Reviews & features: Ontroerend Goed

All That is Wrong

Restrained, compelling piece from provocative Belgian company

There’s power in simplicity this year, for the Belgian theatre company, Ontroerend Goed. Often tagged as ‘provocative’ or ‘controversial’ because of their knowing messing around with conventions – see their previous, excellent Fringe offerings, The…

Audience

Ontroerend Goed slip out of the major league with cynical show

Audience opens with an informal talk from cast member Maria, about what it means to be in an audience. You’re not really supposed to talk; you need to clap at the end. We chuckle appreciatively. The joke is that of course we know this. We’re not just…

The Edinburgh Festival 2011 shows creating new kinds of audience interaction

Are you sitting comfortably? Not for long

Oh Fringe audience, you poor, beleaguered souls. Herded in and out of cramped venues, besieged by flyer-happy teenagers and bankrupted by increasingly stretched ticket prices, now you also have to provide the entertainment. Terrible, isn’t it? This…

Teenage Riot

What’s going through the mind of a teenager? Lovebites? Career prospects? Facebook? Dieting? All of the above, apparently. ‘My shrink doesn’t understand me!’ whines one teenager, in a comedy section where we get an emo blast of adolescent moans. ‘I am…

Ontroerend Goed bring Teenage Riot to the Edinburgh Fringe

Renowned Belgian theatre group explores teenage angst

Everyone who visits Alexander Devriendt in the rehearsal room says he must be crazy. He is 33 years old, yet he thrives on working with the most exuberant of teenagers. ‘It’s not about wanting to stay young, I don’t think about it,’ says the Belgian…

Internal

Powerful, disarming exercise in human interaction

How much information are you comfortable revealing to a complete stranger? How long can you stare back at someone in a candlelit booth? What tells are you giving with your body language? Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed want to dig these answers…

Interactive theatre at the Fringe

Yasmin Sulaiman talks to Adrian Howells about crossing the third wall

While site-specific productions such as the public toilets-set Waiting for Godot might have chins wagging, interactive shows promise to provide the more meaningful experiences in 2009.