The Lobster Shop
© Eveline Vanassche

Text, direction, set Jan Lauwers

With Grace Ellen Barkey, Anneke Bonnema, Hans Petter Dahl, Julien Faure, Benoît Gob, Yumiko Funaya (replaces Tijen Lawton), Maarten Seghers and Inge Van Bruystegem.

Music Hans Petter Dahl, Maarten Seghers

Costumes Lot Lemm

Coproduction Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Cankarjev Dom (Ljubljana) La Rose des Vents (Scène Nationale de Villeneuve d’Ascq), Automne en Normandie, La Filature (Scène Nationale de Mulhouse), Kaaitheater (Brussels), deSingel (Antwerp).

With support from the Flemish Community.

Opening night
Festival d'Avignon
10 July 2006

The Lobster Shop tells the story of Axel and Theresa. His son dies as a result of a stupid accident. His sorrow destroys everything, and when no therapy seems to help and his wife leaves him, Axel decides to commit suicide.

On the day he has chosen he puts on his best suit and by way of farewell goes to his favourite restaurant, ‘The Lobster Shop’, to eat just one more lobster with armorican sauce. But the waiter trips and the lobster with its armorican sauce ends up on Axel’s white suit. In the fraction of a second while Axel is watching the sauce land on his white suit, his ritual is destroyed and he sees his whole life blowing up in his face.

The Lobster Shop is the description of this fraction of a second.

For Jan Lauwers, Axel’s tragedy is a means by which to raise the question of humanity and dehumanisation, and he argues the beauty of the imperfect and the unpredictable.

"This play was written in the solitude of hotel rooms, the television always on. Cynical realism and romantic sentimentality increasingly form the main accent in just about every conversation carried on today, and are therefore an inevitable component of this play. I have wallowed in them with pleasure and sincerely hope that the end of mankind is not just around the corner."
-Jan Lauwers-

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Text, direction, set Jan Lauwers

With Grace Ellen Barkey, Anneke Bonnema, Hans Petter Dahl, Julien Faure, Benoît Gob, Yumiko Funaya (replaces Tijen Lawton), Maarten Seghers and Inge Van Bruystegem.

Music Hans Petter Dahl, Maarten Seghers

Costumes Lot Lemm

Coproduction Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Cankarjev Dom (Ljubljana) La Rose des Vents (Scène Nationale de Villeneuve d’Ascq), Automne en Normandie, La Filature (Scène Nationale de Mulhouse), Kaaitheater (Brussels), deSingel (Antwerp).

With support from the Flemish Community.

Opening night
Festival d'Avignon
10 July 2006

Tour dates

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June 2006
29 JunBrussels BEKaaitheater Try-Out
July 2006
10 JulAvignon FRFestival d'Avignon Premiere
11 JulAvignon FRFestival d'Avignon
13 JulAvignon FRFestival d'Avignon
14 JulAvignon FRFestival d'Avignon
15 JulAvignon FRFestival d'Avignon
October 2006
18 OctRouen FRFestival Automne en Normandie
19 OctRouen FRFestival Automne en Normandie
27 OctEssen DEPACT Zollverein
28 OctEssen DEPACT Zollverein
January 2007
11 JanAntwerp BEdeSingel
12 JanAntwerp BEdeSingel
13 JanAntwerp BEdeSingel
18 JanBrussels BEKaaitheater
19 JanBrussels BEKaaitheater
20 JanBrussels BEKaaitheater
23 JanBrussels BEKaaitheater
24 JanBrussels BEKaaitheater
31 JanParis FRThéâtre de la Ville
February 2007
01 FebParis FRThéâtre de la Ville
02 FebParis FRThéâtre de la Ville
03 FebParis FRThéâtre de la Ville
04 FebParis FRThéâtre de la Ville
21 FebVilleneuve d'Ascq FRLa Rose des Vents
22 FebVilleneuve d'Ascq FRLa Rose des Vents
23 FebVilleneuve d'Ascq FRLa Rose des Vents
March 2007
10 MarLjubljana SICankarjev Dom
11 MarLjubljana SICankarjev Dom
April 2007
27 AprWeimar DEDeutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar
May 2007
25 MayValladolid ESAlliance Française de Valladolid
29 MayPamplona ESTeatro Gayarre
June 2007
23 JunAmsterdam NLHolland Festival
September 2007
28 SepFrankfurt am Main DEKünstlerhaus Mousonturm
29 SepFrankfurt am Main DEKünstlerhaus Mousonturm
November 2007
30 NovZurich CHSchauspielhaus Zurich
December 2007
01 DecZurich CHSchauspielhaus Zurich
02 DecZurich CHSchauspielhaus Zurich
12 DecBrussels BELes Halles de Schaerbeek asbl
13 DecBrussels BELes Halles de Schaerbeek asbl
14 DecBrussels BELes Halles de Schaerbeek asbl
15 DecBrussels BELes Halles de Schaerbeek asbl
20 DecGhent BEKunstencentrum Vooruit
21 DecGhent BEKunstencentrum Vooruit
22 DecGhent BEKunstencentrum Vooruit
February 2008
26 FebEspoo FIEspoo City Theatre
27 FebEspoo FIEspoo City Theatre
28 FebEspoo FIEspoo City Theatre
29 FebEspoo FIEspoo City Theatre
March 2008
06 MarBarcelona ESTeatre Lliure / Grec festival
07 MarBarcelona ESTeatre Lliure / Grec festival
11 MarKortrijk BESchouwburg Kortrijk
14 MarLeuven BEStadsschouwburg Leuven
August 2008
29 AugHamburg DEInternationales Sommerfestival Hamburg
30 AugHamburg DEInternationales Sommerfestival Hamburg
31 AugHamburg DEInternationales Sommerfestival Hamburg
September 2008
07 SepGeneva CHLa Bâtie
08 SepGeneva CHLa Bâtie
09 SepGeneva CHLa Bâtie
October 2008
22 OctToulouse FRThéâtre Garonne
23 OctToulouse FRThéâtre Garonne
December 2008
17 DecBruges BECC Brugge
18 DecBruges BECC Brugge
September 2009
11 SepHanover DETANZTheater INTERNATIONAL
October 2009
16 OctVienna ATBurgtheater
17 OctVienna ATBurgtheater
18 OctVienna ATBurgtheater
March 2010
17 MarGrenoble FRMC2 - Maison de la Culture de Grenoble
November 2010
04 NovVienna ATBurgtheater
05 NovVienna ATBurgtheater
06 NovVienna ATBurgtheater
March 2011
31 MarCopenhagen DKREPUBLIQUE
May 2011
12 MayClermont-Ferrand FRLa Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand, scène nationale
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