After the success of Billy's Violence, the desire to continue this intense tale was so strong amongst the artistic team, cast and crew that it has led to a sequel: Billy’s Joy. Once again, Victor Lauwers turns his hand to reworking Shakespeare’s plays and see what they can still mean in our time - a time of great controversies, vulgar polemics, cancel culture, structural racism, climate change, war. What is there left to laugh at? Is humour the coward's weapon or a form of activism?

For Billy's Violence, Victor Afung Lauwers researched the ten tragedies of Shakespeare and rewrote them into violently loving, intimate dialogues in which the woman is the central focus, stripped of any historical reference or anecdotal content.

Songs of Disconnection is a next step in Seghers’ research into the potentially tragic relationship between entertainer and spectator. This resides in the irresistible urge to share and connect and the essential impossibility of doing so.

Haunted by the night and inspired both by her ancestors and the Javanese theatre of shadows wayang, Grace Ellen Barkey, who was born in Surabaya, Indonesia, enters into a dialogue with the obscure and searches for forms of re-imagination in her installative performance MALAM / NIGHT.

“Where is the Rabbit?” is a collaboration between choreographer Sung Im Her and choreographer Grace Ellen Barkey (Needcompany, BE) in which Sung Im Her confronts her own work, which focuses on the body, distortion, repetitiveness and femininity, with that of Barkey, in order to research the longing for connection between metaphysical characters and reality (in Wonderland).

News
14 March 2024
Wunderkammer x Needcompany 20.04.2024

Wunderkammer, festival of adventurous music and more, will be collaborating closely with Needcompany for its 7th edition: Hard and Tenderly

For this edition, curator Jan De Vroede pressed his ear against the door of the artists’ house Needcompany. It was from here that the idea came to collaborate and base the line-up on recent encounters with and admiration for artists who can only be grasped in contradiction.

The newest Needcompany performance Billy's Joy , which plays on 19 April and 20 April 2024 at cc Strombeek - as part of PeriferiK - is at the centre of this year's programme.

More information about Wunderkammer and the line-up can be reached by clicking on this post.

8 March 2024
UPDATE: Action for Gaza - Tears from Hebron

On 27 November, Needcompany launched the ‘Tears from Hebron’ campaign for Gaza. Blown glass objects from the performance ‘All the Good’ were offered for sale. Thanks to your support, this campaign raised a total of €10,000. A heartfelt ‘thank you’ for this! This sum will soon be donated to the artists’ collective Theater Day Productions (TDP - Ayyam Al-Masrah) and will be used for both day-to-day operations and for the reconstruction – once a ceasefire takes place.

More information about the campaign can be reached by clicking on this post.

21 February 2024
‘Solastalgia’ and ‘Window & Mosaic of Leaves’ at Salzkammergut 2024

As part of the European Capital of Culture 2024, Grace Ellen Barkey is showing two new installations ‘Solastalgia’ and ‘Windows & Mosaic of Leaves’ at Salzkammergut, Austria.

On 16 March we have the official opening of ‘Solastalgia’ from 16:30 onwards at Ebensee Landungsplatz train station. Afterwards, the installation will be on show until 20 May 2024. Followed by ‘Windows & Mosaic of Leaves’ that opens 20 May at the Kalvarienkirche in Gosau.

27 November 2023
ACTION for GAZA - TEARS from HEBRON

Needcompany is launching a campaign to support Theatre Day Productions, a project in northern Gaza. As a small gesture, some glass objects - made by a glassblower from Hebron to serve as a scenic element in All the Good, a performance by Needcompany - will be offered for sale.

More information about the campaign can be reached by clicking on this post.

Tour dates

April 2024
19 AprBilly's JoyCC Strombeek (Strombeek-Bever BE)
20 AprBilly's JoyCC Strombeek (Strombeek-Bever BE)
27 AprImagined GardenOrangerie - SCHWETZINGER FESTSPIELE (Schwetzingen DE) Opening
 

17 March 2024 - 20 May 2024: As part of the European Capital of Culture 2024, Grace Ellen Barkey is showing a new installation ‘Solastalgia’ at Salzkammergut, Austria. On 16 2024 March we have the official opening from 16:30 onwards at Ebensee Landungsplatz train station.

 

27 April 2024 - 25 May 2024: 'Imagined Garden' confronts Grace Ellen Barkey's installation with Tamara Miller's sound installation.  This installation is part of SCHWETZINGER FESTSPIELE and can be visited every day from 10am to 6pm. On 27 April 2024 is the official opening of 'Imagined Garden' at the Orangerie (Schloss und Schlossgarten, 68723 Schwetzingen)

May 2024
20 MaySolastalgiaEcoC 24 (Ebensee AT) Finissage
20 MayWindows and Mosaic of LeavesEcoC 24 (Ebensee AT) Opening
25 MayImagined GardenOrangerie - SCHWETZINGER FESTSPIELE (Schwetzingen DE) Finissage
31 MaySongs of DisconnectionFonderie Kugler (Geneva CH)
 

17 March 2024 - 20 May 2024: As part of the European Capital of Culture 2024, Grace Ellen Barkey is showing a new installation ‘Solastalgia’ at Salzkammergut, Austria. On 16 2024 March we have the official opening from 16:30 onwards at Ebensee Landungsplatz train station.

 

27 April 2024 - 25 May 2024: 'Imagined Garden' confronts Grace Ellen Barkey's installation with Tamara Miller's sound installation.  This installation is part of SCHWETZINGER FESTSPIELE and can be visited every day from 10am to 6pm. On 27 April 2024 is the official opening of 'Imagined Garden' at the Orangerie (Schloss und Schlossgarten, 68723 Schwetzingen).

June 2024
28 JunBilly's ViolenceTeatre Lliure / Grec festival (Barcelona ES)
29 JunBilly's JoyTeatre Lliure / Grec festival (Barcelona ES)
30 JunBilly's ViolenceTeatre Lliure / Grec festival (Barcelona ES) Double bill
Tour dates

April 2024
19 AprBilly's Joy
 Strombeek-Bever BE  CC Strombeek
20 AprBilly's Joy
 Strombeek-Bever BE  CC Strombeek
27 AprImagined Garden
 Schwetzingen DE  Orangerie - SCHWETZINGER FESTSPIELE Opening
 

17 March 2024 - 20 May 2024: As part of the European Capital of Culture 2024, Grace Ellen Barkey is showing a new installation ‘Solastalgia’ at Salzkammergut, Austria. On 16 2024 March we have the official opening from 16:30 onwards at Ebensee Landungsplatz train station.

 

27 April 2024 - 25 May 2024: 'Imagined Garden' confronts Grace Ellen Barkey's installation with Tamara Miller's sound installation.  This installation is part of SCHWETZINGER FESTSPIELE and can be visited every day from 10am to 6pm. On 27 April 2024 is the official opening of 'Imagined Garden' at the Orangerie (Schloss und Schlossgarten, 68723 Schwetzingen)

May 2024
20 MaySolastalgia
 Ebensee AT  EcoC 24 Finissage
20 MayWindows and Mosaic of Leaves
 Ebensee AT  EcoC 24 Opening
25 MayImagined Garden
 Schwetzingen DE  Orangerie - SCHWETZINGER FESTSPIELE Finissage
31 MaySongs of Disconnection
 Geneva CH  Fonderie Kugler
 

17 March 2024 - 20 May 2024: As part of the European Capital of Culture 2024, Grace Ellen Barkey is showing a new installation ‘Solastalgia’ at Salzkammergut, Austria. On 16 2024 March we have the official opening from 16:30 onwards at Ebensee Landungsplatz train station.

 

27 April 2024 - 25 May 2024: 'Imagined Garden' confronts Grace Ellen Barkey's installation with Tamara Miller's sound installation.  This installation is part of SCHWETZINGER FESTSPIELE and can be visited every day from 10am to 6pm. On 27 April 2024 is the official opening of 'Imagined Garden' at the Orangerie (Schloss und Schlossgarten, 68723 Schwetzingen).

June 2024
28 JunBilly's Violence
 Barcelona ES  Teatre Lliure / Grec festival
29 JunBilly's Joy
 Barcelona ES  Teatre Lliure / Grec festival
30 JunBilly's Violence
 Barcelona ES  Teatre Lliure / Grec festival Double bill
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