Poquelin II

STAN - Poquelin II - Willy Thomas — © kurt van der elst

STAN - Poquelin II - Frank Vercruyssen — © kurt van der elst

1-6 © kurt van der elst

Damiaan De Schrijver: “There’s something about this play that attracts me very much. I’m starting to find him very likeable. For me it’s a key to getting into a character that’s a bit ridiculous, but more and more, I think he still wants to learn, he still wants to become someone better.”

Check out the interview on Arte, 28 Minutes (7/12/2022).

Jolente De Keersmaeker: “It’s an incredibly funny and incredibly tragic play at the same time, both of them very knotted, very pure. By putting a magnifying glass on a problem that concerns everyone, he provokes a yellow, not to say black, laugh. These are not just caricatures: Molière makes you laugh with what hurts.

Read the interview in Le Monde (Fabienne Dargé, 9/12/2022)

Reason enough for a team of full-blooded actors to dip into Molière’s work and make a new show. Stijn Van Opstal, Bert Haelvoet, Damiaan De Schrijver, Jolente De Keersmaeker, Els Dottermans and Willy Thomas are the team working on Molière’s oeuvre.

Plays which have definitely made it onto the programme are: ‘Le Bourgeois gentilhomme’ (1670), in which Molière makes fun of a wealthy gentleman who tries to copy the behaviour of the aristocracy, and ‘L’Avare’ (The Miser, 1668), a tragicomedy about parsimony, the perverted exercise of power, avarice, truth and lies and the generation conflict. And at the same time a wonderful metaphor for the banking crisis.

STAN knows Molière’s work particularly well. Back in 2003, the actors’ collective made the successful Poquelin, a play based on a number of Molière’s plays, including Médecin malgré lui (The Doctor in Spite of Himself) Sganarelle (The Imaginary Cuckold) and Le Malade Imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid). A Dutch version and a French version of the show toured extensively and clearly left their audiences wanting more. Hence Poquelin II.

1-9 © kurt van der elst

“I want to deal with the absurdities of human nature and represent the shortcomings of the world in an agreeable manner on stage."

Molière

In French

text Molière (‘L’avare’ and ‘Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme’)

by and with Els Dottermans, Willy Thomas, Stijn Van Opstal, Bert Haelvoet, Jolente De Keersmaeker and Damiaan De Schrijver

lighting design Thomas Walgrave

costumes Inge Büscher

production and decor STAN

coproduction of the original version Toneelhuis/Olympique Dramatique, NTGent, Dood Paard and ARSENAAL/LAZARUS

coproduction of the French spoken version Centre Dramatique National Besançon Franche-Comté (FR), Les Nuits de Fourvière (Lyon, FR), Théâtre de Lorient Centre Dramatique National (FR), Théâtre populaire romand La Chaux-de-Fonds (CH), Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse, FR), Le Parvis scène nationale Tarbes Pyrénées (FR), Comédie de Genève (CH)

premiere 1 october 2020, Théâtre Garonne, Toulouse, FR

“Stan transports us to the boisterous theatre of the 17th century, where actors didn’t think twice about overdoing things here or there, to the great delight of the audience.”

Pieter T'Jonck, De Morgen 14/11/2017

“But it’s mainly the actors who make a good play out of Poquelin II. We might actually love Van Opstal and Co. Because of the rhythm they put in their words. Because of the incredible talent they have. And those whom we love can easily convince us. Molière already knew that 300 years ago.”

Het Nieuwsblad, 14/11/2017

“The jokes and worldly wisdom are rattled off at you like a rifle salvo for 2 ½ hours by a formidable cast – the joy of performing bursts from the small stage. Go see for yourself.”

Koen Van Boxem, De Tijd 14/11/2017

Damiaan: “There’s something about this play that attracts me very much. I’m starting to find him very likeable. For me it’s a key to getting into a character that’s a bit ridiculous, but more and more, I think he still wants to learn, he still wants to become someone better.”

Arte, 28 Minutes, 27/12/2012

Jolente: “It’s an incredibly funny and incredibly tragic play at the same time, both of them very knotted, very pure. By putting a magnifying glass on a problem that concerns everyone, he provokes a yellow, not to say black, laugh. These are not just caricatures: Molière makes you laugh with what hurts.

Le Monde, Fabienne Dargé, 9/12/2022

“Stripped of the trappings with which they are sometimes clothed, Moliere’s texts appear for what they are: a formidable laughing machine, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, fuelled by a series of often dysfunctional relationships that say a lot about the complex twists and turns of human nature. In this respect, STAN do not seek to inveigh or condemn anyone, not even Harpagon or Monsieur Jourdain, but only use their features, which make them figures, as vehicles for humour.”

Scèneweb, Vincent Bouquet, 10/12/2022

“In three hours without an intermission, the troupe strings together at an infernal rhythm two big “pieces”, namely L’Avare and Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. In other words, two comedies with a main character whose behaviour is extreme, ridiculous, of course, but who is a victim of his passions, and therefore endearing, and thus touching on the universal.”

Webtheatre, Noël Tinazzi, 10/12/2022

“The brilliant STANs deceive us. They don’t strip the work, they don’t clean anything of dust or slag sedimented since the time of the origins. They do not anchor themselves in a past. They magnify the text and invent. Through this inventiveness, rich in their sense of the stage and of the audience, three hours of jubilant theatre is precisely constructed.”

Toute La Culture, David Rofé-Sarfati; 10/12/2022

“Nothing could be more basic, but it is in this perpetual and jubilant return to the sources of the comic theatre of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Molière, that Jolente de Keersmaeker, Damiaan De Schrijver and the other members of the tg STAN company (Jan Bijvoet, Els Dottermans, Bert Haelvoet, Willy Thomas and Stijn van Opstal) find their boundless energy, their never-ending inspiration, the gentle madness of their stage tempo, and once again offer us a moment of theatrical pleasure made up of complicity, connivance and a wealth of disarming moments of pleasure.”

Mediapart, Jean-Pierre Thibaudat, 10/12/2022

2024

January

Tue 23.01.24 19:00
Malraux. scène nationale Chambéry Savoie
Chambéry

Wed 24.01.24 19:00
Malraux. scène nationale Chambéry Savoie
Chambéry

March

Thu 07.03.24 19:30
La Mégisserie
Saint-Junien

Fri 08.03.24 20:30
La Mégisserie
Saint-Junien

Tue 19.03.24 20:00
La Comédie de Valence
Valence

Wed 20.03.24 20:00
La Comédie de Valence
Valence

2022

April

Wed 27.04.22 19:00
THEATRE DE L'ANCRE
Charleroi

Thu 28.04.22 20:30
THEATRE DE L'ANCRE
Charleroi

may

Tue 03.05.22 19:30
La Halle aux Grains - Scène nationale de Blois
Blois

Wed 04.05.22 20:30
La Halle aux Grains - Scène nationale de Blois
Blois

Fri 06.05.22 20:00
Le Manège
Maubeuge

Fri 13.05.22 19:30
Nationaltheatret
Oslo

Sat 14.05.22 18:00
Nationaltheatret
Oslo

december

Tue 06.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Wed 07.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Thu 08.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Fri 09.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Sat 10.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Mon 12.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Tue 13.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Wed 14.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Fri 16.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Sat 17.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Sun 18.12.22 17:00
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

Mon 19.12.22 19:30
Théâtre de la Bastille
Paris

2021

may

Wed 12.05.21 19:30
Comédie de Genève
Genève

Thu 13.05.21 19:30
Comédie de Genève
Genève

Fri 14.05.21 20:00
Comédie de Genève
Genève

Sat 15.05.21 18:00
Comédie de Genève
Genève

july

Thu 01.07.21
Théâtre Benno Besson
Yverdon-les-bains

Fri 02.07.21
Théâtre Benno Besson
Yverdon-les-bains

Sun 04.07.21 17:15
TPR
La Chaux de fonds

Mon 05.07.21 19:15
TPR
La Chaux de fonds

Wed 07.07.21 19:00
CDN Besançon Franche-Comté
Besançon

Thu 08.07.21 19:00
CDN Besançon Franche-Comté
Besançon

Fri 09.07.21 19:00
CDN Besançon Franche-Comté
Besançon

Sat 10.07.21

Lyon

Sun 11.07.21

Lyon

Mon 12.07.21 19:00

Lyon

Tue 13.07.21 19:00

Lyon

Wed 14.07.21 19:00

Lyon

2020

july

Sat 04.07.20
Les Nuits de Fourvière
Lyon

Sun 05.07.20
Les Nuits de Fourvière
Lyon

Mon 06.07.20
Les Nuits de Fourvière
Lyon

Tue 07.07.20
Les Nuits de Fourvière
Lyon

september

Mon 28.09.20
Théâtre Garonne
Toulouse

october

Thu 01.10.20 20:00
Théâtre Garonne
Toulouse

Fri 02.10.20 20:30
Théâtre Garonne
Toulouse

Sat 03.10.20 20:30
Théâtre Garonne
Toulouse

Wed 07.10.20 20:00
Théâtre Garonne
Toulouse

Thu 08.10.20 20:00
Théâtre Garonne
Toulouse

Fri 09.10.20 20:30
Théâtre Garonne
Toulouse

Sat 10.10.20 20:30
Théâtre Garonne
Toulouse

Mon 12.10.20 20:30
Le Parvis
Tarbes

Tue 13.10.20 20:30
Le Parvis
Tarbes

Thu 15.10.20 19:30
Théâtre du Bois de l'Aune
Aix-en-Provence

Fri 16.10.20 20:30
Théâtre du Bois de l'Aune
Aix-en-Provence

Wed 21.10.20 19:15
Théâtre les Tanneurs ASBL
Bruxelles

Thu 22.10.20 19:30
Théâtre les Tanneurs ASBL
Bruxelles

Fri 23.10.20 19:30
Théâtre les Tanneurs ASBL
Bruxelles

Sat 24.10.20 19:30
Théâtre les Tanneurs ASBL
Bruxelles

2019

june

Thu 13.06.19 20:00
Toneelhuis
Antwerpen

Fri 14.06.19 20:00
Toneelhuis
Antwerpen

Sat 15.06.19 20:00
Toneelhuis
Antwerpen

2018

july

Fri 27.07.18 20:00
De Grote Post
Oostende

Sat 28.07.18 15:00
De Grote Post
Oostende

september

Tue 04.09.18 20:00
deSingel
Antwerpen

Wed 05.09.18 20:00
deSingel
Antwerpen

Thu 06.09.18 20:15
Theater aan het Spui
Den Haag

Sun 09.09.18 19:00
Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond
Amsterdam

2017

november

Thu 09.11.17 20:00
Toneelhuis
Antwerpen

Fri 10.11.17 20:00
Toneelhuis
Antwerpen

Sat 11.11.17 20:00
Toneelhuis
Antwerpen

Sun 12.11.17 15:00
Toneelhuis
Antwerpen

Tue 14.11.17 20:00
NTGent
Gent

Wed 15.11.17 20:00
NTGent
Gent

Thu 16.11.17 20:00
NTGent
Gent

Fri 17.11.17 20:00
NTGent
Gent

Sat 18.11.17 20:00
NTGent
Gent

Tue 21.11.17 20:00
30CC
Leuven

Wed 22.11.17 20:30
De Velinx
Tongeren-Borgloon

Fri 24.11.17 20:30
Kaaitheater
Bruxelles

Sat 25.11.17 20:30
Kaaitheater
Bruxelles

Sun 26.11.17 15:00
Kaaitheater
Bruxelles

Wed 29.11.17 20:15
Cultuurhuis de Warande
Turnhout

Thu 30.11.17 20:15
C-mine
Genk

december

Fri 01.12.17 20:00
CC Brugge
Brugge

Mon 04.12.17 20:30
Internationaal Theater Amsterdam
Amsterdam

Wed 06.12.17 20:00
De Grote Post
Oostende

Thu 07.12.17 20:30
CC Diest
Diest

Fri 08.12.17 20:30
Toneelschuur
Haarlem

Sat 09.12.17 20:30
Toneelschuur
Haarlem

Tue 12.12.17 20:15
Schouwburg Kortrijk
Kortrijk

Wed 13.12.17 20:15
ARSENAAL/LAZARUS
Mechelen

Thu 14.12.17 20:15
ARSENAAL/LAZARUS
Mechelen

Fri 15.12.17 20:15
ARSENAAL/LAZARUS
Mechelen

Sat 16.12.17 20:15
ARSENAAL/LAZARUS
Mechelen

Tue 19.12.17 20:00
CC De Plomblom
Ninove

Wed 20.12.17 20:00
Toneelhuis
Antwerpen

Thu 21.12.17 20:00
Toneelhuis
Antwerpen

Fri 22.12.17 20:00
Toneelhuis
Antwerpen

2024

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