La Merde

‘La Merde’ is part two of the SKaGeN trilogy about heaven, purgatory and hell. Browsing in French literature, SKaGeN continues its search / their search for the sense and nonsense of life.

In ‘By my fault’ (2005) SKaGeN interpreted Jean Genet’s ‘Le Bagne’. For ‘La Merde’ theatre group had a thorough reading of Albert Camus’ ‘La Peste’, a novel about a city in Algeria that falls prey to the plague. In the quarantine between the city walls, the characters are sentenced to each other. They try and make the best of it, through engagement, love and perseverance.

SKaGeN always starts from the commitment to try and better understand people and their existence. It’s in the latter that SKaGeN’s light dance step stands out. The heavier the theme, the lighter their feet will dance across the stage. In ‘La Merde’ also, SKaGeN mixes soft humor with sharp vision and contemporary appearance. For this performance, think of the cinematic blue-key principle that you also saw in ‘The Dayroom’ (2004). The characters are played live - the rest is pixel and imagination. A blue sea full of nothing and six actors in it. The result is a projection - with furniture, attributes, cities and the 'merde' from ‘La Peste’. What you see is insurmountably the setting of the literary masterpiece. What you feel, is a purgatory in which everyone is working with united forces on the same result. And what do you do then? Just take a swallow because you recognise it. But also have a good laugh. For the same reason.