Le sec et l'humide: na het toonmoment in Parijs volgt Girona

Le sec et l’humide is een voorstudie die Guy Cassiers onderneemt  in het kader van zijn enscenering in 2016 van De welwillenden, naar de gelijknamige roman van Jonathan Littell. Begin juli werd het toonmoment van Le sec et l’humide rond Belgische collaborateur Leon Degrelle zo goed onthaald dat het dit najaar reeds naar het Spaanse Girona reist (Festival Temporada Alta). 

“Sound brings history closer, or so Guy Cassiers believes. For Le sec et l'humide he camped out at the IRCAM in Paris and immersed himself in sound research and experiments with the Voice Follower.

Power and language have been a favourite theme in the shows Cassiers has staged with Toneelhuis. Language is often artfully deployed to rob people of their dignity, he says. “If you dehumanize evil, it is easier to combat. Look at how the Nazis labelled the Jews "Untermenshen”. That strategy is a stealthy practice. The confusion of voices in Le sec et l’humide brings us close to the point of departure in De welwillenden, i.e. that in similar circumstances we could all be the perpetrator. And therefore that there is a fascist in all of us.

Le sec et l'humide was intended as a try-out, an exercise. But Cassiers turned it into a fully-fledged play which makes its point clear. 'That sound experiment was essential”, he says. “We now know enough to start working on the form of De welwillenden.’ ”- Geert Van Der Speeten in De Standaard, July 2nd 2015

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