Shelly Shonk Fiffit
As always, Meirhaeghe does not start from a text or a defined concept, but everything starts from certain fascinations and the dynamic group of performers he brings together.
On the 25th of December 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched. This infrared telescope is the largest and most sophisticated space telescope ever, allowing us to look far and deep into the universe as well as the past. Among other things, Webb will search for the "cosmic dawn": the light of the very first stars that formed shortly after the birth of the universe.
"EXCITING, UNPREDICTABLE AND SOMETIMES UNCOMFORTABLE"De Tijd
The infinity of the universe swallows us whole, science is searching but our imagination is absolute. Even more than by the discovery of this telescope, Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe is fascinated by the ability through which man's thoughts can rise above themselves and the universe. By his ability to invent. In this performance, Meirhaeghe links the high-tech of a telescope to the primitiveness of crafts and techniques.
Travel companion on this trip beyond the limits of our bodies and time is Italian composer Caterina Barbieri. Barbieri makes electronic music, with "transformative and mind-expanding" potential. On the hypnotic Fantas (from the magisterial 2019 album Ecstatic Computation ), the performers, singers and dancers surrender to the inexplicable and unspeakable.
Shelly Shonk Fiffit becomes an intense and ecstatic visual and musical trip, through our inner world and the reaches of the cosmos. Fiffit!
credits
with support of
de Tax Shelter van de Belgische federale overheid, Look@Leocoproduction
Tandem Scène nationale Douai (FR)production
Toneelhuisvocal coaching
Wouter Deltourby & with
Fumiyo Ideda, Bully Fae Collins, Eurudike De Beul, Alphonse Eklou, Nathan Felix-Rivot, Malique Fye, Hanako Hayakawa, Faust De Winnetext
Jori(k) Amit Galamadramaturgy
Louise Van den Eedescenography & light
Bart Van Merode, Zaza Dupontmusic
Caterina Barbieridirection
Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe