A maker of integrity, Meirhaeghe has proved to have no qualms about appearing intimate and vulnerable on the large stage.
"In ‘Ode to a Love Lost’, performer Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe rakes together the pieces of his broken heart. His grief unfolds in images and music of beauty and stillness."
"His own heartbreak, which underlies Ode to a Love Lost , is expressed from different perspectives. An eclectic mix of opera repertoire, jazz, blues and orchestral music can also be heard in the soundscape."
"Love in the broadest possible sense. As vulnerable as it is threatening: that is Ode to a Love Lost ."
"As well as passages from Debussy’s composition to Nijinsky’s L'Après-midi d'un faune, the piece is pervaded by one long sustained sound in an arc of tension which, in true Wagnerian style, is never allowed release. Ingeniously incorporated is the tension of unprocessed loss and unknown future."
"“In Ode to a Love Lost , we explore the energy of the 'afterglow', as researcher Louise van den Eede called it. The shimmering after a catastrophe. The afterglow of the big bang. The hush right after your heart breaks. Meanwhile, in the scenography, this has been translated into a gigantic wind chime of 8,000 steel pipes, above a carpet that covers the entire stage. The old and the new converge in that image. I like to compare my creative process to a centrifuge: I throw the past, present and future into it, and a show comes out of it."
director
BENJAMIN ABEL MEIRHAEGHE
by and with
DÉSIRÉE CEROCIÉN
FINN RONSDORF
JELLE HAEN
BENJAMIN ABEL MEIRHAEGHE
scenography, light
BART VAN MERODE
ZAZA DUPONT
costume design
OUMAR DICKO
research
LOUISE VAN DEN EEDE
dramaturgy
KRISTOF VAN BAARLE
choreography coaching
HANAKO HAYAKAWA
vocal coaching
WOUTER DELTOUR
body coaching
STEN DIELEN
video
CHARLES DHONDT
carpet design
VICTOR VERHELST
internship
FELIX DECKERS
MALIQUE FYE
MARIA ZANDVLIET
stand in
MARIO BARRANTES ESPINOZA
agency
ART HAPPENS
production
TONEELHUIS
with the support of
DE TAX SHELTER VAN DE BELGISCHE FEDERALE OVERHEID
CASA KAFKA PICTURES TAX SHELTER