Milo Rau/IIPM/CAMPO: FIVE EASY PIECES (CH, BE)

Milo Rau and the cycle of Campo projects, in which established directors create performances for adults with children as performers, have already been guests of the Mladi levi festival: Hate Radio and The Moscow Trials by Milo Rau, Next Day by Phillippe Quesne, and Before Your Very Eyes by Gob Squad. For the political‑documentary‑theatre foundation of his performance Five Easy Pieces (the title alludes to a series of five four‑hands pieces written by Igor Stravinsky as a learning material for his children), Milo Rau, a veteran of documentary and politically engaged theatre who likes to challenge taboos, chose the case of Marc Dutroux, Belgian murderer and child molester.
The performance is moving on a slippery slope of the scandalous case that shook the nation and provoked mass protests; and yet it avoids moralizing, pathos, and simplifying. Milo Rau is not satisfied with showing the monstrosity of Dutroux – he is presented more as a symptom of the political situation, thus also becoming a painful metaphor of Belgium and its colonialism. He is also not satisfied with children as the bearers of truth, innocence, or a better future. Instead, he prefers to explore with them the ontological and existential questions of theatre and life: crime, death, guilt, freedom … The only adult on stage is actually the one who is creating an alienating effect which once again brings out their inner child from the moments when children recreate, in the manner of psychological realism, situations of different aspects of Dutroux’s case. We are watching the performance without tears, and therefore without catharsis – perhaps the sole liberating aspect being that children exist.

Concept, text and direction: Milo Rau
Text and performance: Rachel Dedain, Aimone De Zordo, Fons Dumont, Arno John Keys, Maurice Leerman, Pepijn Loobuyck, Willem Loobuyck, Blanche Ghyssaert, Polly Persyn, Lucia Redondo Peter Seynaeve, Pepijn Siddiki, Elle Liza Tayou, Winne Vanacker, Hendrik Van Doorn & Eva Luna Van Hijfte (2 casts of 8 performers)
Performance film: Sara De Bosschere, Pieter-Jan De Wyngaert, Johan Leysen, Peter Seynaeve, Jan Steen, Ans Van den Eede, Hendrik Van Doorn, Annabelle Van Nieuwenhuyse
Dramaturgy: Stefan Bläske
Direction assistant and performance coach: Peter Seynaeve
Child care and production assistant: Ted Oonk
Research: Mirjam Knapp,  Dries Douibi
Set and costume design: Anton Lukas
Produced by: CAMPO, IIPM
Co-produced by: Kunstenfestivaldesarts Brussels 2016, Münchner Kammerspiele, La Bâtie – Festival de Genève, Kaserne Basel, Gessnerallee Zürich, Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), SICK! Festival UK, Sophiensaele Berlin & Le phénix scène nationale Valenciennes pôle européen de création
Translation to Slovene: Ajda Šoštarič

Foto: Phile Deprez

The performance is in Flemish with Slovene and English surtitles.

100 minutes