About Club Toulouse
Smells Like Circus | March 2022
“The characters endeavor in a journey through which they attempt to explore what fits them personally. Throwing all notions of binary male and female aside.”
Roman Van Houtven
How did the performance come to life?
“For the creation of Club Toulouse, Marieke and I started with the exploration of the life and work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the French painter who lived in Paris in the end of the nineteenth century. His way of capturing the Parisian nightlife and the physicality of his work, alongside his own tragic life founded the base on which we started our exploration. The idea of striving for something greater and the desire to be seen, taking place in the underground nightlife was the basic outset for Club Toulouse. We attempted to recreate a contemporary interpretation of this nightlife, in which ugliness and failure from the performers, and a sense of pleasant voyeurism from the audience could exist simultaneously. And just like Toulouse Lautrec, the two characters in the show do everything in their power to shine, excel and be seen. But at the same time they realize they don’t manage to. And their set-out course might not be the way they want to move forward in. So they escape from the layed-out path and start exploring for themselves what it means to them personally to search for their most authentic selves.”
“The collaboration with Kopergietery was key in this concept. Not only in their visionary creativity when it came to sound, light and décor, but mostly their ability to point out where we needed to go further and color outside the box. They understood very early on that in order for this piece to succeed, we needed to overthrow established rules and notions, and had to shake off any sense of discomfort in showing ourselves on stage. And they pushed for that. With the result of us taking a leap into a quality of performing which was incredibly exciting.”
Is there a particular issue/theme you wish to address with this performance?
“We always refer to Club Toulouse as a naughty celebration of diversity. Because we do celebrate. The characters endeavor in a journey through which they attempt to explore what fits them personally. Throwing all notions of binary male and female aside. And I think that’s one of the strong holders of the piece, which I hope the audience takes with after watching. That you should be who you want to be, and celebrate it.”
“Besides that, the two characters are trying everything they can to be liked. And then fail. They end up as two entities which exist in their exhaustion and ugliness, feeling very lost. Not knowing how to get out of their self-destructive spiral. And that’s also something I hope the people who come watch the show can see. That while growing and exploring as a human being, there’s no doubt you’ll be faced with failure. And that it’s okay.”
Do you have any anecdotes?
“There’s one very specific thing that comes back every single show we play for teenagers. We start off portraying two androgynous people. And slowly but steadily we add on elements. Both male and female. And we always notice there is a certain sense of discomfort or apprehension with the audience when I for example wear female elements like skirts or a wig, and when Gytha wears very seductive female clothing. But because of our trajectory and the struggle and exhaustion we show, the audience starts sympathizing with us. They want us to succeed. And at a given point during the show, the discomfort or apprehension shifts to support and celebration. The audience accepts us and starts applauding us for our vestimentary choices. And that’s the point we always realize and feel that they get the message. That diversity should be celebrated.”