BRONKS ~ theater voor kinderen en jongeren | Varkensmarkt 15-17, 1000 Brussel | t: 02 219 99 21 f: 02 219 75 54 | e-mail: info@bronks.be
The BRONKS festival 2007 will take place from the 3th of November until the 11th November in Brussels, Belgium
One brand new BRONKSproduction, three BRONKS-‘classics’, BRONKS in French, lots of guest performances, including two premières and five Belgian premières and a side programme full of surprises. This is the 16th edition of the BRONKSfestival in a nutshell.
A new BRONKSproduction
The new performance by Pascale Platel and Jan Sobrie, De Rouwdouwers, a show about friendship and perhaps a little bit more, will premiere at the festival.
Three BRONKS-‘classics’
The festival will rerun a selection of the finest BRONKSproductions. Paard met Koe premiered at the festival last year and is a non-verbal performance in which Youri Dirkx and Ilse Roman compile a live catalogue about the beauty of differences big and small.
Director Ton Heijligers and seven Christian and Islamic youngsters return with Opera voor moslims en christenen, a performance about religion and much more.
Alias de Wanprater, a show inspired by slapstick and the melancholy of silent movies and by the dark poetry in Tim Burton’s and Edward Gorey’s work, will also be put on again during the festival.
BRONKS goes French
The festival will host the première of the French version of Miss Mie, a performance about falling in love, misunderstandings and the reality of fairy-tales.
Loads of guest performances
More premières amongst the guest performances, including quite a few Belgian ones.
For example, Droesem by Zeven / Inne Goris, a performance that leads you into a magical world where images and movements often speak louder than words. Barbara and Stefanie Claes, Iris Oosters and Nele Vereecken, four students of the performing arts department of the RITS, will perform the première of De Last Minuut. Together with her friends, Virginia, a former tour guide, will take you on a remarkable journey.
Brussels is a city of many languages and cultures and because BRONKS wishes to cater to everyone, each festival edition includes a number of non-verbal performances, for example, the afore-mentioned ‘Droesem’ By Zeven and ‘Paard met Koe’ by BRONKS. You can also see the dance performances Kijk eens wat ik kan by De Maan, Du sirop dans l’eau by Groupe Noces, Gadget-study # 1 by Compagnie Matteo Moles, the non-verbal music theatre performance Feedback by Muziektheater Transparant, the puppet performance Les Bénévoles by Tof Théâtre and the theatre performance Gasten by Toneelschap Beumer & Drost.
Kijk eens wat ik kan starts from the idea that kids learn something new every day and how each new accomplishment totally amazes them. Du sirop dans l’eau combines dance, figure theatre and visual material. In this last performance, Lili and Lala set out on a quest to find their playmate, a little red fish, during which they encounter all kinds of enchanting situations. Video also plays an important role in Gadget-study # 1. Centring on fairy-tale characters, this performance questions whether you would have been a different person today if all these fairy-tale characters hadn’t been a part of your childhood.
Feedback is a music theatre performance that makes use of electronics and actively relies on the audience in order to create a successful performance. Les Bénévoles by Tof Théâtre is a speechless puppet theatre performance about why older people shouldn’t be written off. Gasten by Toneelschap Beumer & Drost, on the other hand, bursts of youthful energy : a playful and jittery performance about sports, created by three young theatre makers.
BRONKS also offers a few performances in French. Beside the première of the BRONKSproduction ‘Miss Mie’, there is Le moulin à paroles by Théâtre du Papyrus, a figure theatre performance that actually is a game with letters and language, and looks for remedies against sadness. In La cigogne et le coucou by Arts et Couleurs, a stork and a cuckoo accidentally end up in the same nest and tell the most amazing stories about their travels.
During this year’s festival, BRONKS focuses on young theatre makers. Next to ‘Gasten’ that works with recently graduated actors from the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, there is also Jassenpassenjassenpassen by Toneelacademie Maastricht. Eight students tell the story of a girl who is afraid that her father, who is living in a country at war, might get killed. BRONKS also presents young talent from Brussels : three students of the performing arts department of the RITS are playing Drie kleine RITSproducties, three short performances they have created during the past year. BRONKS also gave them the creation assignment ‘De Last Minuut’. Thierry by Jan vzw was made in collaboration with a group of youngsters. Thierry is a seventeen-year-old boy who feels a bit out of place; his mother has just decided to relocate because of her new job. ‘Opera voor moslims en christenen’ by BRONKS is also a performance by youngsters.
‘Opera voor moslims en christenen’ is not the only performance which deals with current social issues. Haram by Theatergroep Wederzijds brings up a similar subject. After a holiday in Morocco, three kids learn that they won’t be returning to The Netherlands. Their Moroccan parents have decided to raise them as far away as possible from the Dutch culture.
Furthermore, BRONKS presents two location projects: Das Bob by Zeepcompagnie and Mijnheer Porselein by Studio Orka. Das Bob is a modern-day fable in which animals tell wild stories and crazy anecdotes in order to cover up a life of loneliness. Mijnheer Porselein is a story about saying goodbye, animal love and pulsing hearts.
Some of the sets of the indoor theatre performances are also quite spectacular. ‘La Cigogne et le Coucou’ takes place in a kind of large nest. The music theatre performance Vuil kind by Stella Den Haag utilizes a rotating set. And the set of de koning zonder schoenen by 4HOOG is a small throne room full of paintings that fold open to reveal amazing little tableaux.
Once again, this year’s festival includes a number of performances inspired by literary works. Theater Gnaffel bases its Ik mis je nu al on the animal stories by Toon Tellegen. It’s about missing someone, saying goodbye and friendship. In Baardvrouwen, Luxemburg departs from the text of the same name by Kamagurka. Kamagurka originally wrote this unusual, poetic fairy-tale about Bollekop, who goes out to look for three sisters, for Speeltheater Gent (now called Kopergietery). They performed it in 1994.
Out of category
The side programme ‘Out of category’ includes a number of interesting installations: BRONKS’s De Love Machien is a dating agency for kids, Godmode by Tim Knapen brings your drawings to life and in Stopkontakt by boutique vizique you can use your body as an electrical conductor to change sounds, lights, colours and images. Geert Hautekiet and Carla Vanparys have ingenious short performances on offer. Geert Hautekiet and Bruno De Groote, aka Mr. & Mr. Mörg, will create a song together with the audience in Ik ga op reis en ik neem mee… Tune into the BRONKS website to hear the result. In En dan is er… (= And then there is...), Carla Vanparys tells stories and fairy-tales with a twist. Be in for a surprise with cartoonist Conz, who will conduct a workshop for kids and make a live presentation of their drawings. Furthermore, the young members of the BRONKS-club will liven up the festival with Club exposed. Among others, they will be making a film with the audience, which will be screened during the second weekend of the festival. In Shakespeare is 17!, students of the Kunsthumaniora Brussel and SISA Antwerpen will present bits and pieces of their theatre assignments for school. In Beeld, beeld, beeld you can order documentaries, registrations of BRONKSperformances and films made by kids from a menu. The festival concludes with a swinging concert by Daddy’s Darlings en The Big Bang Boys. All the ‘Out of category’ events are free (or for the small sum of 2 euro) and will take place in the festival centre De Kriekelaar.
Venues
The 2007 BRONKSfestival will be held in five venues in Brussels. De Kriekelaar is the festival centre. During the festival weekends it will host the festival café where you can eat, drink, discuss performances and party.
The theatre performances will take place in De Kriekelaar (Gallaitstraat 86), De Pianofabriek (Willem Tellstraat 61), Kaaitheaterstudio’s (Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Vaakstraat 81), PSK (Ravensteinstraat 23) and Théâtre la Montagne Magique (Broekstraat 57).
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BRONKS
Varkensmarkt 15-17
1000 Brussel
Belgium
T 00 32 2 21 999 21
F 00 32 2 219 75 54
If you are interested in organising one of our shows in your country, please contact our international tour manager
Veerle Kerckhoven veerlek@bronks.be
BRONKS was founded at the end of 1991 in Brussels on the initiative of Oda Van Neygen. The goal is and remains to produce and present innovating and contemporary youth theatre for a young audience. The BRONKSproductions are not only staged in Brussels, but also tour throughout Flanders and abroad.
Since March 2009 BRONKS has its own theatre on the Varkensmarkt in Brssels.
HOME-MADE
BRONKS has built up a strong reputation with its own productions. Although BRONKS frequently collaborates with kids and youngsters, it primarily works with professional actors.
In the early years, Paul Peyskens and Michel Van Beirendonck put on performances with youngsters such as ‘Het Hamletmachien’ and ‘Honni soit qui mal y pense’.
Later on, kids and youngsters were involved in smaller, but nevertheless very interesting projects with professional theatre makers that would sporadically evolve into fully-fledged productions.
These workshops had a twofold effect. Firstly, kids could experience theatre in all of its aspects. Secondly, the workshop givers were given an excellent opportunity to enter into the minds of kids and youngsters, making it easier for BRONKS to make them enthusiastic about creating a production for this age group. As one of the main aims of BRONKS is to continually add new sparks to youth theatre by working with young and freshly graduated actors and directors (Dimitri Leue, Raven Ruëll, Joris Van den Brande, Jan Sobrie,… all started their career at BRONKS), but also by spurring established artists working in different disciplines (cartoonist Eric Joris, choreographer Marie De Corte, musicians from Zap Mama and Sukilove, filmmaker Fien Troch,…) to make a production for kids.
For some artists it’s a one-off project. Others, in the meantime, who took their first steps in youth theatre with BRONKS, have become household names within the genre or are well on their way to become them. For example, Dimitri Leue (with ‘Zarah, of de vogels komen terug uit het Zuiden’, ‘Nonkel Eddy’, 'Ogen Alles' and ‘Sinds de komst van Sint San’), Pascale Platel (with ‘De Koning van de Paprikachips’, ‘Connaissez-vous votre Géographie?’, 'Ola Pola Potloodgat' and 'Scoliozee d'Artrozee'), Mieja Hollevoet (with 'Assepoester', 'Zot zijn doet wél zeer, Hamlet van Shakespeare', 'La Belle et la Bête' and ‘ZWIJNEN ! Titus Andronicus’).
Not only they, but also others such as Raven Ruëll have been awarded with significant theatre prizes such as the Signaalprijs or the 1000 Wattprijs. Pascale Platel even won the prestigious Theaterfestivalprijs 2002 for her production ‘Ola Pola Potloodgat’. This only goes to confirm the ‘mature’ position of youth theatre within the Flemish-Dutch theatre.
BRONKS not only creates one hundred percent pure theatre, but has also journeyed into the world of music theatre with ‘De Kleine Zeemeermin’, a co-production with Walpurgis and De Roovers or theatre in which music plays a pivotal role such as in ‘Ogen alles’, ‘Stoksielalleen’, ‘Alias de Wanprater’,...
BRONKS is also known for its installations and initiatives involving visual arts. For example, ‘Zeven’, an interactive sensory installation by Inne Goris and ‘De Love Machien’, a dating box for kids. Under the wings of BRONKS, Gerard Jäger made the first versions of what has in the past few years become an independent initiative: ‘ABC’, the mobile art space annex library where kids can fully indulge in exploring the world of art.
AS GUEST IN BRUSSELS
Aside from carrying out a strong-willed production policy with freelance artists, BRONKS also wishes to host both national and international theatre groups in Brussels that stand for quality and innovating theatre. De Koe (B), De Roovers (B), Kopergietery (B), Laika (B), luxemburg (B), Speeltheater Holland (NL), Stella Den Haag (NL), Theater FroeFroe (B) and Theatergroep Wederzijds (NL), just to name a few popular guests.
BRONKS AND EDUCATION
BRONKS has an extensive education programme for schools as well as for kids and youngsters who turn to the performing arts in their free time.
The school offensive
BRONKS puts on performances in schools in Brussels for infants and elementary school kids as well as students in secondary school.
BRONKS is one of the few theatre houses where companies that play the standard evening performances such as De Koe, De Roovers and SKaGeN also take on performances for youngsters.
From the beginning BRONKS has invested in a strong educational working within schools, bringing about a wealth of information about how kids experience theatre, which is a vital touchstone for the creation of productions. By infiltrating in schools BRONKS strives for the enjoyable essence and the essential enjoyment of creativity and expression.
BRIK2S and The Club
Children from age 10 to 13 wishing to experience theatre in all its aspects and to reflect upon it can sign up for BRIK2S. The aim is to regularly attend performances and actively work on the subject before and after.
15 and 16 year-olds can join The Club. During their weekly meetings on Saturday afternoon they get busy with theatre and multimedia.
BRONKSFESTIVAL
The highlight of BRONKS is the yearly festival, which takes place in the beginning of November. On the festival, BRONKS showcases interesting productions of the past season and promising new work by other companies. The festival shows reruns of former BRONKSproductions but also marks the première of at least one BRONKSproduction.
The early results of children’s workshops are presented, but there are also lectures, installations, films, theatrical and musical surprises... The festival offers the BRONKSvisitor an in-depth and complete overview of everything that BRONKS has to offer in a relatively short span of time.
BRONKS AND THE WORLD
BRONKS not only creates productions, but also tours the cultural centres and theatres. Meanwhile BRONKS has made a name for itself in Flanders and The Netherlands and, since a few years, has also been ‘conquering’ the rest of the world. It toured extensively throughout France with French versions of 'De Koning van de Paprikachips', 'Ola Pola Potloodgat' and 'Toope en Toetonne'. Other BRONKSproductions will shortly be translated into French. BRONKS has also occasionally put on productions in other European countries such as Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
BRONKS ~ theater voor kinderen en jongeren | Varkensmarkt 15-17, 1000 Brussel | t: 02 219 99 21 f: 02 219 75 54| e-mail: info@bronks.be
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