[ meeuw ]
“What we need are new artistic forms. And if we don’t get new forms, then we would be better off with nothing at all.” – Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev.
For [meeuw], a production by Olympique Dramatique, a repertoire text is translated and performed entirely in Flemish Sign Language for the first time, featuring a mixed cast of deaf and hearing actors.
Run time 150 minutes
Genre Theatre
Taal Flemish Sign Language / Language no problem
Surtitles Dutch, English
[meeuw]
The starting point is Anton Chekhov's 1896 play The Seagull (De Meeuw in Dutch), about young people with new ideas and an older generation that feels threatened by them. It is a story about yearning for the past and the desire for a free life, told from the perspective of three different generations. Love and desire as a devastating driving force during a family reunion. A comedy in four acts, that's how the Russian writer himself described it.
-|-
[meeuw] aims at being an encounter between the Flemish deaf community and an egalitarian collaboration of artists from different backgrounds. Professional and nonprofessional actors with Flemish Sign Language as their mother tongue. A theatrical encounter between artists from the same community, living close to each other yet separated by a language barrier.
Stijn van Opstal over [meeuw]
“The best way to learn a language is to encounter it. And since my language is theater, I searched for people to create a performance with. My curiosity became an ambition and in mid-November [meeuw] will be performed as the first repertory piece in Flemish Sign Language at the Bourla.” - In Gazet van Antwerpen, March 30, 2024.
REVIEWS
Het Nieuwsblad
“An inclusive performance with a community that has not been able to perform in its own language until today.”
Theaterkrant (Keuze van de Criticus)
“Tsjechov's magnificent classic only gains strength in sign language.”
Knack Focus
“Never before has one seen Anton Chekhov's The Seagull so intense and witty.”
Credits
after The Seagull from Anton Tsjechov
direction Stijn Van Opstal
adaptation Stijn Van Opstal, Scarlet Tummers, Tom Dewispelaere and Francis Geeraert (with thanks to Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer)
translation to Flemish Sign Language Diane Boonen, Sam Verstraete, Hilde Verhelst e.a.
dramaturgy Scarlet Tummers
with Yousra Boukantar, Sofie Decleir, Tom Dewispelaere, Lobke Leirens, Lut Reysen, Willy Thomas, Serge Vlerick, Yana Wuytjens
-|-
set design Damiaan De Schrijver and Stijn Van Opstal
lightning design Frank Hardy
costume design Monique Van Hassel
assistent director Francis Geeraert
production Toneelhuis | Olympique Dramatique
co-production theater arsenaal
with the support of Silence Radio, KU Leuven Campus Antwerpen (Applied Linguistics), Literatuur Vlaanderen, Doof Vlaanderen, het Vlaams GebarentaalCentrum, Doof & Events, the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, Look@Leo, Nationale Loterij, Koning Boudewijnstichting