The Midnight Special Agency
(c) Rimini Protokoll
The use of the photo is only free of charge in the context of the announcement of performances and with denomination of the author. Any further use of the photos, for example for illustration of reviews, shall be subject to payment of a fee. Please contact the photographer.
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The Midnight Special Agency
(c) Rimini Protokoll
The use of the photo is only free of charge in the context of the announcement of performances and with denomination of the author. Any further use of the photos, for example for illustration of reviews, shall be subject to payment of a fee. Please contact the photographer.
Download >
The Midnight Special Agency
(c) Rimini Protokoll
The use of the photo is only free of charge in the context of the announcement of performances and with denomination of the author. Any further use of the photos, for example for illustration of reviews, shall be subject to payment of a fee. Please contact the photographer.
The Midnight Special Agency
(c) Rimini Protokoll
The use of the photo is only free of charge in the context of the announcement of performances and with denomination of the author. Any further use of the photos, for example for illustration of reviews, shall be subject to payment of a fee. Please contact the photographer.
Download >
The Midnight Special Agency
By Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel
Whom do you represent?
Where is your fiction?
Which part are you playing?
The city is a stage. Every midnight of the Festival Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi and Daniel Wetzel are inviting a Brussels' citizen to talk about his daily performance for five minutes. The programme of this 23-days-conference is invented from day to day.
Playing queens and kings for one day:
Every evening, for a period of five minutes, we will be taking stock. As if TV were real life. In each three-dimensional news programme, someone from Brussels who we came across during the day will get a chance to speak – 25 times. Whether a manager, kebab seller, civil servant from the registry office, shoe model, biochemistry student, anyone can be a newsreader. They are selected on the basis of our own interest in them, the job they do in the city, their particular view on what we’re doing, their experiences and predictions, their strategy for making the city their own. News from home and abroad, business, culture, sports, the weather. Sticking to the rules of the game – through a whole list of questions – the daily protagonist will give his or her view on things, headlining his or her own particular area. Catastrophes, events and scandals occur that are not adapted for camera. On the other hand, theatre can give the news in an immediate way, something the small screen cannot. The 25 mini dramas will describe a city of many voices. They could just as well be about linguistic boundaries and divides in districts as about the arrival of the eurocrats and burgeoning of multicultural oases. Yet this commentary on city life will be making some forays into fiction. Which roles would the front-man or woman like to play in the city? What is their own burning issue? Their next summit meeting?
23 Performers in 23 days:
6/7-5-03. Lieve Biesmans, teacher at Flemish schools: Correct pronunciation needs daily training
2/3-5-03. Klara Vanistendael, Birds Seller: Birds don’t think - they imitate
4/5-5-03. Said Batik, young man on the street: Mon coin s'apelle Petit-Chicago
5/6- 5-03. Pat Lietart, Freehand Tattoo Specialist: My arm comes from japan.
3/4-5-03. Pierre Heureux, Pianiste, Musée du Cinema: Je vois donc je joue
7/8-5-03, Jean-Pierre Dubois, airplane spotter: Mes avions sont des personnages
8/9-5-03. Harun Mohammed Badr, vendeur des sandales: Cinq pour deux, deux pour cinq
9/10-05-03. Yves Bertino, Amateur Fencer: Without costume my theatre would kill.
10 / 11-05-03. Daniel Alliet – Priest: I try to speak about reality
11/12-05-03. Eric Pourtoy, real estate agent: time is on my side
12/13-05-03. Manfred Grede, Chess judge: Such is life and such is chess
13/14-05-03. Christine Leonard, Kabinet Staatssecretaris:
14-15/5/03. Patrice Epunzola, window cleaner:performing and waiting
15-16/5/03. Victor Michaux, Officier mobilité zone 5344: I direct Brussels – not my bees.
16/17-05-03. Luc Lion, Citroën SA spokesman: Performance pour moi c'est pénétration
17/18-05-03. Claude Janssens, Tourist guide: I am a typical Belge all over the world
18/19-05-03. Sai Qing Zou, Fortune teller: La diplomacie après la victoire
19/20-05-03. Maud Vandenbrande, maison de repos: Afin que vos jours se prolongent
20/21-05-03. Burkhard Doempcke, simultaneous interpreter: My theatre excludes my own opinion
21/22–05–03. Nicole De Nève, curtains: Esc Ctrl, Ent @ home.
22/23–05–03. Fabien Poignant, conducteur de métro: My theatre is the tunnel
23/24–05–03. Sam De Bruyn, pupil; with Raïane Claes: Schoolyard is my backstage of love
23/24–05–03. Dirk De Graeve, Pyrotechnician: I can simulate war.
documented by kunsten festival des arts
By: Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, Daniel Wetzel
Production: Kunsten Festival des Arts, supported by Goethe Institut Brüssel
Performances: Brüssel, KfdA-Festivalzentrum La Bellone, May 6 to 24 2003