De Grieken - Leesmarathon
During the first week, the actors take on three ancient classics with iconic women in the lead: Trojan Women and Alcestis by Euripides and Antigone by Sophocles. They will study the texts, in a Dutch translation by Johan Boonen, for a week with the help of four coaches. On 8 February they will present the resulting staged reading.
For Antigone, Lisaboa Houbrechts explores the text together with her group of students. In 2016 Houbrechts herself graduated from KASK Ghent; today she works with Toneelhuis Antwerpen through P.U.L.S. (Project for Upcoming artists for the Larger Stage), and in January and February she presents her creations Bruegel and 1095 at KVS.
The students working on Alkestis will be accompanied by Koen De Sutter. He learned the ropes at Studio Herman Teirlinck and has since performed with a variety of theatre companies including Het Gevolg, Theater Zuidpool, Arca (Ghent), Theater Antigone and NTGent. You may have seen him at KVS recently as part of the performance Othello by Aurore Fattier and Théâtre de Liège.
Fien Leysen and Freek Mariën will work in tandem to guide the reading of Trojan Women. You may have seen Leysen before at KVS in Wat (niet) weg is, or perhaps you have tickets for Wie we zijn at the end of February? She dons the coaching robes together with Freek Mariën. He makes theatre performances for children and adults as a writer and theatre creator. In 2018 he created Het Puin van Eden for fABULEUS in collaboration with Carl von Winckelmann.
Come see and hear the talents of tomorrow! Let all three tragedies move you, or pick your favourite. You can join the marathon at three different times:
- 4pm: Antigone (Sophocles)
- 6pm: Trojan Women (Euripides)
- 8pm: Alcestis (Euripides)
The second week takes the students a step further: they bring the texts to life on stage with dramaturgic support. Actors and coaches take free rein with the original texts, adapting them as they go. This exercise culminates in a showcase by each school.
Johan Boonen is one of the most prominent translators of the Greek tragedies in the Dutch-speaking world. His widely praised translations of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were collected into one edition, published last year by Bebuquin.