PENTHESILEAD'APRÈS HEINRICH VON KLEIST

With a desire to open the programme to diverse visual arts events, the BPS22 welcomed the theatre project of five multidisciplinary artists, meeting at the crossroads of theatre, music and visual arts. Their work focused on the story of Penthesilea, based on the play written by Heinrich von Kleist, a leading figure of the German Romantic movement.

The story follows Penthesilea, the unvanquished Amazonian, who is shot in the heart with an arrow: the arrow of love. The arrow is fired by Achilles, who she desires then destroys, before devouring him and succumbing to death. Alone on stage, Françoise Berlanger evolved before a backdrop of several large fibreglass paintings designed by the artist Marcel Berlanger. The paintings depicted different motifs that together composed a type of rebus. Marcel Berlanger, who is a contributor to the Hainaut Province Collection, has collaborated with the BPS22 team several times, notably during a solo exhibition at the Academia Belgica in Rome.

Direction and Performance Françoise Berlanger - Visual Arts Marcel Berlanger - Music Cédric Dambrain & Patrick Delges - Set & Costumes Thibault Van Craenenbroeck - Lighting Xavier Lauwers