Meg Stuart / Damaged Goods

In her new work ›Do Animals Cry‹, American choreographer Meg Stuart explores the complexities of family relationships. Cry if you want to: it’s family time now! The house is locked up but open for all, only dogs aren’t allowed in.

This is how it starts: people in pyjamas and slippers are panting. A family – is it really a family? – quietly gone sour. They fool around in variable poses: father, mother or sibling. They are called Frank and Frankie-Boy, Frankie-Fucker, Little Shit or Honey. To name just one, the others have their own set of nicknames. Decent families know how to communicate without anybody noticing. In the games they play, everybody defends his right on regression, on sleepwalking blindness and hidden frailty. In a room filled with memories, new candidates make their way in every day exchanging dreams and disappointments. No need for a fixed role, without being asked, they slide in and out family portraits. A frantic reunion where loved ones reminisce for the last time before falling to pieces.

Premiere: 22.04.2009 
Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse)

Choreography: Meg Stuart
Created with and performed by: Joris Camelin, Alexander Jenkins, Adam Linder, Anja Müller, Kotomi Nishiwaki, Frank Willens
Dramaturgy: Bart Van den Eynde
Music: Hahn Rowe
Set: Doris Dziersk
Collaboration set: Rita Hausmann
Costumes: Nina Gundlach
Light: Jan Maertens
Technical director: Robrecht Ghesquière
Light technician: Frank Laubenheimer
Production manager: Christine Peterges
Wardrobe & props: Albine De Wasseige
Assistance costumes: Noélie Verdier
Assistance production: Marlène Bunge

Production: Damaged Goods (Brussels) 
Co-production: Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse), Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Berlin), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Kaaitheater (Brussels)Meg Stuart & Damaged Goods are supported by the Flemish authorities and the Flemish Community CommissionWith thanks to: Kunsthaus Tacheles e.V., Robin Detje, Gerald Koll, Àfrika Martínez Ferrin, Britta Mayer, Alessandro Modica

www.damagedgoods.be