____
Yes I am Mother Nature's son
And I'm the only one
I do what I want and I want what I see
Could only happen to me
I'm so free
I'm so free
Oh, please, Saint Germaine
I have come this way
Do you remember the shape I was in
I had horns and fins
I'm so free
I'm so free
Lou Reed, I’m So Free
The Sheep Song is an unsettling masterpiece, the kind of challenging art we expect from the Adelaide Festival, (..) it goes beyond expectations. It’s utterly ambitious and provoking theatre.
"The central thread of the wordless play is adorned with a strong musical score (Frederik Leroux-Roels), dramatic lighting (Ken Hioco) and brilliantly conceived props. Titus De Voogdt is superb as the sheep, though it should be said that the collective claims acting is much less important than the concept at the heart of each work and its presentation."
"After having tamed an industrial terrain in Terminator Trilogie , turned the Bourla Theatre into a swimming pool in Van den vos , ingeniously fiddled with plots and towering stage sets in JR and fantastically flirted with opera in Les Pêcheurs de perles , the gang shows itself to be an old hand at mastering a big stage, telling a big story – rooted in Western art history – and designing big, layered stage images, each of them a breathtaking but never excessive tableau vivant. The enchanting result is called The Sheep Song , and it may very well be the most beautiful production of 2021."
"With the wordless production The Sheep Song , FC Bergman presents a visually impressive fable about a sheep that wants to be human, but doesn’t really belong anywhere."
"With a premise that is as simple as it is absurd – a sheep trying to be a human being – FC Bergman once again makes dazzlingly beautiful theatre. In The Sheep Song , the collective behind JR creates a bizarre and bewildering but above all marvellous universe without words."
"In catastrophic times like these, a pertinent story, brilliantly staged."
"Everything on stage is a feast for the eyes. Afterwards you have quite a job deciphering what you have seen, whereas during the performance itself you are swept away on this melancholy trip."
"The strongest part of the show is when stillness sets in and the symbolism of solace and rebirth prevails in a splendidly designed scenography. Every now and then you think: this could have been by Romeo Castellucci."
"If The Sheep Song were a museum, you would gladly find yourself locked in just before closing time, because you don’t know where to start looking."
"A visually stunning and evocative fable about transformation and belonging."
by
- Jonas Vermeulen
- Marie Vinck
- Stef Aerts
- Thomas Verstraeten
- Joé Agemans
- Matteo Simoni
with
- Jonas Vermeulen
- Stef Aerts
- Matteo Simoni/Dries De Win
- Marie Vinck/Gudrun Ghesquiere
- Thomas Verstraeten/Bart Hollanders
- Joé Agemans/Yorrith De Bakker
light design
- Ken Hioco
sound design
- Senjan Jansen
costume design
- Joëlle Meerbergen
music and live performance
- Frederik Leroux-Roels/Ruben Machtelinckx
production
- Toneelhuis
- FC Bergman
coproduction
- Holland Festival
- Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg
- Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d'Europa
with the support of
- de Tax Shelter van de Belgische federale overheid
- Casa Kafka Pictures Tax Shelter powered by Belfius