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Theatre

Gilles!

Jan Decleir

"For decades, I have had a secret desire to utter the hair-raisingly beautiful words of Hugo Claus on stage again, and for decades I have been ashamed of my inertia, my lack of decisiveness.
Now that is no longer possible to realistically portray Gilles, who was put to death at a young age, I have finally been able get over my shame and am looking forward to presenting at this time a work of art from the last century.

The century in which the poet Hugo Claus (for a short while only, according to his faultfinders) breathlessly fought for the hegemony of the word in theatre; where he, true to his nature, wrote not without irony and with humour and insight into that bizarre creature called ‘man’, a gripping text for all times about war, love and jealousy, loss, depravity, faith and horror."

Jan Decleir
Especially for the Bye Bye Bourla Festival, Jan Decleir – 37 years after the premiere of the monologue that Hugo Claus wrote specifically for him – once again steps into the shoes of Gilles de Rais and stands before his judges.

text

  • Hugo Claus

performance

  • Jan Decleir

adaptation

  • Jan Decleir

executive producer

  • Toneelhuis

premiere originale

  • 18 februari 1988, Muntschouwburg Brussel
  • in een productie van De Dolage vzw ism De Munt

All data

  1. Thursday 22 May 2025 — 20h00 — Bourlaschouwburg, Antwerpen
  2. Friday 23 May 2025 — 20h00 — Bourlaschouwburg, Antwerpen
  3. Sunday 25 May 2025 — 15h00 — Bourlaschouwburg, Antwerpen

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