DIE SIEL VAN DIE MIER (THE SOUL OF THE ANT

Funny, insidious - an edge-of-the-seat performance...

- HUGUES LE TANNEU, LES INROCKUPTIBLES

"By singing the words, by reciting them in the form of a poem, whispering them, screaming them and rhythmically chanting them, Josse De Pauw gives free rein to the imagination in this performance, in which chaos occasionally takes control only to be followed by the stillness of a beautiful poem." That's how Meander Magazine defined this jewel of musical theatre performed by the prestigious LOD company.

The multi-faceted Josse De Pauw, a renowned Belgian actor and director, directs and acts in this award-winning work by his compatriot, David Van Reybrouck, written in 2004. It is a production about the lives of termites as a way of illustrating the human condition, its miseries and its greatness. It is a story of the order of insects and the chaos of the human soul in a cocktail of emotions, experiences and memories which is looking for a different truth in the poetry of nature.

On stage, De Pauw gives life to the entomology through his role as the scholarly expert explaining the orthodoxy of these insects, their superb organisation, discipline and dedication when confronted with their inevitable fate... An eloquent and ironic presentation which entertains the audience suddenly becomes a regret when the professor's academic discourse gives way to the memory of his own life. Not everything is so perfect or so mechanical in the human soul. The memory of a relationship cut short returns the protagonist to the Belgian Congo of the 1960s. And he starts to sing which in turn revives his frustration. De Pauw gives a good account of his singing skills in a contemporary jazz recital together with original material from musicians Jan Kuijken and George Van Dam. Keyboards, synthesiser and a violin and cello with a special distorting effect are a fundamental part of a production which explores the limits of theatre at every opportunity.

Confronted with fate, De Pauw clings to the beauty of nature. This alleviates the disappointed love and the inability of human beings to control their lives, something which his prized termites certainly can do. And, as Belgium's Radio 1 declared, he does it in "a devilishly intelligent and at the same time warm and very generous performance.".

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