International Festivals

Mechelen, Belgium

Abattoir Fermé: This Belgian company likes to shock its audience. If you know its previous work, what might shock you most about its new piece, Deviant, is that it’s a well-made play. Abattoir’s last two premieres, Tourniquet and Hard-Boiled, contain scarcely an utterance between them—both prefer impressionistic sequences to narrative. Tourniquet is set in a world marked by swastikas, exorcisms and crucifixions, along with plenty of nudity, wine and blood. Artistic director Stef Lernous insists that Hard-Boiled, which premiered in October, is a “girly play,” with light music performed by an all-female ensemble. Its scenario is that the soul of a young woman washes up on shore, where “weird psychic doppelgangers” torment her. Lernous pauses. “This sounds nasty, doesn’t it? I assure you, it’s all in good fun. She talks to goldfish. She has tea with her dolls. It’s very humane.” Another pause. “Okay, she does end up at a strip club fucking a dog. I just can’t resist!”

So what prompted Lernous to follow up with civilized living-room conversation? “I want to hear people talk again,” he says, crediting his renewed interest in dialogue in part to David Mamet. Thanks to a campy ’60s documentary about key parties, he hit on a topic: spouse-swapping. “Belgium is such a manageable little country,” he says. “I was anxious to know if we have swinger clubs—and we do! On the first Wednesday of the month, at two o’clock, you can partake in an orgy…and there’s also free sandwiches.” Lernous explains his previous work has been about ritual; swingers have their rituals too, mostly arising from boredom and jealousy. He has considered incorporating fetishes and angels into the play—“but no nudity whatsoever,” he decrees. “Because that’s what people expect—and I don’t like to give them what they expect.’

The group tours plays from its repertoire periodically; you can catch Tourniquet this month in Antwerp or another Belgian city, or explore your Deviant side next month when it debuts at Arts Center nOna in Mechelen. Check out the website for a full schedule.
(Ongoing; (32) 476-49-48-13; www.abattoirferme.be)

Assahoun, Togo

Festival De Théâtre De La Fraternité:The 10th edition of this West African festival, FESTHEF for short, includes a production from Benin of The Rose of Two Fragrances, by Mexican playwright Emilio Carballido, directed by Alougbine Dine; Gumbo of Two Vegetables, a comedy by Alfred Dogbé, produced by Arène Théâtre of Niger; Gustave Akakpo’s Catharsis, staged by Jean-Claude Berutti in a French/Togolese production; and seven other productions created in 2006–07 by companies that hail from countries including the Ivory Cost, Congo and Senegal.
(Thru Dec. 4; festhef@woezon.com; www.festhef.woezon.com)

Fujairah, United Arab Emirates

Fujairah International Monodrama Festival: Thirteen solo plays—from Japan, Britain, Iran, Ukraine, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and, of course, the United Arab Emirates—make up the third installment of this biennial festival, which will inaugurate a new space devoted to monodrama at Dibba Al Fujairah Theatre. Thanks to an agreement between the Fujairah Culture and Media Authority (FCMA) and the Radiant Media Group, this year’s performances will be televised. (Dec. 4–12; (971) 9-222-2678; www.fimf.ae)

Paris, France

Festival D’Automne: Four productions remain to be seen at this annual fall event. Dutch company Dood Paard, whose recent version of Medea drew worldwide attention, tackles the pandemonium of Titus Andronicus, and French director Luc Bondy deconstructs Marivaux’s La second surprise d’amour. A compilation of five short dramas by Thomas Bernhard, “Sauve qui peut” pas mal comme titre (“Devil take the hindmost” not a bad title) explores latent fascism in contemporary society. This version, performed in French by the Belgian company tg STAN, was originally performed in German in 2005 and is meant to be the second part of a Bernhard trilogy. And Derniers remords avant l’oubli (Last Regrets Before Forgetting) by the late Jean-Luc Lagarce, produced by Les Possédés under the direction of Rodolphe Dana, is a wistful recollection of a love affair that will blow a breeze of summer through a festival that closes on winter’s threshold.
(Thru Dec. 22; (33) 53-45-17-17; www.festival-automne.com)

Nabeul, Tunisia

Le Festival Neapolis Du Théâtre Pour Enfants: The pottery capital of North Africa (known now as Nabeul, and as Neapolis in Roman times) closes out the year with a celebration of children’s theatre from around the world. Cameroon’s Théâtre du Hoolat Yaoundé performs Abok (La Fête), Etoundi Zeyang’s bittersweet fable about community—Abessolo and Bobbo labor to prepare the village festival, while lazy Mangetou relies on tricks to get his share of the merriment. Poland’s Maska theatre will perform The Window; Turkish company Cengiz Ozeck Istanbul will perform The Monster of the Trash Cans; companies from Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Italy, Serbia, Luxemburg, Belgium, Venezuela, Brazil, Russia and Bosnia round out the program.
(Dec. 25–30; (216) 97-820-594; www.investir-en-tunisie.com/neapolisfestival)

London, England

London International Mime Festival: In its 30th year, this gathering will spotlight inventive theatre pieces, minimalist dance, live sculpture and macabre pup-petry. BlackSKYwhite of Russia performs Astronomy for Insects, which the Times of London has called “a terrifying journey into alien worlds.” The U.K.’s Faulty Optic reinvents the Orpheus story in Dead Wedding. Also from the U.K., Gecko (Allel Nedjari and Amit La-hav) celebrates a boundary-defying friendship in The Arab and the Jew. Choreographer Josef Nadj and sculptor Miquel Barceló frolic through 10 tons of wet clay in the French/Spanish collaboration Paso Doble. And Teatro Corsario of Spain’s ethereal puppets enact a fearsome and erotic fairy tale, Aullidos (Howls), written and directed by Jesús Peña.
(Jan. 12–27; (44) 20-7637-5661; www.mimefest.co.uk)