De Mensheid

LOD muziektheater en KVS/ Josse de Pauw, Arnon Grunberg, Claron McFadden e.a. |

Early this century Arnon Grunberg [Amsterdam, 1971] wrote his De Mensheid zij geprezen Humanity be praised), a contemporary The Praise of Folly. The opening line: “No beast has been slandered as much as man.” In the book the accused, humanity, addresses sourpusses, half-baked intellectuals, confused philosophers and degenerate novelists. Grunberg readily admits: humanity IS greedy, lecherous, violent and spineless. But, he retorts, it has no other option.
Josse De Pauw [Asse, 1952] however, strongly suspects Grunberg of humiliating humanity in his pamphlet. Which is why he is literally putting the author on the stand. Soprano Claron McFadden [New York, 1961] is lending ridiculed humanity her voice. Will Grunberg be able to clear himself of the charges?
De Mensheid is part 2 of De Pauw’s trilogy/triphony. Boulevard is also presenting part 1 – cf. left page. These are stand-alone plays that can be enjoyed independently.

There are free shuttle busses available from the festivalsquare to the location of the show. These busses leave half an hour before the show starts.

conceived & directed by: Josse De Pauw

music: Henry Purcell, Claron McFadden, Kris Defoort

text: Arnon Grunberg

text editing: Mark Schaevers

performed by: Josse De Pauw, Arnon Grunberg

vocals (improvisation): Claron McFadden

piano (improvisation): Kris Defoort

lights & stage: Eric Soyer

stage: KVS atelier

canvas: Anne Marcq

costumes: Greta Goiris

costume assistent: Claudine Grinwis Plaat Stultjes