Premiere of a the­a­tri­cal, musi­cal tri­bu­te to Ghent

With ​‘Mein Gent’, direc­tors Frank Van Laecke and Alain Platel pay tri­bu­te to Ghent, the city whe­re they were born and rai­sed. In the pre­mie­re of ​‘Mein Gent’, ama­teurs and pro­fes­si­o­nals per­form side by side. The pro­duc­ti­on boasts a stel­lar core cast – Pascale Platel, Ineke Nijssen and Gorges Ocloo – joi­ned by a hund­red-strong group of Ghent locals. 

At the heart of this pro­duc­ti­on are the citi­zens of Ghent. We get to meet a diver­si­ty of Ghentians with all their qua­li­ties and spe­ci­fi­ci­ties. The assem­b­led group of play­ers will take you to the Ghent of yes­ter­day, today and tomor­row. Or, rather, to the life of yes­ter­day, today and tomor­row. ​‘Mein Gent’ runs the gamut of expe­rien­ce, from whim­si­cal, play­ful and hila­rious to bizar­re, tou­ching, sharp and poig­nant. Above all, this is a heart-war­ming tale. The show unfolds like an ope­ra – or what its makers have reima­gi­ned ope­ra to be for today’s audiences.

Frank Van Laecke and Alain Platel have been cre­a­ting musi­cal the­a­tre per­for­man­ces together for ten years. With each pro­duc­ti­on, they dive into their uni­que uni­ver­se to explo­re the tra­ge­dies of life, big and small. For ​‘Gardenia’ (2010), they invi­ted the audien­ce to the last night of a drag show. ​‘En avant, mar­che!’ fol­lo­wed in 2015, a sto­ry about saying fare­well to a life dedi­ca­ted to a brass band. For their third col­la­bo­ra­ti­on, ​‘Mein Gent’, they are once again sup­por­ted by the sounds­ca­pes of com­po­ser Steven Prengels.

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direc­ti­on: Frank Van Laecke & Alain Platel — com­po­si­ti­on & musi­cal direc­ti­on: Steven Prengels — by & with: Pascale Platel, Ineke Nijssen, Gorges Ocloo & a group of Ghentians — assis­tant direc­ti­on: Steve De Schepper — pro­duc­ti­on: les bal­lets C de la B & Arts Centre Voo?uit — as part of: GIF — a col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with Voo?uit, CAMPO, KOPERGIETERY, NTGent, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen & S.M.A.K. — with the sup­port of: the City of Ghent, the Flemish govern­ment & the Belgian Tax Shelter