In the mid-1970s the New York stock market was dealt a serious blow or at least badly shaken, when out of nowhere a new player took the market by storm. JR Vansandt is sharp, ruthless and... just eleven years old.
Consumed by some moral sense and concealed behind a modest little army of straw men, lawyers and spin doctors, the whippersnapper lays his invisible claw on Wall Street, thus wreaking havoc with the competition, the stock market in general, the American and global political establishment, but also with people who have nothing whatsoever to do with any of this. He would have been Warren Buffet’s worst nightmare, had he really existed.
William Gaddis is considered one of the most influential writers in American postmodern literature. His experimental magnum opus JR is a complex and at times hilarious satire on capitalism. FC Bergman took this novel as its starting point for its eponymous production about people who are too fragile for the environment in which they find themselves. People who try in vain to shape their lives, failing to separate essentials from inessentials and overreach themselves in their race against eternity.
JR is a site-specific production with a minefield of lives, relationships and incidents as the set.
The production’s kaleidoscopic approach makes for a unique audience experience, one that has you sitting on the edge of your seat throughout. (...) The live film, which everyone can follow, is a gem in itself. (...) Moreover, thanks to the film images, we get to see up-close the highly accomplished acting of aces like Jan Bijvoet, Frank Focketyn, Geert Van Rampelberg, Gene Bervoets, the delightful Anne-Laure Vandeputte from Ghent and the talented, young Kes Bakker.
"JR , FC Bergman’s satire on the destructive nature of capitalism, is a technically masterly and confounding total experience."
"JR is a trip that knocks the spectator for six. You are besieged by sensations, which are rarely gratuitous. Careful thought has been given to every intervention. Each and every word has been weighed. The montage is incredible. This production runs like a Swiss watch, bravo!"
director
- Joé Agemans
- Thomas Verstraeten
- Stef Aerts
- Marie Vinck
text
- William Gaddis
adaptation
- FC Bergman i.s.m. Bart Van den Eynde en Willem Wallyn
with
- Joé Agemans
- Kes Bakker
- Gene Bervoets
- Jan Bijvoet
- Michael De Cock
- Rashif El Kaoui
- Frank Focketyn
- Ella-June Henrard
- Bart Hollanders
- Imke Mol
- Anne-Laure Vandeputte
- Stijn Van Opstal
- Junior Mthombeni
- Geert Van Rampelberg
- Oscar Van Rompay
- Marie Vinck
- Thomas Verstraeten
- Wolf Verniers
- e.a.
sound design
- Senjan Jansen
light design
- FC Bergman i.s.m. Ken Hioco
costume design
- Joëlle Meerbergen
production
- FC Bergman
- Toneelhuis
- Toneelhuis
coproduction
- KVS
- NTGent
- Olympique Dramatique
with the support of
- De Neef Milieu en Chemiegroep
- Must – Museum voor textiel, Ronse
- Café Costume
- Tax Shelter maatregel v/d Belgische Federale Overheid
- Casa Kafka Pictures Tax Shelter powered by Belfius
thanks to
- Ludo Teeuwen
- Bart Grietens
- Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen
- Art in Flanders vzw
- Hugo Maertens
- opleiding master in het vertalen van de KU Leuven te Brussel