“I want to explore further the spoken language I used in FLOU: ‘ordinary conversations’ between employees which are about more than is said. I am writing a script for five people. On stage I see in front of me a choreography of movement and text, both spoken and physically visible. An industrial mantra.”

“The people I’ll be working with are very important to me. Marlies Heuer, who I worked with in Linoleum/Speed, has a background in mime which she combines with great clarity in spoken text.  I have been in discussion with Ruud Gielens for some time; I made under ice with him at the KVS in 2005. Jonas Vermeulen is now graduating from the Cabaret Department at Antwerp Conservatory; though slight in physique, he has an extraordinary presence on stage. The third male performer is Misha Downey, a fantastic, unfathomable force in Needcompany productions. Pieter Ampe will be my sparring partner on the sideline in the final sprint to the première because I will also be on stage myself. Senjan Jansen, who I have worked with on a whole series of productions, is responsible for the sound scape. Visual artist Jean Bernard Koeman is designing a large set for TRAINER. I will also be working with Stef Alleweireldt again. He designed the lighting for Benjamin Verdonck and me for SONG#2’.”

“TRAINER is a visual production, a performance with actors, objects and script in which rhythm, repetition and sensuality play a major role. The set will be constructed and then dismantled. The actors will be in a machine and at the same time they will be the machine. The machine will be the human being. An ingrained discipline prevails in the factory. A habit, a movement. Workers who plough on unquestioningly. I want to explore the sensuality of repetition without hesitation or objection. The individual will be present but will also have to disappear into a pumping organism which is not of the here and now. Brain-dead excitement.”

Interview by An-Marie Lambrechts