Take Care, Philoctetes!

Just as the Greeks left their war hero Filoktetes on a remote island, we too struggle with illness and suffering. Who helps? What helps?

Filoktetes, once an acclaimed war hero, gets bitten by a snake. His companions go mad with his howling and leave him on a remote island. But ten years later, the oracle preaches that Greece will never defeat Troy without him. The crafty Odysseus and the young Neoptolemos are sent to the island to win back Filoktetes.

Filoktetes is a powerful and poetic metaphor for the suffering of those who are excluded, left behind or forgotten. During a preparatory process in the framework of NTGent's All Greeks Festival (spring 2024), de Roovers worked together with lecturers and students of UGent, and doctors, social workers and (former) patients of UZ Gent.  From this special experience, the company is now creating a performance in search of the balance between care and theatre (literature).

Together with the healing music of Farnoosh Khodadadeh, de Roovers explore the boundary between play and reality. How do we deal with illness and suffering today? With isolation, powerlessness, anger, and loneliness? Who helps? What helps?