Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm

How many lies, coincidences and mishaps have made history what we think it is today? In The Blind Poet, members of the Needcompany try to get to the bottom of history. They traced their family trees over centuries into the past, straight across nationalities, cultures, and languages. On their journey, they were guided and inspired by the Syrian poet Abu l-‘Ala al-Ma’arri (973 -1057) and the sceptical view of dogmatism and fanaticism expressed in his poems. Córdoba was the economic and cultural centre of the world in his day, Women held positions of power; being an atheist was conceivable and viable. Paris was an obscure provincial town and Charlemagne illiterate. Gazing back in retrospect onto a past culture, the Needcompany interweaves literary and historical material with contemporary political and biographical references into a densely dramatic meeting of minds to write their own world history with stories, dances and songs.

Multilingual with German and English surtitles.

Featuring Grace Ellen Barkey, Jules Beckman, Anna Sophie Bonnema, Hans Petter Melø Dahl, Benoît Gob, Maarten Seghers, Mohamed Toukabri * Choreography: Grace Ellen Barkey * Written, directed and staged by: Jan Lauwers * Costumes: Lot Lemm * Assistant to the director & dramaturge: Elke Janssens * Production manager: Chris Vanneste * Technical direction: Marjolein Demey * A production of Needcompany in coproduction with Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brüssel, FIBA – Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires * With Support of the flemish authorities.