Theatre play

An old trombone player is sick, the diagnosis is: cancer of the throat. He will no longer be able to play his beloved instrument. Banished to the last row of the brass band, he feels lonely, but it is the band that saves him from total depression.

The piece »En avant, marche!« (»Forward, march!«) is dedicated to the topic of the brass bands that still exist today in nearly every village and that exercise an important social function. Brass bands continue to represent a microcosm of society. First conceived of as a spoken word performance, the piece increasingly develops into a piece of music theatre with compositions of Beethoven, Mahler, Verdi, Elgar and the U.S. brass band sound. Alongside seven musicians from Flanders, a brass band from the respective city of the guest performance is always part of the piece.

Alain Platel, born in 1956 and resident in Flemish Ghent till today, numbers amongst the most important choreographers of our time. In 1984 he founded the company les ballets C de la B. Together with author and director Frank Van Laecke he developed the successful piece »Gardenia« (2010). At euro‑scene Leipzig Alain Platel has already shown eight pieces, among them »La tristeza complice« (»The shared sorrow«, 1996), »Bernadetje« (1997), »Iets op Bach« (»Oddments on Bach«, 1998), »Allemaal Indiaan« (»Everyone is an Indian«, 2000), »pitié!« (»Have mercy!«, 2008) and »tauberbach« (2014).