Big Bears Cry Too
Taking a stand for creative unreason, humour in art and gigantic hearts! In her first piece for a young audience, Belgian artist Miet Warlop indulges in her penchant for a playful approach to theatrical means. She convinces here with an intelligent, radical object theatre strong in imagery, letting oversized teddy bears explode, pouring an ocean of tennis balls onto the playing area or having the stage be flooded with paint.
Behind this quirky spectacle hides the vain search for answers to questions that leave children and adults alike seemingly helpless: Questions for the universe’s immeasurability, for black holes and humanity’s insignificance in this incommensurable structure. The “Big Bears Cry Too” solo attempts to confront the fears that arise from this. Fears that become palpable before we even start to understand them correctly. Fears that sometimes even make big bears cry.
Duration: 40 min.
Concept, director: Miet Warlop; Performance: Wietse Tanghe; Music, lyrics: Pieter De Meester, Joppe Tanghe, Wietse Tanghe, Miet Warlop; Technique: Bennert Vancottem, Jack Vincent, Jurgen Techel; Lighting design: Henri Emmanuel Doublier; Assistance: Lila John, Karolien Nuyttens, Barbara Vackier, Ian Gyselinck, Geert Viaene (Amotec), Mathias Huybrighs; Outside eye: Danai Anesiadou; Production, technical implementation: Miet Warlop, Irene Wool vzw (Gent), hetpaleis (Antwerpen); Coordination: Elke Vanlerberghe.
A production by Ireene Wool, co-produced by Vooruit, Gessnerallee, TJP Centre Dramatique National Strasbourg, AUA WIRLEBEN Theaterfestival Bern, Luzerner Theater, funded by flemish gouvernment, city Gent and Kunstencentrum BUDA, Kortrijk. A guest performance as part of Take-off: Junger Tanz, funded by Kulturamt der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf and Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes NRW.
