Ontroerend Goed declares its love to the audience in ‘Thanks for being here’

At Ontroerend Goed you never know what you are going to get and it’s best to sit on the edge of your seat. That is also the case again Thanks for being here. At the start, two cameras are aimed at the audience. They slowly slide past all the faces of the audiencealso on the balcony. Of liveimages are projected large on a screen, creating the theater here literally becomes a mirror. We see someone hiding behind their arms, someone waving, someone dog-earing the person in front of them, and even someone sleeping. You can’t help but chuckle, even at the majority who do all slightly nervously or with sparkling eyes.

Later it turned out that the cameras were also filming us as we entered. Also that entrance in the room is becoming for minutes projected and hilariously commented by Leonore Spee and Karolien De Bleser. Because they understand our actions (finding a chair, taking off scarf, hugging others…) every time already mentioned a few seconds before, the commentary takes on predictive power, as if we were the performers carrying out the director’s directives. Genius in its simplicity.

Just like in Audience (2011), Ontroerend Goed makes the audience the subject of the piece. But in contrast to that controversial performance about the danger of the (silent) masses, it is striking how loving and generous the approach is this time. The public also has input. We hear voice recordings of audience members answering questions such as “what do you want to see on stage?” Turns out that not only scenes, but even the structure of the piece is driven by that input of the public – or so it seems. Punishment.

These audio fragments are lip-synced in perfect sync by the actresses, including Patricia Kargbo and Charlotte De Bruyne in addition to Spee and De Bleser. How are all those? various interpreting voices and accents with meaningful facial expressions, thus turning the anonymous spectator into the protagonist, is worth its weight in gold.

After several less successful creations, Ontroerend Goed is back with a hit, in which it gives a gift to the public in a simple but smart way. The idea of ​​the theater as a meeting placewhich was in vogue for centuries until the advent of electricity made it possible to extinguish the hall lights, gets rehabilitation here. And even those who are not yet in the room will receive here an unexpected roll – but we won’t spoil how.

Then, after the applause for ourselves, we have one more addition: thanks for being hereReal Estate.