Tim Etchells / Victoria: That Night Follows Day

The performance is in Flemish,
with Engish and Hungarian subtitles
 

"You feed us. You wash us. You dress us. You sing to us. You watch us when we are sleeping. You explain to us the different causes of illness and the different causes of war. You whisper when you think we can’t hear. You explain to us that night follows day."
 

A touching and thought-provoking journey to our long forgotten childhood universe, to a time when we still had the ability to find the world magical. In response to the request by the Flemish theatre company Victoria to create a performance ‘with children, but for adults’ Tim Etchells (artistic director of Forced Entertainment) created ‘That Night Follows Day’. The work - with a cast of 16 children aged between 8 and 14 – premiered at the opening of the KunstenFestivalDesArts in Brussels in May 2007.
 

‘The power of adults is huge. As a child we are all too familiar with the word “No”: “No not now, no you’re too young, no you can’t . . .’ According to director Etchells, the young performers enjoy nothing more than parroting these adult excuses back at their audience.
 

That Night Follows Day catalogues the many ways in which the world of children and young people is determined by that of adults. It examines the systems of parenthood, upbringing, discipline, care and welfare that define children’s and adolescents’ worlds as well as turning the spotlight on the actual situation of performance itself.
 

’The first sound to hit you is loud playground noise, the uninhibited racket of kids en masse. It is every bit as evocative as that old madeleine was for Proust. Then come the kids, 16 of them aged 8-14, all shapes and sizes. They line up along the front of a school gymnasium. Silent. Calm. Disciplined. Until, that is, they open their mouths for a metronome-precise litany that lays bare how adults format children. For better, for worse. Tenderness, anxiety, intrusiveness, domination, abuse. Education, education, education. The badness of our jokes.’
(Clare Shine, The Financial Times)
 

‘Etchells's script is an masterpiece of precise observation and perfectly crafted musicality, moving subtly through love, amusement, anger, frustration and joy. The result is a record of parenthood and child-rearing, as rich in its tribute to the thousands of tiny acts of love and explanation carried out by parents every day, as it is unflinching in its view of the impact on children of adult anger and lies. The performance by Etchells's company of young Belgian actors is simply breathtaking; authoritative, passionate, vulnerable, beautiful and true, in what's perhaps the finest show about parenthood and childhood ever produced in Europe.’
(Fiona Sheppard, Living Scotsman)
 

http://living.scotsman.com/performing-arts/Reviews.4047695.jp
 

Concept, text and direction: Tim Etchells
Direction assistance: Pascale Petralia
With:
Martha Balthazar, Lara de Bruyne, Victor de Vriendt, Jozefien Haeseryn, Pjotr Heuvinck, Robbe Langeraert, Jerome Marynissen, Suki Minner-Goossens, Zahna Morel, Yves Rijckaert, Charlotte van Grembergen, Kika van Robays, Viktor van Wynendaele, Arthimis Vergult, Ineke Verhaegen, Ellen Vervaet
Set Design: Richard Lowdon
Costumes: Ann Weckx
Lighting Design: Nigel Edwards
Artistic Co-ordination: Marika Ingels
Technique: Piet Depoortere, Niels Ieven
Tour management: Leen de Broe
Photography: Phile Deprez
 

Produced by: Victoria, Gent
 

Co-produced by:
Festival D'automne à Paris (F) / Les Spectacles Vivants - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (F), steierischer herbst Graz (A), Productiehuis Rotterdam (NL)
 

With the support of:
KunstenFESTIVALdesArts Brussel (B), Fierce Earth Birmingham (UK), Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione (I), Theaterfestival Spielart München (D)