love to look at it? Is violence viewed differently today than in the 16th and 17th centuries?

For Billy's Violence, Victor Afung Lauwers researched ten tragedies by Shakespeare and rewrote them into violently loving, intimate dialogues in which women are central, stripped of every historical reference and anecdote. You may never have seen Shakespeare this boned and dusted. This is a Needcompany production pur sang: Maarten Seghers is responsible for the music, Jan Lauwers for the direction, set and costumes, and all of this with a cast of international and intergenerational performers.

• Needcompany is an artists' house founded in 1986 by artists Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey. Since 2001, Maarten Seghers has also been associated with the company. This central trio of artists presents theatre, dance, performances, visual art, texts, etc. In recent years Needcompany has performed at Kaaitheater with Al het goede, Begin the Beguine and Oorlog en terpentijn.

‘It is a bit like Quentin Tarantino. Is it gratuitous, entertaining, or necessary or impossible? Tarantino is a choirboy compared to what Shakespeare has written in terms of brutality.’ - JAN LAUWERS

Please be adviced: This performance contains scènes of nudity and violence (against women).