Spanish PremiereCountry: BelgiumLanguage: French (with subtitles in Spanish)Approx duration: 1hr 10mins (no interval)
An exquisite uncertainty prevails. Emotions are stirred, shut down, reignited. Spectators are not only hostages but also the culpably indifferent.
- Financial Times
In 1989, the Belgians, Jolente De Keersmaeker, Damiaan De Schrijver, Waas Gramser and Frank Vercruyssen did not want to join any existing companies, in which they seemed to perceive only an excessive aestheticism, unworldly formal experiments and the hand of authoritative directors. Instead, they created tg STAN (Stop Thinking About Names), concentrating their efforts on a theatre for actors, away from the mainstream and with a social commitment. Up to what point do you go to defend an idea? What means are justified to achieve an end? How would you respond to violence? These and other similar questions are the driving force behind Anathema, a co-production between tg Stan and José Luis Peixoto (1974), winner of the Premio Literario José Saramago (a major Portuguese literary prize) for his novel, Nelhum Olhar. In language both conversational and poetic, a man and a woman recall the horrors of war...