Perhaps all the dragons ... by Berlin, Teatro São Luis, Lisbon - The 5th of June 2014

I was feeling rather tired yesterday and therefore sometime in the afternoon wondered whether I should go to the Theatre in the evening as I had initially programmed or allow one of my daughter's friends to go instead of me.

I am particularly happy I ended up going because Perhaps all the Dragons was really worth the effort on my part as it did exceed any of my expectations and had me ponder on extracts of the five monologues I "listened to" as part of the ongoing performing act.

The audience was invited to sit anywhere around a huge table comprising thirty numbered seats set in front of screens and listen to thirty different stories being in the form of  "interactive" monologues. At the end of each story the spectator was told to follow a written instruction and further move along the round table (assigned seats as in accordance to those written on a card inside an envelope).


The narratives (five per spectator) despite being  filmed monologues were "interactive" in the sense that they were one to one, eye in the eye "encounters" and despite there being a screen it was as if the person on it was directly addressing you and from time to time aware of what was going on in the room, whenever there was any interference or background noise that led us all to look in that particular direction.

The first of "my" stories (29 true stories out of the total 30) was scientifically oriented whilst the second and fifth ones were rather emotional and within the realm of ones' life contradictions and fears, with the third being tied to emotions on a bullfighting ring and the fourth on the six degrees of separation  philosophical claim that any living soul is connected to anyone else through six or eventually fewer links.  

My "interlocutors" were from different continents and some of them from countries as culturally diverse as Israel and Japan. I ended up learning that in Japan some 700,000 people, representing 1% of the Japanese population live like "hikikomory" (a word that stands for social outcasts), cut off from any social life for a minimum average of 5 to 10 years ... I learned that one can simultaneously be a "killer" and a "saviour" ... I got to learn quite a few things ... but the number of things I learned compared to the number of questions that have surfaced since then is minimal ... 

Perhaps all the dragons .... "Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love." - Rainer Marie Rilke

Concept: Berlin (Bart Baele and Yves Degryse)

Soundtrack and mixing: Peter Van Laerhoven

Text: Kirsten Rosendaal, Bart Baele and Yves Degryse

Production: Berlin

Co-Production: Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg; KunstfestivaldesArts, Brussels; Le CENTQUATRE, Paris; Dublin Theatre Festival; Le Festival in Groningen; La Bâtie Festival de Genève; ONDA in Berlin.

Support: Flemish Government and the Cultural Programme of the European Union.