In 2014 Jan Lauwers met the Israeli elite soldier and war veteran Elik Niv who, following a serious accident and a long rehabilitation process, became a professional dancer. They had long discussions about his military operations and his development as a dancer in the safely subsidised world of the living arts in Germany. It was during these conversations that the bombs exploded at Zaventem airport and Maalbeek metro station.
All the good is a story with a double autobiographical background: Elik’s life on the one hand and Lauwers with Grace Ellen Barkey and their children in their house, an old bakery and workplace in the infamous district of Molenbeek, on the other.
All the Good also tells the story of a young girl Romy, who is convinced that the world is good. During a trip through China, she meets the soldier Elik while she is vomiting in an alleyway after drinking snake’s blood. This meeting changes her life.
For the least well-off among us, identity is sometimes the only life-saver and the only form of self-respect. But it is a false image. It is a dishonest image and in the hands of nationalist forces it can become destructive. Artists must do all they can to make sure that their ‘poetics’ provide a powerful response to the all-devouring political suffocation we now find ourselves in. Brexit, Trump, Erdogan, the abuse of our planet, the terror of the expansion economy and the loss of solidarity all have to be tackled politically. But poetics have to take care of humanity. – Jan Lauwers
Text, direction, set Jan Lauwers
Music Maarten Seghers
With Grace Ellen Barkey, Romy Louise Lauwers, Victor Lauwers, Jan Lauwers, Inge Van Bruystegem (replaces Sarah Lutz), Benoît Gob, Elik Niv, Yonier Camilo Mejia, Jules Beckman, Simon Lenski, Maarten Seghers, Elke Janssens
Costumes Lot Lemm
Dramaturgy Elke Janssens
Lighting Design Ken Hioco, Jan Lauwers
Sound Ditten Lerooij
Production Management Marjolein Demey
Technical director, set Ken Hioco
Masks Lot Lemm, Benoît Gob
Assistant technical director Tijs Michiels
Stage assistant Nina Lopez Le Galliard
Tour technician Saul Mombaerts, Bram Geldhof, Dries D’Hondt, Jannes Dierynck
Assistant costumes Lieve Meeussen
Intern costumes Marion Thomasson
Intern P.U.L.S. Lisaboa Houbrechts
English language coach Helen McNamara
French language coach Anny Czupper
English translation Gregory Ball
French translation Anne Vanderschueren
German translation Rosi Wiegmann
A Needcompany production
In partnership with RIJEKA 2020 Llc. in the framework of Rijeka 2020 – European Capital of Culture, Croatian National Theatre “Ivan pl. Zajc”
Coproduction Ruhrtriennale, Festival Reims Scènes d’Europe, Concertgebouw Brugge, La Colline Paris
Copresentation Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Teatro Central de Sevilla, Kaaitheater Brussel, Toneelhuis Antwerpen, Malta festival Poznań,
Festival Theaterformen Hannover/Braunschweig, NTGent
Tax Shelter financing uFund nv, Melissa Thomas, Christel Simons
With the support of the Belgian Federal Government’s Tax Shelter and the Flemish authorities.