“Love at first sight lasts for just a flash of lightning, and many a fool forgets that the sound of thunder announces bad weather and that we often dance alone in the rain … It makes us doubt what we know, but we want to touch it, stroke it, taste it, to the limit. We want everything, not just a little bit. To the end, to the limit. We love each other until love makes us bleed.” – Pitcho Womba Konga

They say there’s no such thing as failure, that every break-up is an experience that strengthens us for new adventures. What does the end of our love experiences tell us about ourselves? And do we attach too much value to the word ‘love’? Should we lighten the load we ascribe to it and redefine the concept? And to do so, shouldn’t we start at the end?

When KVS face Pitcho Womba Konga (known for his creations Kuzikiliza and Fire Will Become Ashes, But Not Now) encountered the novel L’amour est très surestimé (Love Is Very Overrated) by French-Algerian writer Brigitte Giraud a few years back, new doors opened for him. He started to wonder what role love can, and is allowed to, play in a person’s life. And whether we aren’t delineating the concept too strictly. In a style that straddles theatre, slam poetry, and singing, the director invites us to explore love’s tempestuous twists and turns in Liefde/Amour.