GROUP UPPERCUT/ Theatrical manifest from within a city

I graduated as a playwright last August and started a company, Groep Muilpeer (Group uppercut). Last weekend, we had a performance in the storage room of an art gallery. Goes without saying I’m proud beyond measure. Below you can watch our teaser and some making off-pictures.

 

 

A theatre-group is nothing without a manifest, and what better way of pinpointing a Zeitgeist by posting this text of a 'new theatrical generation' below:

The impact of poetical language is felt at its strongest when it’s spoken, live and direct, when it’s bound to a dramatic plot and is essential for the development of a story.

We plead for the end of the directors theatre that uses text as a disposable item and the writer as an end-of-the-line employee. Text gives the opportunity to stimulate the intellect and from there on, the theatrical concept should be developed. Theatre adds amusement to text and that’s what makes theatre the most fruitful way of learning.

 

Bring literature and poetry back into the theatre: away with all that fastfood babblin’!

 

Our actor, Jasper Hupkens, recording the voice-over.

The writer is obligated to take on the role of social vanguard. If amusement is all he has to offer, he’s better off writing for television and film, with which amusement can be brought with more succesfull effects.

 

The writer has to guide the audience from the well-known anecdote to an unknown world. Open the possibility of insight by using a modern anecdote, mingled with an universal human themes.

 

The writer has to develop his own fascinations, fears, prejudices and visions for the future. This will give his work the power that makes a work of art dig itself into ones memory. It’s the works of art that come from an artist’ personal necessity, that flame up during their performances.

 

the archivist and his crucifix.

                        It’s not true (3)           

Art is not a table conversation. Activate the ratio by the choice of subject and use of text, but leave it immediatley to immerse your audience into the possibility of the impossible. Truth, Lies and Possibility all have a valid legitimacy in the world of the stage. All three circle around the understanding of every object and subject. It’s up to the writer/maker to combine these three properties.

 

Out come the shadows...

Make theatre a total experience. The strength of theatre lies in the possibility to make a physical and rational experience simultaneously. For the writer this means: start with a certain way of storytelling and break through it. Use techniques of alienation in a closed dramaturgy. Stylize a dialogue on rhythm instead of meaning.

 

This is not a manifest for chaotic writing. All choices need to be explained on an emotional and rational level. And although this seems as an antagonism, it’s all about balance.

 

Furthermore, the importance of working together with other disciplines is hereby emphasised. Get animation and fine arts into the theatrical reality. Overwhelm your audience with the abundance of aesthetics that art can offer and look for new ways of cooperating with these other art forms.

Daan Alkemade, our urban indian and audience guide.

 

Art should come out of its hiding. The tv and computer are the new minitheatres at home. The local theatre has become too big a building, that stands far away from the human perception. Add to that the increasing hostile common grounds; on the streets the hardening and hostility of human interaction is felt. Theatre should grow roots in the city and play in places where its pumping heart is felt. The maker should motorise the dialogue, break open the mood and reset the senses.

The critical audience awaits.