The Preacher (Urbi et Orbi)

scored for string quartet

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duration 30 minutes 

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A preacher preaches salvation on the Bourla stage.

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The Preacher unfolds from a scene that is at once familiar and estranging. On the stage of the Bourla Theatre stands a preacher proclaiming salvation. Antwerp’s Astridplein is reconstructed in perspective on the stage: a public space, normally open and chaotic, becomes a theatrical construction. The preacher stands at the center of the square. Where the city is usually his stage, the theatre now becomes his city. What follows is a monologue built from actual sermons. The music functions as a ritual that gradually deepens itself: the work unfolds in three acts, each longer, more layered, and more intense, as if the action were continually sharpening its focus.

At the same time, the preacher is filmed live. Reality is drawn into the theatre, only to return immediately as an image. What presents itself as reality appears once more as representation. In each act, this tension is stretched further: the musical intensity increases, the ritual and the act of preaching grow more insistent, the camera zooms in, repetitions deepen, and the whole coalesces into an incantatory gesture.

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https://www.toneelhuis.be/nl/programma/seefhoek-series/

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Concept and Direction: Thomas Verstraeten

Cast: Astridplein preacher 

Ensemble: deCompagnie

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Premiered on September 28, 29, 30 2023 at Bourla, Antwerp.