The animal, the animal and the little beast

performance
A musical fairy tale about Sterre, an ordinary eight-year-old girl. Sterre is a dog. Every morning, she walks to school on the other side of town with two dinos. She very much enjoys Mr. Octopus’ class, even though she has some trouble concentrating. A shark goes to supervise her in class. How can they help her? Should she be looking to switch schools? Will the teacher be just as nice over there? And what about the party she was planning, in the springtime? A play with live music about school counselors, badminton, heartstrings and good intentions and being the odd one out.

design
We opt for a hyper-realistic approach inspired by the dioramas in which stuffed animals are exhibited in natural history museums. Scenes from nature are simulated in an infinity cyclorama, a combination of a painted backdrop (a landscape) and artificial vegetation and other elements from nature such as water, vegetation, rocks, snow and sand. Our landscape became a tundra: far away from us, realistic enough for a visual illusion but desolate and abstract enough to dream away. In contrast to this lifelike environment, a multitude of representations of animals are placed in it: stuffed, plush, plastic, inflatable, porcelain, etc. By means of a mesh, the diorama can be temporarily closed for changes.

Jury selection for the Flemish Theatre Festival 2020