Philippe Quesne

In times gone by, Philippe Quesne used to busy himself with observing and collecting insects but, has now turned this activity into theatre. Indeed, he refers to his productions in terms of microcosms, laboratory tests and living organisms. Ranging from La Mélancolie des Dragons to Swamp Club (presented during last year’s edition of the Festival d’Automne), he invites the audience to contemplate the highly unusual environments that he creates. This is done as if looking through a microscope, with a mixture of patience and amusement. In such a context, it would be impossible to talk about “characters”, for Philippe Quesne has never asked an actor to do anything but be himself. This unique approach undoubtedly explains why the CAMPO de Gand Art Centre invited him to devise a piece with children in it, adding to their repertory of works by Alain Platel, Tim Etchells and Gob Squad. Philippe Quesne’s decision to use children aged between 8 and 11 years old is not an arbitrary one: the thirteen children brought together for Next Day experience a breathtakingly quick metamorphosis from childhood to adolescence. A period of time in which the children’s joie de vivre reigns supreme, unworried by their future and simply enjoying an artistic activity to the full. On-stage, thirteen young individuals, dancers, artists and musicians in the making, form a bewildering community of individuals. Are they abandoned children? Or lost children? Happy-go-lucky today, what will become of them in tomorrow’s society that we are preparing them for? And what about if we imagined them, as Philippe Quesne proposes, in the guise of apprentice super-heroes, united in an institute some sort with one aim... to save the world?