Everything that is out of the ordinary is fair game for the theater company ISKARIOT, which focuses on developing original productions. The artistic core consists of the same team that was responsible for developing the musical creations within Judas Producties, born from a deep-rooted love for the genre. Unfortunately, there was no longer room for the musical genre in the subsidized Flemish arts field, and Judas Producties, despite being a pillar of quality productions, was left out in the cold. Forced to book elsewhere. But… where there's a will, there's a way, and ISKARIOT saw the light of day. People with a passion for their craft who dare to take calculated risks. Sam Verhoeven and Allard Blom, the writers of, among other things, the unconventional and successful musical productions 'Lelies', 'Josephine B.', and 'Goodbye, Norma Jane' are now sinking their teeth into a classic by French author Flaubert. When the novel was first published as a serial in La Revue de Paris in the fall of 1856, Flaubert was prosecuted by public prosecutors for obscenities. This resulted in a sensational trial in January 1857. The novel was groundbreaking for the realism movement in literature. Sensation seekers are barking up the wrong tree here. 'Madame Bovary' resulted in a layered portrait of a warm-blooded, tormented woman searching for love who, with an almost childlike yearning, wishes to belong to the beau monde. An artistic challenge to realize this both visually and aurally.
Creative process and cast
This production was developed entirely from scratch by screenwriter Allard Blom and producer-composer Sam Verhoeven, who collaborated with artist/songwriter Gustaph on a contrasting musical style. Everything was pulled out of the bag. There is live accompaniment by six instrumentalists: three violins, a cello, double bass, and piano. They conjure up new sonic richness and provide an atmospheric soundscape. During conversations, the music, often with nuances in tempi, color, and dynamics, succeeds in creating atmosphere. Then it captures the slowness and silence of life in a village or a fragile moment between sadness and hope. At other moments, fragments of electronic sounds are deployed to emphasize confusion and chaos. The direction was entrusted to Jaak Lema. With modest means, he manages to create very different worlds. The audience's imagination is also called upon. In the lead role, Sandrine Van Handenhoven, who makes a powerful impression as the warm-blooded, disillusioned woman. A performer with natural grace, her radiant self, elegant and coquettish. She moves discreetly through life, but on stage she is a tigress and bares her soul to the audience. Her career has drawn input from various sources in recent years. A performer with a unique voice and a broad musical interest. Alongside her, Michiel De Meyer and Thomas Cammaert. Both actors/singers play various roles, a tribute to the versatility of an artist. A convincing cast.
Scenography
The stage is occupied by a sober pipe system that stands perpendicular to the stage. At the back, the three violinists and cellist can be seen through a kind of gauze. Stage right at the front is the grand piano and next to it, further back, the double bass. The performance begins with a sonorous beat, a kind of heartbeat. Whatever happens, life, the clock ticks on undisturbed. Emma, in a magnificent gown, takes the stage. She immediately shows her hand in a song of lament. Her voice is warm and seasoned. She is completely on the ground: not only financially, but also psychologically. For her there is only one way out left: death. She writes a farewell letter and sees her only salvation in a bottle of green powder and arsenic. A long and painful death in which she relives her life in extended flashbacks.
The unbearable lightness of being
Emptiness and boredom is her lot. Brought up in an agricultural environment, she wants more from life. When a doctor comes to care for her father, she tries to seduce him with her charms to escape the narrow-mindedness of the petit bourgeoisie. A marriage with doctor Bovary is supposed to make it possible for her to live out her dreams of a life like the rich: with dinners, opera performances, trips to Paris. They settle down. Immediately she begins to throw money around. Images appear in the background, disappear again and transform. When they are invited here and there, she still remains an outsider. The marriage also turns out to be a disillusion. Her husband is just a simple country doctor. More and more she finds herself trapped in provincial existence. She moves across the stage like a caged animal and continues to cling to an illusory and unattainable happiness and flees into extramarital affairs with Léon and Rudolphe. At the opera they watch Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti, a libretto about love's despair! She buys the love of a young lover with an abundance of gifts… Her lover finally calls it quits. Love cannot be bought. Her surrogate love repels him. Sandrine Van Handenhoven succeeds in conveying the fascinations and passions of man, the dark stirrings of the soul to the audience. Thomas Cammaert gives shape to the country doctor from goodwill and naivety. He wants to accommodate his beautiful wife in everything. In love, he himself is rather clumsy and unimaginative. The fashion retailer he plays with flair and schwung. He also gets to sing a couple of nice songs. With the death of his wife and repeatedly betrayed, he is left as a broken man.
Michiel De Meyer plays the servant, pharmacist and young lover in convincing characterizations. Singing is his second nature. The direction is constructed with well-thought-out wave movements with peaks in which Emma Bovary gets hopelessly drunk at a ball and completely goes wild, a bit further there is also a beautiful choreography of a waltz to be seen and the young student can swing quite nicely. The sex scenes are discreet and suggestive. Much care has been taken with both the lighting and costumes.
Whatever role you play doesn't matter, as long as the mythical identification takes place and the three protagonists succeed perfectly in that.
Sam Verhoeven and Allard Blom have once again realized their artistic ambitions with verve. A musical in which energy and emotional intensity continually intersect. Expectations were effortlessly met. What do I say: surpassed! The audience spontaneously jumped up for exuberant standing ovation.