Stage Door News
Stage Door News
The sell-out hit of the 2012 & 2014 Edinburgh Festivals and an acclaimed hit at festivals around the world, including Adelaide, New York City, Slovenia, Belgium, Madrid, India and Poland, BigMouth finally has its Canadian premiere.
David Mirvish is pleased to bring BigMouth to Toronto, playing January 19 - February 7, 2016 at the Panasonic Theatre.
BigMouth will travel to Canada’s West Coast after Toronto, playing at the Cultch’s York Theatre (East Vancouver Cultural Centre) from February 11 to 21, 2016.
BigMouth is produced by SKaGeN, one of Europe’s hottest theatre companies, and Richard Jordan Productions in association with De Tijd & STUK.
In a tour-de-force performance, Belgian actor, Valentijn Dhaenens has received universal critical acclaim and been described as a one-man powerhouse for his thrilling and virtuoso performance in BigMouth.
With five microphones on a bare set, his voice and indefatigable energy, Dhaenens traverses sermons, declarations of war, farewells, final arguments, victory speeches and eulogies from across time.
He ingeniously weaves together the most persuasive orators from history — from Socrates to the Grand Inquisitor, from Mohammed Ali to Osama Bin Laden and from many others.
Dhaenens doesn’t simply recite the famous and infamous words of these famous and infamous people; he actually mimics the orators’ voices, style of speaking, facial expressions and hand gestures, becoming them, if only for a few minutes.
He shows that in 2,500 years, the tricks of rhetoric have hardly changed. While claiming to be telling the absolute truth, these orators are just telling a pretty lie in their quest for world power or simply for the hand of their beloved.
★★★★
“Valentijn Dhaenens’s writing is stark and poetic — a sensitive, thoughtful and often beautiful response to the continuing suffering caused by war.” - THE TELEGRAPH, London
"THOUGHT PROVOKING! Clad in a conservative suit and tie, Valentijn Dhaenens manifests a charming, understated, almost boyish bearing. He stands behind a long table on which sit assorted microphones, which he moves among as he shifts identities. Sentiments are sharply juxtaposed. A speech by Joseph Goebbels, alternating with macho rhetoric by Patton, underscores commonalities in their pleas for wartime sacrifice. Osama bin Laden’s militant zeal seems to mirror George W. Bush’s. When speeches are interrupted with a cappella strains of songs (Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” or “America,” from West Side Story), a common humanity, apart from podiums and halls of power, seeps in. When the electronics appear to sputter and short-circuit, Mr. Dhaenens takes a seat in the audience, assuming a place among the citizens, the spectators, the witnesses to history.” - NEW YORK TIMES
★★★★
"UNBEARABLY POIGNANT AND FASCINATING!
The piece is as effective in demonstrating what war does with the minds and hearts of those involved, as it is at showing us the devastating physical consequences.” - THE GUARDIAN, London
★★★★★
“It is in performance, and the skilled hands and mouth of Belgian virtuoso Valentijn Dhaenens, that this deceptively simple idea of one man and a few microphones morphs into an electrifying and transcendent piece of art.” - EXEUNT MAGAZINE
★★★★★
"Enthralling roller-coaster through history and its (in)humanity by one-man powerhouse Valentijn Dhaenens” - THE LIST
“Five microphones, one voice, and his talent. This is all actor Valentijn Dhaenens needs to make the monologue BigMouth an original and, above all, convincing piece of theatre.” - DE VOLKSGRANT
About VALENTIJN DHAENENS
After obtaining a Master’s Degree in Dramatic Arts at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, Valentijn Dhaenens co-founded the theatre company SKaGeN. From 2006, the company has been rewarded with structural subsidization from the Flemish/Belgian Government for their work as one of the leading modern theatre groups in Belgium and Holland. Outside SKaGeN, Valentijn has worked extensively as an actor in more than 30 productions for Belgium’s major companies such as NTGent, Kaaitheater Brussels and Ontroerend Goed. His international breakthrough however came with his own written and directed solo show BigMouth that is touring extensively major festivals and venues worldwide. A follow up called SmallWaR was presented at the Edinburgh Festival 2014 and the Adelaide Festival 2015 and will also be touring in 2016. Aside from his theatre work, Valentijn is a sought-after narrator for documentaries such as The Boy is Gone by Christophe Bohn. Occasionally he is a guest lecturer at Belgian and Dutch theatre schools. To a broader audience, Valentijn is best known for his acting in several TV shows and films, most notably for his lead role in De helaasheid der dingen/The Misfortunates by Felix Van Groeningen, which won numerous prizes worldwide such as the Prix Art et Essai at the Cannes Film Festival 2009.
BigMouth is written, directed and performed by Valentijn Dhaenens; lighting & sound design by Jeroen Wuyts with costume design by Barbara De Laere.
“Valentijn Dhaenens only needs his mouth to keep the audience captivated.” - De Morgen
“Some of the speeches are painfully personal and some are painfully embarrassing. But all of them are extremely clarifying. Besides the strength of the content, BigMouth presents itself as an indispensable lesson in oratory.” - Knack Magazine
BigMouth
January 19 - February 7, 2016
Panasonic Theatre, 651 Yonge Street,
Toronto
Performance Schedule:
Tuesday - Saturday at 8:00 PM (January 19-30)
Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 PM
Wed matinee, Jan 20 at 2:00 PM
Fri Feb 5 & Sat Feb 6 at 8:00 PM
Sun Feb 7 at 2:00 PM
Tickets: $39 - $89
Ticketking 416-872-1212 or 1-800-461-3333
Online Ticket Sales: www.mirvish.com
Groups of 12 or more 416-593-4142
Twitter @mirvishFacebook: Mirvish Productions
2015-12-29
Toronto: Mirvish presents the Canadian premiere of "BigMouth" January 19-February 7