Hildegard of Bingen. Hadewijch. The names may ring a bell. However, this acrobatic performance is not aiming for biographical tribute, but mainly wants to explore the mystical, feminine energy in our culture. Kasper Vandenberghe completed this performance during a residency at BUDA in December and we present it in collaboration with Schouwburg Kortrijk.
MYSTICA is a multidisciplinary ritual that starts from a fascination for the twelfth-century Hildegard of Bingen. As an abbess, she wrote works on medicine, botany, cosmology and philosophy, as well as musical compositions and poetry. When she was 43, she had visions that were recorded, making her history as the most important western mystic.
However, the show goes beyond the biographical fascination around one individual and delves into the symbolic significance of female mystical figures in history. Indeed, numerous of them are on the margins of our historiography. Only (very) vaguely do we know names like Hadewijch, Margareta Porete, Teresa Van Avila and Evelyn Underhill.
MYSTICA explores the lost undercurrent of mystical, feminine energy in our culture and raises questions about what we can or should learn from our own underexposed aspects. In the centre of the space, three hair pendants float. Below them, as if on an imaginary column, three choir members perform polyphonic chants composed by Timo Tembuyser and Jens Bouttery.
Play dates
Concept, regie: Kasper Vandenberghe.
Regieassisten: Leire Froufe Vigara.
Dramaturgie & tekst: Elisa Demarré.
Muziekcompositie: Jens Bouttery.
Zangcompositie: Timo Tembuyser.
Haarhangers: Lia Vilão, Lina Isaksson & Marta Camuffi.
Koor: Marthe Koning, Sofia Ferri & Timo Tembuyser.
Haarhangers coach: Ingrid Esperanza.
Scenografie & lichtontwerp: Peter Quasters.
Kostuums & accessoires: Tina Heylen.
Met de steun van Tax Shelter van de Belgische Federale Overheid, de Vlaamse Overheid en Cultuur Gent/Stad Gent.
