In this system created by Belgian director Dominique Roodthooft, public space plays host to philosophical talks inspired by the famous Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, London. Behind the Thinker’s Corner demonstration stands, actors equipped with earpieces and microphones ask a member of the audience to select a theme using the wheel of fortune on a tablet. They then declaim the words of thinkers, intellectuals from civil society, poets, artists or world citizens, copying their accent and mannerisms for a talk lasting a few minutes. This is an authentic and surprising experience of performance art and knowledge shared in public space.
Thinker’s Corner shares the innovative thoughts of Benasayag, Deleuze, Despret, Corneau, Jollien, Kemenzei, Frize, Guillebaud and Enthoven in public space through short outdoor talks given by Liège-based company Le Corridor. There are three demonstration stands used by actors equipped with earpieces and microphones. A tablet featuring a wheel of fortune is used to select a theme at random. A screen shows the name and profession of the speaker and how long the talk will last.
“All of the questions asked are fundamental (linked to our deepest values) and must therefore be considered as a matter of urgency”, explains director Dominique Roodthooft. “The texts selected focus on various questions that feed into the fundamental concept of not giving up hope and building a better shared future without compromising on complexity.”
Thinker’s Corner is a place for humour and poetry, with a clear strategy of going against the grain, but it is also a teaching tool. All of the references and bibliographies are available for further thought and reading. In Parc du Thabor, the audience of citizens and actors-cum-speakers come together in the same spoken theatrical communication of thought.
BIOGRAPHY
Le Corridor is a creative company for the performing arts that has been based in Liège (Belgium) for twenty years. Its approach focuses on philosophical and political issues, based on world history and current events, cultures and science. The company builds bridges between the performing arts, visual arts and music, connecting them to other forms such as thought, history, culture, philosophy and science.
Their work plays out in various spoken performances, smaller creations, test beds, workshops and publications, like Patua nou (2019), Cocon! (2018), L’ombre du scarabée (2017), Le zéro absolu (2017), Thinker’s corner (2016), La maison vague (2016), Les images flottantes (2015), L’appartement à trous (2013), Smatch 3 (2013), Der verlassene Teufel (2013), L’ermite ornemental (2012), Les aveugles (2012), etc. Since Les pas perdus (1994) and Le paradis des chiens (1997), alongside Patrick Corillon, Françoise Sourgné, Raoul Lhermitte and Marie-Pierre Lahaye, the work of Dominique Roodthooft (actor, director and company artistic director) has involved stage writing (écriture de plateau) and editing non-theatrical texts. Drawing on her first job as a social worker for eight years in a health centre, the director is aware of the human dimension and links to “real life” Her creative work has been recognised by internationally renowned festivals (Kunstenfestivaldesarts in 2009 and 2011, Avignon Festival IN, in 2010, at the 25th hour, and the Avignon Festival OFF, and at the Théâtre des Doms, a showcase of Belgium’s French community, in 2009 and 2013).
DISTRIBUTION
Concept and theatrical adaptation : Dominique Roodthooft
Performance : Céline Estenne, Emilienne Flagothier, Anton Kouzemin and François Maquet
Stage management : Renaud Minet
Stage Manager and Builder : Rüdiger Flörke
Technology Development : Rudi Giot and Damien Grobet
Support for set design, graphics and programming of WORDS for each performance : Raoul Lhermitte
Support, participation and advice : Géraldine Brausch, Patrick Corillon, Ronald Dagonnier, Pieter De Buysser, Vinciane Despret, Isabelle Dumont, Céline Eloy, Gabrielle Guy, Philippe Kauffmann, Pierre Kissling, Csilla Kemenczei, Ornella La Vaccara, Alix Nyssen, Stéphane Olivier, Antoine Pickels, Mathias Ruelle, Françoise Sougné, Mieke Verdin, Benoît Vreux and Sarah Willems
PRODUCTION
Production : le corridor (Liège)
Coproduction : MétamorphoseS (Liège), CAS (Mons) , CIFAS (Bruxelles), etc.
With the support of laras – Research Laboratory in the field of Arts and Sciences (Bruxelles) et du Théâtre de Liège
With the support of la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Service du Théâtre, de la Région Wallonne, Service de l’Emploi et de la Province de Liège, Service Culture
