Performative reading The Interrogation + talk + film

Louis and Rau focus in this text on the question how autobiographical events can be turned into theatre. Can art be more than an analysis and reconstruction of life? Can we escape our biography through art? Or is art only the melancholic record of a failed liberation? The Interrogation is a personal text about doubting and failing and a performance that was ultimately not completed.

Now, for the first time, they are sharing the text of The Interrogation with the public in form of a performative reading, followed by a conversation between Louis and Rau on stage. They will 'interrogate' themselves and each other about the themes and challenges within The Interrogation.

In addition to this evening Louis chose the movie Orestes in Mosul: the making of by Rau as a continuation of the conversation about the power of art, that will be accessible to the audience online. Ticket buyers will receive a link to watch the documentary at home.

With Orestes in Mosul, Milo Rau made perhaps one of his most important productions, praised by the international press. For this adaptation of the ancient Greek Oresteia - a tragedy about an unending series of murders committed in revenge - director Milo Rau went to the frontline of the long-running war in Iraq. How do you end a chain of violence?

Cameraman and documentary maker Daniel Demoustier, who specialises in conflict zones in the Middle East and elsewhere, followed Milo Rau during two preparatory trips to Mosul and made the documentary 'Orestes in Mosul: the making of'.

Édouard Louis has gained worldwide success in recent years with his books, in which he describes his life from his teenage years, his struggles in a small town in northern France and growing up as a young homosexual man. Theatre plays a crucial role in his life. Playing theatre himself brings him into contact with literature, but also teaches him how to survive through acting. It is therefore not surprising that his books have inspired theatre adaptations by directors throughout Europe.

Milo Rau proves in projects like The Congo Tribunal, La Reprise, Orestes in Mosul, The New Gospel or School of Resistance that theatre does not have to be detached from society but that it is a necessary contribution to politics, culture, and society - a place to tell true stories that shape our society.

„It's not just about representing the world anymore, it's about changing it.“ (Milo Rau)

Brandhaarden is an international theatre festival that brings performances by notable theatre makers from abroad to Amsterdam. The festival offers a unique overview of one creator, house, region or theme. Previous editions have put the spotlight on directors such as Katie Mitchell, Milo Rau and the Rimini Protokoll collective, and city theatres such as Münchner Kammerspiele, Volksbühne Berlin and Peter Brook's Théâtre Bouffes du Nord. In 2020, the festival focused for the first time on one region, Southern Europe, and showed notable dance and theatre productions from Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece.

The tenth edition of the ITA Festival, from 19 February to 3 March, focuses on the work of one of the most celebrated writers of his generation: Édouard Louis.