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Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

Brûler

Jorge León
Simone Aughterlony
Claron McFadden
Rokia Bamba

12 > 15.09.2024
Performance – Installation – Music

The planet is burning. What would Lucy, the three-million-year-old Australopithecus discovered in the Ethiopian desert in 1974, have to say? Here she is summoned to the heart of an immersive performance that questions the fantasy of our origins as well as our finiteness and our desire to transcend it. Somewhere between archaeology and future-oriented impulses. 

As the audience roams freely through a space transformed into an excavation site, a voice emerges, that of American soprano Claron McFadden, who conjures up Lucy and the fiction surrounding this ancestral figure: who would she be if she returned today, and how would she view the world we live in? Words, songs, gestures and movements, video footage, visual creations, sounds and music unfurl in a sensory constellation to create a vast metaphorical body. At stake: a history of humanity caught off guard by its own existence, torn between the awareness of its inevitable demise and the transhumanist desire to extend life indefinitely. 

Going back in time, superimposing and extending timelines. Summoning the past to question the present. Lighting the flame of a future that is searching for itself in a world whose end is constantly being predicted. This is the intention that drives the team of artists brought together by Jorge León, in a complex and invigorating collage of related artistic disciplines. Singer Claron McFadden, choreographer Simone Aughterlony, composer DJ Rokia Bamba as well as the writer Caroline Lamarche, performer Milka Kongi and eight other young performers work with the Brussels director and film-maker to articulate a dramaturgy of the fragmentary within a practice of the present moment.

Première
Création Studio Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles
Corealisation Les Halles de Schaerbeek, Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

The Halles de Schaerbeek and the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles are artistic partners. Together, they undertake projects and support them with a shared vision.

Brûler by Jorge León is one of these beautiful collaborations. This multidisciplinary creation will open the season of the Théâtre National at the Halles.

Tickets are also available from our partner.

Les Halles de Schaerbeek

Calendar

  • - 19:00
  • - 19:00
  • - 19:00
  • - 15:00

Information

Language

en, fr surtitling fr, en

Duration

1hr

Venue

Halles de Schaerbeek

Price

€9 > €21

Cast

Creation and direction
Jorge León

In close collaboration with the performers
Claron McFadden
Simone Aughterlony
Rokia Bamba
Milka Kongi

and the graduates of the Master Dance and Choreographic Practices – INSAS, the ENSAV – La Cambre and Charleroi Dance
Aimé Gaster
Vio Lacroix
Garance Maillot
Charly Molle-Cousin
Justine Richard
Caroline Roche
Lou Viallon
Loü Viret

Assistance and dramaturgy
Isabelle Dumont

Assistant direction
Brandon Kano Butare

Writing
Caroline Lamarche
Other texts
Elsa Dorlin
Laurence Vielle

(in progress)

Scenography
Traumnovelle

Sound installation and musical composition
Rokia Bamba

Lighting design
Arnaud Eubelen

Video design
Aliocha Van der Avoort

Costume design
Eugénie Poste

Set construction and costume making
Ateliers du Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

Visual artist
Arnaud Vasseux  

Mold making
Stéphanie Denoiseux
Bloody Mary sfx

Technical direction
Benøît Ausloos

Stage management
Julian Fernandez
Dimitri Wauters

Lighting management
Arthur Demaret

Sound management
David Defour

Video management
Ludovic Desclin

A show of
Jorge León / Present Perfect asbl

Production
Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

Coproduction
Charleroi Danse, Halles de Schaerbeek, Muziektheater Transparant, La Coop asbl, Shelter Prod

With the support of
la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles - Service Général de la Création Artistique – Service des projets pluridisciplinaires et transversaux, du Centre des Arts Scéniques, du FRart, du Cirva, de Camargo Foundation, du CEREGE / Institut Pythéas / CNRS, Taxshelter.be, ING, du Taxshelter du gouvernement fédéral belge

Thanks to
Marie Fresnois, Isabelle Reiher, Nathalie Georges Lambrisch,  Joëlle Sambi

© Bernard Coutant
Le Rideau de saison, Maak & Transmettre · photo : Lucile Dizier, 2024