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Heiner
Goebbels
Heiner Goebbels was born on August 17, 1952
in Neustadt/Weinstrasse, lives since 1972 in Frankfurt/Main.
He studied music and sociology.
Since the end of the 70s Heiner Goebbels composed
music for theatre and ballet, e.g. for Hans Neuenfels, Claus
Peymann, Matthias Langhoff, Christof Nel, Ruth Berghaus
and the Ballet Frankfurt.
Since the middle of the 80s he composed and directed his
own works wich are mainly inspired by texts of Heiner Müller
(Verkommenes Ufer, The liberation of Prometheus, Wolokolamsker
Chaussee). For many of these he was awarded: e.g. with the
'Hoerspielpreis der Kriegsblinden', the 'Prix Italia' and
the 'Karl Sczuka Preis'.
Since 1988 Heiner Goebbels composes chamber
music for the Ensemble Modern and the Ensemble Intercontemporain.
In 1993 he was awarded the 'Hessischer Kulturpreis'.
After his stage concerts like Der Mann Im Fahrstuhl (1987)
oder Die Befreiung des Prometheus (1991), he created together
with Michael Simon, his first music theatre pieces: Newton's
Casino (1990) and Römische Hunde (1991) at the Theater
Arn Turm in Frankfurt/Main.
In 1993 he created Ou bien la débarquement
désastreux with the actor André Wilms. The
piece had its first performance in Paris and was shown afterwards
in Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Brussels.
In 1994 followed Surrogate Cities, a 90 minutes
composition for orchestra, commissioned by the Alten Oper
Frankfurt for the opening of the Frankfurter Feste and was
performed for the first time by the Jungen Deutschen Philharmonie,
directed by Peter Rundel.
In 1995 he created the music theatre piece
Die Wiederholung (The Repetition) with the pianist and actress
Marie Goyette, the actor Johan Leysen and the guitarist
John King after texts of Robbe-Grillet, Kierkegaard and
Prince) at the TAT, Frankfurt. The audio-play The Repetition
was chosen the " Best audio-play of the year 1997"
by the Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Künste (German
Academy of Performing Arts).
Schwarz auf Weiss (Black on White), his music
theatre piece with 18 musicians of the Ensemble Modern was
shown the first time in 1996 at the TAT Frankfurt and tours
since then worldwide.
1997 he participated in the Documenta X in
Kassel with his musical theatre sketch Landscape with man
being killed by a snake.
1998 he created in Theatre Vidy-Lausanne E.T.E.
the show Max Black with the pyrotechnician PierreAlain Hubert;
after that the stage concert Eislermaterial was created
together with the Ensemble Modern and the actor Josef Bierbichler.
2000 Heiner Goebbels created the sound installations
Timeios and fin de soleil at the centre Pompidou in Paris,
the music theatre piece Hashirigaki in Theatre Vidy and
the staged concert ...Même soir.- with Les Percussions
de Strasbourg.
Heiner Goebbels is a member of the "Akademie der darstellenden
Kuenste" (Academy of the Performing Arts) in Frankfurt
and the "Akademie der Kuenste" (Academy of the
Arts) in Berlin.
From April 1999 on, Heiner Goebbels works as a professor
at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen
(Germany).
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Alain
Platel
Born on 9 April 1959, Alain Platel showed
a lively interest in art and the theatre even as a boy.
When Alain was just eleven, in fact, he was accepted at
Marcel Hoste's mime school, in his native city of Ghent,
where he studied from 1969 to 1973, winning considerable
acclaim. Moreover, he was the only boy in a school for adults.
In the following years, he spent a period in the United
States as a young live-in assistant to Wanda Newton, a teacher
who worked with disadvantaged children. In helping her,
Alain discovered aspects of reality that a somewhat over-protected
artistic environment had spared him. He experienced the
negative aspects of the American dream: violence, ostracism
and poverty. His meeting with another teacher, Virginia
Meyers, opened up new, unimagined horizons through the discovery
and use of music.
On his return to Europe, he attended university and obtained
a diploma in speech therapy, did his civilian service, studied
mime with Wim Vandekerckhove and took courses at the Paul
Griinwis Academy of Ballet in Ghent. In 1980, he participated
in an extremely popular workshop held by Barbara Pearce,
a Canadian choreographer living in Paris. A year later he
was dancing in Patchwork, a production staged by Pearce
in 1981.
After this meaningful and encouraging experience, Alain
Platel decided to create and produce his own performances.
This marked the beginning of his artistic maturity and a
career in which art, social conscience and individual experience
began to be combined, defined and expressed in a highly-individual
theatrical concept and style that led him to eliminate the
barriers between the different disciplines (dance, theatre,
music, circus); to utilize the most diverse performers (professional
dancers, children, people with no theatrical experience
or training); to get the best out of his players by respecting
them and giving them enormous freedom; and to be motivated
by a strong social commitment that comes across immediately
and is complete devoid of presumptuousness.
In 1984, the company (almost a "collective") Les
Ballets C. de la B. was founded and Stabat Mater produced
and staged at the De Beweeging Festival in Antwerp.
In the following years he created Lichte Cavallerie (1985);
Mange p'tit coucou (1986); Alchemie, for the Leuven Festival
in Belgium (1987); Emma (1988); O boom (1989); Mussen (1990);
Bonjour madame, comment allez-vous aujourd'hui, il fait
beau, il va sans doute pleuvoir, etcetera (1993); La tristezza
complice (1995); Iets op Bach (1998). He also took part
in many performances and collaborated on various productions.
He produced: Corpo di Barragio for Contemporary Scene (1985);
the choreography for the Belgian delegation at the World
Hairdressing Show in London (1989); Patek, for the Wurre
Wurre Streettheatre (1989); Double Face, choreography for
a fashion show in Ghent (1989); Carpe Carpe Carpe, in collaboration
with Kirsten Tomas Delholm, a performance with children,
Copenhagen (1990); Landschap Van Laura, in collaboration
with Eva Bal, Speelteater di Ghent (1991); De Tuin, in collaboration
with Eva Bal (1992); North of Vertigo, a co-production with
Inflammable, Marseilles (1992); Allons les gars! , LOD production
(1992); De Pijl, LOD production (1992); Ja Wacht!, Victoria
production (1993); Moeder En Kind, Victoria production (1995);
Bernadetje, in collaboration with Arne Sierens, Victoria
production (1996); Allemaal Indiaan, in collaboration with
Arne Sierens, Les Ballets C. de la B./Victoria production
(1999).
Alain Platel collaborates as a guest artist with the Centre
du Théâtre de jeunesse "Victoria"
in Ghent. He has held various conferences, seminars and
theatre-dance courses in different countries, and also taken
part in films and videos. His productions and his unique
style have won him many awards.
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