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...point of view, the theatre production Metamorphosen by the Antwerp based group De Roovers. This production, based upon Ovid's epic of the same name, tries to find a way of telling ancient mythological fairytailes' in a contemporary context. Through a radical adaptation of Ovid's text and by making strict visual and auditive choices simple slides, simple music by Bach this Metamorphosen invents a new theatrical speechmode.
Abstract (F): Rédigé par quelqu'un qui a accompagné le processus de création de la pièce, cet essai propose un commentaire de la pièce « Metamorphosen » du groupe anversois De Roovers. Cette production qui s'est basée sur l'épopée d'Ovide du même nom, s'efforce de mettre en place une nouvelle façon de raconter les contes mythologiques pour un public contemporain. Tant par son adaptation radicale du texte d'Ovide que par les choix visuels et sonores très stricts qui sont les siens (usage de transparents, la musique sobre de Bach), cette pièce invente un nouveau mode discursif théâtral.
keywords: Ovid, Metamorphoses, theatre, De Roovers, narration
"Echo is a nymph who can only repeat someone else's words"
In October 2002 Metamorphosen, a theatre production by De Roovers, a theatre company from Antwerp, knew its premiere. Actor Benjamin Verdonck adapted some stories from this unusual epic written by Ovid en he turned it, together with actors Sara De Bosschere en Luc Nuyens, designer Bert Vermeulen and the present writer as dramaturge, into a narration which was both physical and visual. The present text is by no means a reconstruction of the production process, nor an attempt to fit this quest for a theatrical narration into an adequate theoretical framework. Rather, I would like to describe some observations and intellectual experiences which took place before, during and after the working process and which caused the...
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