The Silencing

What kind of attention do we give to the sounds of the environment we inhabit?
What sort of agency do we have when these sounds start to disappear?

The Silencing is a sensitive exploration of the role of the spectator in a theatre space. It mirrors what is happening outside of it – the profound impact that human activity has on its physical surroundings. On stage, a group of young storytellers establishes a shared practice of listening by interweaving autobiographical narrations, speculations, and audio recordings. They fill the theatre space with words and sounds. Until words fail them and there are no more stories to tell.

• David Weber-Krebs (BE/DE) is an artist and researcher living in Brussels. He studied at the University of Fribourg (CH) and the Amsterdam School of the Arts (NL). He's an old friend of Kaaitheater. Together with Jeroen Peeters, he has organised the performative conferences On Enclosed Spaces and the Great Outdoors, the fourth of which was broadcast live from Kaaitheater. Recent works for theatres are the performances Tonight, lights out! (2011/2013), Balthazar (2011/2015) and The Guardians of Sleep (2017), all three of which could be seen at Kaaitheater. He also produced the book and then the doors opened again in which 75 artists, academics, curators and audience members imagine their first theatre visit after the 2020 COVID-19 closure.