FREDERIQUE LECOMTE & EWOUT D'HOORE

INTERVIEW WITH FREDERIQUE LECOMTE AND EWOUT D’HOORE

The studio space was suffused with energy, wit and mischievousness for this conversation, not that Frederique and Ewout don’t regard their theatre-making with serious intent and with a careful eye, but rather that disruption and transposal is at the heart of the Théâtre & Réconciliation process and philosophy. Founded by Frederique in 1994, the company builds on her long experience as a professional theatre director, to deliver a comprehensive approach to using theatre to intervene in social conflicts, to build social cohesion and integration, and to assist traumatised individuals. Frederique has delivered workshops and staged interventions across the world, but has worked extensively in central and east African regions, in Rwanda, Burundi and Congo conducting large-scale theatre projects to bring communities together.

The lipstick on Ewout’s face during this interview speaks volumes about the tone and character of this conversation; there was much laughter and anarchy that we have unfortunately had to edit out here, but the fiercely passionate and purposeful mood remains. Here they both recollect projects they have worked on with child soldiers in Bukavu, and Frederique’s simultaneous occupation of the epithets ‘general’ and ‘maman’. We talked extensively about the role of theatre-maker as proxy-therapist in applied settings, and what responsibilities and boundaries there might be, and how transgressing established  formats for working in community settings has brought Frederique to the successful development of her own methodology.

BELGIUM PERFORMANCE

The final segment of the Dear Children, Sincerely performance burst its way out of the confines of the theatre, and cajoled, persuaded and hauled the assembled audience out into the corridors, foyers and surrounds of the Mercury Theatre, to meet the Superheroes of Social Cohesion. This piece, directed by Frederique Lecomte and Ewout D’Hoore of Théâtre & Réconciliation, was performed by an intergenerational group of older and younger performers that had been sourced from local community theatre groups. Working to a concept that Frederique had deployed in Belgium and in her work in the Great Lakes region of Africa, the Superheroes here had all the answers to make us happy, make our worries disappear and to bring the joy of incongruity and irreconcilability to our attention. Armed with a theme-song (oddly to the tune of ‘Let it Snow’…) shiny brightly coloured capes and various plastic props, a bank of self-styled superheroes invited the audience to one-to-one encounters, where in a hubbub of chatter, laughter and anarchic singing, we helped to conjure our own spells for better living. This luminescent and playful finale to the performance helped to unite the audience in a happy perplexity before they milled off into the night…