http://www.luxemburgvzw.be

In 1997 Arlette Van Overvelt set up Luxemburg as a company making theatre for children and ‘anyone else who is curious’. Luxemburg is a small, adaptable company that strongly believes in playing in both large theatres and on smaller stages; in a village in the middle of nowhere or in a forgotten corner of town. Luxemburg has been operationally subsidized since 2001. Arlette Van Overvelt is artistic director, producer and coach. Nele Gernaey acts as business and managing director and Rein De Smet is responsible for communication and education. Arlette Van Overvelt – together with Luxemburg – is working on an artistic course that translates into activities based around three pivotal elements: the planning of tours and ad-hoc performances, the launch pad and the Bij de buren participation project.

Luxemburg makes groundbreaking theatre by taking the musicality of a script, an element of the scenery or a (young) artist as its starting point. Rover, dronkeman (2001) and De Gans en zijn Broer (2005) were treatments of Bart Moeyaert’s writings, Brieven aan Doornroosje (2004) was based on Toon Tellegen’s letter diary. Arlette Van Overvelt sees this sort of raw material as a challenge, to explore deeper than that one obvious topic. A Luxemburg performance explores every nook and cranny of textual theatre, whereby cross-pollination with other art forms are a natural result. A Luxemburg performance is also invariably an exercise in interdisciplinary theatre. Another typical Luxemburg feature is the courage to approach an audience. Arlette Van Overvelt goes in search of the added value that an audience can bring to performers. She integrates the target audience into the process.

With its launch pad, Luxemburg aims to give young theatre-makers their first opportunity to make something for children and young people. Arlette Van Overvelt offers intensive guidance to a young creative during the creative process and coaches them throughout their creation. On the one hand, this gives the artist the chance to create a performance within a professional framework and on the other it gives Luxemburg the opportunity to absorb new ideas and visions for youth theatre. What makes this way of working so unique is the one-to-one supervision, with the young creative enjoying Luxemburg’s exclusive attention for this whole period. By not immediately linking the launch pad to a long tour, Luxemburg takes away any pressure from the young creative. Initially, a limited number of performances are given at Rataplan, a partner in the launch pad scheme. If this first series is positively evaluated by all parties, the performance can then go on tour the following season.

Stoppeltje (woke up this morning) (2008) was the Luxemburg’s launch pad’s second production. With Arlette Van Overvelt directing, Arne Leurentop went in search of form, voice and ways of translating the wordless comic strip Stoppeltje en de gulzige zeemeermin into theatre. Arne Leurentop brings the undersea adventures of this hairy creature to life, with the help of a variety of instruments, animated images and strange sounds. After a successful launch in 2008, this production will be touring extensively in 2010.

Luxemburg actively reaches out to each and every child. In the Bij de buren participation project, Luxemburg aims to stimulate cultural participation among people from non-native and underprivileged backgrounds by bringing a minimal form of good theatre into a living room setting. Every season, artistic director Arlette Van Overvelt selects two picture books. For each book, she chooses a young writer to turn the book into a play. During a short but intensive rehearsal period, Van Overvelt directs one actor and one actor/musician per narrative performance. Each duo then heads off with picture books, props and costume accessories to living rooms in North Antwerp. For a small group of nursery age children from 4 years they narrate, sing and act out the story using the pictures as their scenery.