After Milo Rau, Faustin Linyekula, Angélica Liddell and Miet Warlop, it is Tim Etchells’ turn to reflect on his personal take on theatre in the fifth episode of the series Histoire(s) du Théâtre. Brimming with genuine curiosity, the artist, author and founder of Forced Entertainment has been giving a grand stage to the poetry of small gestures for four decades. This evening sees four performers undergo an absurd orgy of entrances and exits, a luscious confusion of roles, costumes and scene changes. The actors appear remote controlled as they react to sounds played by a ghostlike director: The doorbell rings, so the door needs to be opened. The piano sounds, so somebody needs to play it. Tiny changes give rise to new worlds, turn laughter to tears, hopes to despair. How Goes the World is the aesthetic manifesto of one of the great stage artists of our time: the theatre gains its power from the relentless desire to change a situation – to break free of the machinery that is driving us to exhaustion.
Text, Concept, Direction Tim Etchells Dramaturgy Matthias Lilienthal Dramaturgical advice Benoît Vanraes With Aurélie Alessandroni, Neil Callaghan, Aurélie Lannoy, John Rowley Music composition, Sound design Graeme Miller Light design Dennis Diels Set design Tim Etchells, Chris Vanneste Costume design Jo De Visscher
Production NTGent Coproduction Wiener Festwochen | Freie Republik Wien, Tandem Scène Nationale (Arras-Douai)
Premiere November 2023, NTGent
Tim Etchells
Wiener Festwochen 2013 Although We Fell Short
Wiener Festwochen 2021 (2020) Heartbreaking Final
Forced Entertainment
Wiener Festwochen 1999 Wahlverwandtschaften (Parts: Quizoola)
Wiener Festwochen 2000 Dirty Work
Wiener Festwochen 2000 Who Can Sing a Song to Unfrighten Me
Wiener Festwochen 2001 Instructions for forgetting
Wiener Festwochen 2002 First Night
Wiener Festwochen 2004 Bloody Mess