On Wednesday the 20th of November, the TeeNEXTers went to the 9-9bis, a former mining site, in Oignies, to watch the show ‘Jack’. In this show, Halory Goerger, the producer, works with three actors and one DJ. It is a symbiosis between music and therapy. That’s what’s so original about it.
Two men and one woman come together in an abandoned club (like Alcoholics Anonymous) to make themselves better with the music that broke them. For Halory Goerger, this show is like ‘Un cercle incomplet que l’on complète.’ He brings a different vision to light. He ensures that music can bring a certain feeling even outside the club. So, music is not just for dancing, but also for understanding our deepest feelings.
The audience can really feel the character’s feelings. It really touches a part of the audience because they are really in their role. But other things add the feelings too.
‘Charley ouvert, charley fermé.’ ‘Hi-hat open, hi-hat closed.’ The lights add something to this part, while they breathe with them. The lights are moving in the same manner as a pair of lungs. It is a metaphorical representation of the lungs, like they are doing a breathing exercise. It’s like a moment of meditation. There’s also a moment where the lights are multicolored. This represents a feeling of chaos in their life. Another interpretation can be that the colors of the lights stand for different human emotions.
Symbiosis between feelings and techniques
The music also added something to the representation of the emotions. There was a rhythm that represented the heartbeat. It constantly goes faster and faster when different feelings/ situations are added, just like your heart would feel in reality.
In this show, the stage is set up in a highly original way. The audience is not facing the stage as we are used to, but around it. This creates a more intimate atmosphere and gives the audience the impression that they are part of the circle, and part of the therapy: they feel that they too are completing this ‘incomplete circle’.
The audience doesn’t understand the whole show because it’s so philosophical, but it’s still full of emotions: some laugh, others wonder, but the aesthetics and the performances of the actors make it very enjoyable.
The music and lighting both play a very important role and were performers in their own right, forming a moving and highly aesthetic duo. Music makes or breaks a performance. Music makes or breaks a person. Bravo Zoulou, the company, has completed the circle that had to be completed.
Jinte Ovaere, Lou Lixon