Alain Platel

Originally from Ghent, Belgium, Alain Platel trained as a remedial educationalist and is self-taught as a director. In 1984, together with friends and family members, he formed a collective troupe, les ballets C de la B. Beginning with Emma (1988), he distinguished himself more clearly as a director. He went on to create Bonjour Madame (1993), La Tristeza Complice (1995), and Iets op Bach (1998), productions that propelled les ballets C de la B to international acclaim. With writer Arne Sierens, he had a similar impact through Ghent’s youth theatre company Victoria, with works such as Moeder en kind (Mother and Child, 1995), Bernadetje (1996), and Allemaal Indiaan (All Indians, 1999).

After Allemaal Indiaan, Alain Platel announced that he would no longer create new works. However, Gérard Mortier convinced him to make Wolf (2003), a piece on Mozart for the Ruhrtriennale. The choral project Coup de chœurs, staged for the opening of the new KVS in Brussels, marked the beginning of a close collaboration with composer Fabrizio Cassol. vsprs (2006) signaled a turning point: the exuberance of earlier works, expressed through diverse performers and themes, gave way to greater introspection and tension, revealing a world of impulses and desires—along with violence, as in Nine Finger (2007) with Benjamin Verdonck and Fumiyo Ikeda.

After the baroque style of pitié! (2008), Out of Context – for Pina (January 2010) offered an almost ascetic reflection on the movement repertoire of spasms and tics. Through this vocabulary, Platel pursued his search to express emotions too intense for words. His aspiration toward something beyond the individual became increasingly palpable.

In collaboration with Frank Van Laecke, he created Gardenia in June 2010, using the closure of a drag cabaret as the starting point for an intimate exploration of the lives of a memorable group of older performers. In 2015, Platel and Van Laecke renewed their collaboration with En avant, marche!, a production inspired by the tradition of brass and marching bands, with musical direction by composer Steven Prengels.

At Gérard Mortier’s request, Platel created C(H)ŒURS (2012), his most ambitious project to date, built on the famous choral scenes of Verdi’s operas, later enriched with works by Richard Wagner. In C(H)ŒURS, Platel, with his dancers and the Teatro Real de Madrid chorus, explored how the beauty of a group can also be dangerous. The political resonance of works such as tauberbach (2014) and Coup fatal (2014), created with Fabrizio Cassol, lies in the joy of life and explosive energy that emanate from the stage, presenting ways of surviving in harsh circumstances—whether in a landfill (tauberbach) or in the daily lives of Congolese musicians (Coup fatal). A “lust for life” as a means of rebellion.Platel does not necessarily seek expansion. His involvement in smaller projects like Nachtschade (for Victoria, 2006) and his coaching work for Pieter and Jakob Ampe on their piece Jake & Pete’s Big Reconciliation Attempt for the Disputes from the Past (2011) attest to this. Both projects left undeniable traces in his reflections on the nature of theatre.