We hardly remember fire

Fire offers protection and brings progress; it is a source of light, energy and, of course, heat. It brings people together and represents transition. From the individual flame to the collective fire. Fire transforms. 

In Fire, Walk with Me, Barbara Raes, one of NTGent’s artistic leaders, and the Dutch theatre maker Alexandra Broeder create space for shared vulnerability. Fire, Walk with Me is a ritual for eleven and twelve-year-old children, but also for society as a whole. 

In our Western, neoliberal world, a concept such as the soul, the spiritual dimension of reality, has faded into the background. We lack rituals to capture turning points in our lives and share them with the people around us. Do we still know the true power of fire? 

Collective self-care goes beyond making individuals more resilient. Psychological vulnerability is not merely the consequence of a disorder or a lack of individual resilience. Vulnerable people are the flickering flames that indicate a chill in our society that affects us all. 

Jim van Os, professor of psychiatry, believes it is irresponsible to let people grow up without a spiritual dimension: 

Fire, Walk with Me centers on a group of twenty children on the cusp of puberty. They were seven during the Covid-19 pandemic, and they couldn’t celebrate that important turning point. Five years later, they have been given the chance to embrace, investigate and experience a new milestone alongside artists. Much of that process at NTGent is invisible, but it emerges at key moments to celebrate the collective. As with any ritual, their process moves through three phases: separation (letting go), transformation (the transition) and reintegration (perpetuation).

Separation

In the summer of 2025, the children gather for the first time at NTGent. They have reached an age where they don’t seem to fit in anywhere. Between childhood and puberty. Between primary and secondary school. Between vulnerability and an increasing need for independence. Now they are learning to deal with fire. They are developing the self-confidence, wisdom and control that this requires. They are becoming fire masters, fire-starters. 

What burns inside them? What do they want to let go to make their soul speak? What is their desire in their growth? 

Transformation

The newborn fire masters light a gigantic fire in the middle of the city on 27 September. They tend the fire and pass on its warmth, surrounded by people who have worked intensively on the theme of ‘a new beginning’ over the previous months: newcomers, people in mourning, midwives, graduates, perimenopausal women, etc. We have also undergone an invisible but important process with them before the ritual. Now they are coming into the open to support the children in their new beginning. They add their own processes, because what they do for themselves affects their relationship with everyone around the fire, society and all that lives on earth... the whole of existence. 

The audience merges with the live music by An Pierlé and the passion of the fire. Might the children be the saviours of the fire? We remain. All of us. Until the last spark dies out. Ash is collected. From what has burned but is not forgotten, something new emerges. That is what the children bring back to the theatre, where they spend the night together.

Reintegration

From 31 October to 2 November, just before the darkest time of the year, the children convert the NTGent Schouwburg into a temple of ash, warmth and light. In a ritual installation, they drive Fire, Walk with Me to a climax. Having grown into wise people, the children return the care for the fire to the visitors. What the fire has transformed is perpetuated and passed on. From now on, keeping the fire burning is our collective responsibility.