Red Haired Men – ALEXANDER VANTOURNHOUT
“There was a red-haired man who had no eyes or ears. Neither did he have any hair, so he was called red-haired theoretically.”
For ‘Red Haired Men’, Vooruit theatre resident Alexander Vantournhout took inspiration from the work of the Russian absurdist writer Daniil Kharms. Under pressure from Stalinist censorship, Kharms wrote only children’s rhymes. But that didn’t stop him from being ambiguous and critical.
In ‘Red Haired Men’, four performers interweave Kharms’ micro-stories with dance, circus, acrobatics, puppet theatre, magic and ventriloquism. The result is a genre-transcending choreography of impressive antics with a generous splash of humour.
In the production ‘Aneckxander’, created together with Bauke Lievens, Vantournhout proved himself to be one of Flanders’ greatest circus talents. He is a past laureate of the prestigious CircusNext competition and won both the Young Theatre Prize and the Public Prize at Theater Aan Zee. In his shows Vantournhout combines prodigious technical ability with creativity and feeling. His performing arts residency at Vooruit continues until 2021.
