Anything unconventional is fair game for the theater company ISKARIOT, which specializes in developing original productions. The artistic core consists of the same team responsible for developing the musical creations within Judas Productions, born from a deep-rooted love for the genre. Unfortunately, there was no longer room for musicals in the subsidized Flemish arts scene, and Judas Productions, despite being a pillar of quality productions, fell through the cracks. Forced to regroup. But where there's a will, there's a way, and ISKARIOT was born. People with a passion for their craft who dare to take calculated risks. Sam Verhoeven and Allard Blom, writers of the distinctive and successful musical productions 'Lilies', 'Josephine B.', and 'Goodbye, Norma Jane', are now sinking their teeth into a classic by French author Flaubert. When the novel was first published as a serial in La Revue de Paris in the fall of 1856, Flaubert was prosecuted by public prosecutors for obscenity. This resulted in a sensational trial in January 1857. The novel was groundbreaking for the realist movement in literature. Those seeking cheap thrills are barking up the wrong tree. 'Madame Bovary' resulted in a layered portrait of a passionate, tormented woman searching for love while yearning with almost childlike hunger to belong to high society. An artistic challenge to realize this both visually and aurally.
Creative Process and Cast
This production was developed entirely from scratch by screenwriter Allard Blom and producer-composer Sam Verhoeven, who collaborated with artist/songwriter Gustaph on a contrasting musical style. Everything was pulled out of the bag. There is live accompaniment from six instrumentalists: three violins, a cello, double bass, and piano. They conjure new sonic richness and create an atmospheric soundscape. During dialogue, the music often succeeds through subtle nuances in tempo, color, and dynamics in setting the mood. Then it captures the lethargy and silence of village life or a fragile moment between melancholy and hope. At other moments, fragments of electronic sounds are woven in to emphasize confusion and chaos. Director Jaak Lema was brought in for the staging. With minimal means, he succeeds in creating entirely different worlds. Some imagination from the audience is also expected. In the lead role: Sandrine Van Handenhoven, who makes a tremendous impression as the passionate, disillusioned woman. A performer with natural grace, her radiant self, elegant and coquettish. She moves discreetly through life, but on stage she is a tigress and bares her soul to the audience. Her career has drawn input from various sources in recent years. A performer with a unique voice and broad musical interests. Alongside her are Michiel De Meyer and Thomas Cammaert. Both actor-singers play multiple roles, a tribute to an artist's versatility. A convincing cast.
Scenography
The stage is dominated by a stark tube system standing perpendicular to the stage. In the back, three violinists and a cellist are visible through a sort of gauze. Stage right in front sits the grand piano, and further back beside it the double bass. The performance begins with a resonant beat, a sort of heartbeat. No matter what happens, life goes on, the clock ticks uninterrupted. Emma, in a beautiful gown, takes the stage. She immediately reveals her hand in a powerful song. Her voice is warm and lived-in. She is completely broken: not only financially, but also psychologically. For her, there is only one way out: death. She writes a farewell letter and sees salvation in a bottle of green powder and arsenic. A long and painful death in which she relives her life in drawn-out flashbacks.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Emptiness and boredom are her lot. Raised in an agrarian environment, she wants more from life. When a doctor comes to care for her father, she tries to seduce him with her charms to escape petty bourgeois narrowness. Marriage to Dr. Bovary is supposed to make it possible to live her dreams of a life like the wealthy: with dinners, opera performances, trips to Paris. They settle down. She immediately starts spending money freely. Images appear in the background, disappear again, and transform. Even when they're invited out, she remains an outsider. The marriage proves to be a disappointment. Her husband is merely a simple country doctor. Increasingly, she becomes trapped in provincial existence. She moves across the stage like a caged animal, clinging to an illusory and unattainable happiness, and escapes into extramarital affairs with Léon and Rudolphe. At the opera, they watch Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti, a libretto about the despair of love! She buys the affection of a young lover with an abundance of gifts... Her lover eventually draws the line. Love cannot be bought. Her surrogate love repels him. Sandrine Van Handenhoven succeeds in conveying the fascinations and drives of humanity, the dark stirrings of the soul to the audience. Thomas Cammaert embodies the country doctor with goodwill and naïveté. He wants to meet his beautiful wife's every wish. In matters of love, he is rather clumsy and uninspired. He plays the fashionable pedant with flair and panache. He also gets to sing some lovely songs. After his wife's death and repeated betrayals, he is left as a broken man.
Michiel De Meyer plays the servant, pharmacist, and young lover in convincing portrayals. Singing is his second nature. The direction is built with thoughtful wave-like movements with peaks where Emma Bovary gets blind drunk at a ball and lets loose completely, and further on there is also beautiful choreography of a waltz to be seen and the young student can swing quite nicely. The intimate scenes are discreet and suggestive. Much care has been taken with both lighting and costumes.
No matter what role you play, as long as the mythic identification takes place—and the three protagonists succeed perfectly at this.
Sam Verhoeven and Allard Blom have once again realized their artistic ambitions with verve. A musical in which energy and emotional intensity continually intersect. Expectations were effortlessly met. What am I saying: exceeded! The audience spontaneously leapt to their feet for an exuberant standing ovation.
