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Toneelhuis & Olympique Dramatique, theater arsenaal

[meeuw]
het TheaterFestival
  • Fri 12.09
    19:00 - 21:30
    Leietheater Deinze
    Tickets
  • Sat 13.09
    19:00 - 21:30
    Leietheater Deinze
    Tickets

“We need new forms. We need new forms, and if we don’t get them, we’d rather have nothing at all.”- Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev

In [meeuw], for the first time, a full-length repertory play is translated and performed entirely in Flemish Sign Language (VGT) by a mixed cast of deaf and hearing actors.

The starting point is The Seagull (1896) by Anton Chekhov, one of the greatest and most tender plays in theatre history – about a youth searching for new ideas, and an older generation that feels threatened by them. A story of clinging to the past and longing for a free life; told from the perspective of three different generations. Love and desire as a destructive driving force during a family reunion. A comedy in four acts, as the Russian writer himself described it.

[meeuw] is an encounter with actors from the Flemish deaf community, whose native language is VGT. The cast is a mix of three deaf and five hearing actors: Yousra Boukantar, Sofie Decleir, Tom Dewispelaere, Lobke Leirens, Lut Reysen, Willy Thomas, Serge Vlerick, and Yana Wuytens. Together they search for a shared language: gesture.

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Als u graag tijd maakt voor de meest uitzonderlijke voorstelling van het jaar, maak dan tijd voor deze meeuw. (De voorstelling wordt overigens netjes én met humor van Nederlandse boventitels voorzien, zodat iedereen kan lezen wat er gezegd wordt en de dove toeschouwers kunnen lezen welke ‘intens droeve’ muziek er heel soms klinkt.)"

- Els Van Steenberghe, Knack Focus, 26 november 2024

Based on: De Meeuw by Anton Chekhov - Direction: Stijn Van Opstal - Adaptation: Stijn Van Opstal, Scarlet Tummers, Tom Dewispelaere, Francis Geeraert (with thanks to Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer) - Translation to VGT: Diane Boonen, Sam Verstraete, Hilde Verhelst, and others - Cast: Yousra Boukantar, Sofie Decleir, Tom Dewispelaere, Lobke Leirens, Lut Reysen, Willy Thomas, Serge Vlerick, Yana Wuytens - Dramaturgy: Scarlet Tummers - Set Design: Damiaan De Schrijver, Stijn Van Opstal - Lighting Design: Frank Hardy - Costume Design: Monique Van Hassel - Assistant Director: Francis Geeraert - Production: Toneelhuis/Olympique Dramatique - Co-production: Theater Arsenaal - With the support of Silence: Radio, KU Leuven Campus Antwerp (Applied Linguistics), Flanders Literature, Doof Vlaanderen, the Flemish Sign Language Centre, Doof & Events, the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government via LOOK@LEO - With the support of the players of the National Lottery, who help make this project possible - Project realised with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation and the National Lottery