{"id":408,"date":"2025-11-14T20:36:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T20:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/32\/?p=408"},"modified":"2025-12-15T18:41:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T18:41:20","slug":"alone-together-solo-theatre-in-a-plural-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/32\/alone-together-solo-theatre-in-a-plural-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Alone Together: Solo Theatre in a Plural World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eleni Gkini<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

This review article examines the 15th edition of the Luxembourg Monodrama Festival (June 13\u201322, 2025), which brought together artists from Luxembourg, Portugal, Belgium, Greece, Croatia, Austria, Burkina Faso, Jordan, the Netherlands, and the Republic of Congo. The festival\u2019s participants explored diverse narrative approaches to monodrama and engaged with the aesthetics and conventions of postdramatic theatre. The performances addressed themes ranging from archetypal human experiences to urgent social and political concerns. Among the issues explored were violence against women, the dual nature of work as both a measure of achievement and a source of psychological strain, mourning in romantic and parental relationships, and environmental degradation. The voices of actors, dancers, musicians, authors, and directors resonated through the universal language of theatre, often self-referential, sharply humorous, and critically engaging, characterized by direct audience interaction and inventive use of stage expression.

Keywords:<\/strong> monodrama, performance, diversity, multiculturalism, interaction<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first time we turn our attention to the Monodrama Festival, now in its 15th year, hosted in the welcoming and culturally vibrant city of Luxembourg. This year’s edition took place from 13 to 22 June at the Bannanefabrik venue (12, rue du Puits, L-355 Luxembourg-Bonnevoie).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The banner of the 15th<\/sup> Fundamental Monodrama Festival, 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The festival\u2019s founder and artistic director, actor and theatre director Steve Karier, once again fulfilled his mission: to organize an international festival dedicated to solo performances and to promote the performing arts both nationally and internationally. The tangible result of his efforts was a dynamic program of 14 performances by artists from ten different countries over the course of ten days. These included both premieres of works in progress and fully realized, creatively staged monologues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diverse perspectives presented in the performances revealed that, both aesthetically\/formally and thematically\/conceptually, it is quite difficult to identify a common ground in terms of subject matter. Nevertheless, the pressing challenges of our times, combined with the artist\u2019s intrinsic impulse to engage with archetypal aspects of the human experience, resulted in stage works that, both implicitly and spontaneously, entered into dialogue with one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, gender-based violence was a recurring theme, with woman as both the subject of desire and the object of suppression. The range of depictions included figures of women in the timeless context of love, each asserting her voice and visibility before the other, claiming her right to be respected, each standing as a powerful presence, daring to demand recognition in the arts and in the workplace, and therefore her fundamental dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bannanefabrik\u2019s two stages, the subject of deviation was also treated in many of its variations. More specifically, the concept of deviation<\/em> is understood as a psychic symptom, a borderline manifestation incurring social exclusion and incarceration, and also implies the generalized, supreme imperative of professional success and mainstream beauty, as the cause of an agonizing and fruitless struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The common means for portraying these motifs was through the format of the stage monologue, as actors, performers and musicians employed different versions of metadramatic theatre. Here, gaps in the plot development were frequent, narrative fiction interlaced with auto-fiction, self-reference occasioned critical comment and laughter, and commentary on contemporary reality and its norms assumed the guise of ominous clowning. This array of styles, however, is complemented by minimal stage-setting, direct address to the spectator and a brief unfolding of the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the artists participated with enthusiasm in this international theatrical and performative conspiracy of monodrama. They each pursued their own aesthetic and thematic choices in a trajectory which involved social critique and political commentary without self-righteousness and occasionally utilized humor and a pronounced metonymic stage-setting as a back-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Plays<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Tu connais Dior?<\/em> <\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Text and performance Valerie Bodson. Direction Anne Brionne. Language: French. Luxembourg.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Val\u00e9rie Bodson. Photo: Juliette Moro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The first performance was delivered by Luxembourg actor and writer Val\u00e9rie Bodson and directed by Anne Brionne. The work, with its playful and suggestive title Do You Know Dior?<\/em>, drew the viewer into a confessional journey exploring an issue often understood only in the abstract or at a distance. Over the course of a single day, the protagonist finds herself in the untenable position of losing her home and being forced into homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up until that moment, we are told, everything was normal: work, homelife, family and friends. The unexpected crack reveals the invisible world of the social margin and shows how the margin is invisible to the average person. The text, torrential and often playful in its delivery, makes ample use of emotional confession and scathing commentary. The element of surprise is conveyed when she refuses to give herself over to a state of dereliction, adopting as a saving mantra the phrase \u201cI am no good at being unhappy.\u201d This slogan operates as a defense mechanism and a reminder of the life she had until recently, but it also urges her to resist the dystopic condition of suffering and lack of community imposed on the homeless person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bodson was very consistent in the realistic depiction of her character\u2019s mood changes; she built a rhythm with her voice and body which allowed her to illuminate the range from irony and humor to melancholy and anxiety, while making discerning use of the non-textual components of her monologue. Out of her props \u2013 suitcases, a sleeping bag, a tablecloth as decoration of her street bench, the emblematic red Dior handbag of the title \u2013 the actor builds a mini universe that is both familiar and unsettling for the complaisant viewer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
Noces<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Text and performance Safourata Kabore. Direction Odile Sankara. Language: French. Burkina Faso.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Safourata Kabore. Photo: Emmanuelle Konkobo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Wedding,<\/em> written in French, interpreted by Safourata Kabore and directed by Odile Sankara, showcased the powerful bipolarity of trauma and desire, both textually and performatively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kabor\u00e9\u2019s monologue unfolded as a portrayal of the girl, the adult woman, and the future wife, all seen through the prism of a mirror. The impending ceremony awakens memories, reactivates trauma, invokes the need for acceptance and underscores the importance of resisting male power. The future wife, standing in front of the mirror, carefully applies her makeup, which ultimately becomes a mask, a symbol and an expression of cultural identity. She tries on her wedding dress while frequently checking the clock, a constant reminder of the temporal boundary leading up to the wedding ritual, which marks symbolically the transition from recounting a painful experience to embracing the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The music and few sparse stage objects provide a dynamic accompaniment that skillfully blends poetic symbolism with the realism of the acting. The direction lucidly conveys how personal testimony embodies the collective voice, calling out the abuses of the past and emphasizing the need to break free from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
Falsch Beweegungen<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Text and performance Serge Tonar. Language: Luxembourgish. Luxembourg.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Serge Tonar. Photo: wrong movements<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

From the first few minutes, the Wrong Moves\/ Falsch Beweegungen<\/em> by songwriter, author and performer Serge Tonar worked very effectively as a sobering wake-up call. His performance took place in the familiar realm of the metadramatic. The mixture of narrative and music, the improvised character in movement and the use of a few eloquent objects such as a black tutu skirt or the microphone in various comical ways created an engaging commentary on imperfection and failure, as these are appraised in our modern world. Tonar became the embodiment of the wrong moves, defending with humor and ardor the right to diverge from standards of beauty for the human body and unapologetically accept botched personal and professional choices, failures and attempts to make things right or to fail once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His guitar and his singing, as intrinsic elements of his performance, provided the coordinates of Tonar\u2019s artistic identity and excused him from adherence to a particular interpretative genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The painted talking belly moving to a strong dance beat, along with the comments on success and disapproval, provided pungent criticism and staged excess at its core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
Requiem for a Clown<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Text Antoine Colla. Performance Rhiannon Morgan. Direction Antoine Colla. Language: French. Luxembourg.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Rhiannon Morgan. Photo et maquillages couverture: Danai Tezapsidou, Diane Demanet Tanios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Requiem for a Clown<\/em> was written and directed by Antoine Colla, who also designed the lighting, and performed by Rhiannon Morgan with the participation, mainly through the soundscape, of Servane lo Le Moller; the performance depicted the psychic experience of the void, expressed through the fragmentary telling of a fairytale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mounting, fragmented narrative was portrayed on stage by the actor\u2019s nearly stationary movements within the frame of a carousel. In that emblematic setting, she referred to pivotal moments in her life, all underpinned by a shared theme: she was the child whom the fairy godmothers never blessed, whom her mother never looked at, and therefore never loved. The two performers moved within the fairytale world, sometimes decorating it, other times making and eating candy floss, in other words, creating an essentially timeless realm where memory is composed of sensations, colors, and the imprints of gazes and traumas that proved indelible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beneath the playful aspect of the scenery, threatening developments quietly smolder: the innocent, wounded girl transforms into a repulsive insect. The key phrase, \u201cI\u2019m meant to be squashed,\u201d represents the trauma and confirms the initial threat which the spectator senses in the seemingly charming set, while the actor\u2019s impressive movements convey with great sensitivity and finesse the subtle nuances of her confessional narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The live music, the wooden horse, the effigy of a child without facial features and the nightmarishly bare carousel create a stage setting wherein the actor-dancer achieves immediate connection with the audience. She gains not only their aesthetic appraisal vis a vis the performance itself but also their complicity in the quest for or invention of the self, as realized in the gaze, i.e., the acceptance of the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The performance attempts to eradicate the fine line between narrative structure and the engagement of the recipient-spectator, and successfully accounts for the author\u2019s motto: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clown dissolves the boundaries between self and other,<\/em>
Holding up a mirror that blurs individual separateness.<\/em>
In this liminal space,<\/em>
we see ourselves in the other\u2019s eyes,<\/em>
reminding us that connection<\/em>
\u2014both joyous and haunting\u2014<\/em>
is the essence of life.<\/em>[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
Sil\u00eancio que vai-se cantar o Fado !<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Text and performance Magaly Teixeira. Portuguese guitar Miguel Braga, classical guitar Joaquim Cani\u00e7o. Language: Portuguese. Portugal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Magaly Teixeira. Photo: web<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The third-generation Portuguese migrant to Luxemburg, Magaly Teixerira, has conceptualized and realized a performance-concert that celebrates the univocally national\/Portuguese character. From the outset, the use of folkloric items on stage effectively recreated a typical Portuguese tavern of old, or a migrant household, where the gathering in progress centered on music and specifically, the traditional fados. Paralinguistic references to the high priestess of the fados, Am\u00e1lia Rodrigues were achieved by means of photographs and musical records strewn on the floor, as well as the music itself, and created an emotional bond with the audience and thus created a familiar, communal space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The songs, as well as the two poems that were read in French and Portuguese, were aimed at the universal language of music. The performers conformed to the classic mise en place<\/em> of small concert spaces or even household celebrations. This choice confirmed that performance need not always involve the risqu\u00e9\/subversive treatment of a concept on stage, but rather has its origins in an elemental ritual process through which the music and the vocals connect the actors and the audience, eliciting spontaneous emotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the performance-concert of the Portuguese artists may have been lacking in originality, it most definitely did not lack talent; rather than restricting themselves to the confines of virtuosity, the artists gave expressed a profound nostalgia for their homeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
All Before Life is Death. An Entertaining Evening Full of Hocus Pocus<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Text and Performance Benjamin Verdonck. Language: English. Belgium.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Benjamin Verdonck. Photo: Henk Claassen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The artistic practice of Benjamin Verdocnk, actor, writer, visual artist and theatre-maker, staunchly defies classification. His defining mark is the development and actualization of new theatrical forms, especially that of the \u00abtafeltoneel.<\/em>\u00bb The term refers to scenes staged on a table-sized, mobile theatre which can be utilized anywhere, indoors or outdoors, and disappear just as quickly. Here, the props and actions serve to convey the simplicity of theatre and the directness of the actor\u2019s address to the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The performance All Before Life is Death. An Entertaining Evening Full of Hocus Pocus<\/em> featured\u00a0doors opening and curtains closing almost imperceptibly, magical showboxes, a number of colored strings, audience participation, placards with caustic but humorous remarks, photographs of Brad Pitt as Trump or war scenes and the performer, his face covered throughout with melting butter, gesticulating in a fashion reminiscent of the aesthetics of silent movies and Buster Keaton or, in parts, his beloved, emblematic butoh master, Kazuo \u014cno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His performative words, both written and spoken, thoroughly political, pointed and ironic, also elicited laughter from the audience in addition to the embarrassment he intentionally provoked through the choice of movement and theme. The title, All Before Life is Death<\/em>, makes a resounding and tender comment on the notion of failure and the right to reject societal and political decrees.\u00a0Furthermore, in some parts of the performance, the engagement of the audience, especially the children, accentuated the critical intent and contributed a lighter tone to the grim and pessimistic subject matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rapid one-liners, fragmentary jocular scenes, the extensive use of audiovisual material, and the excess of his gesticular vocabulary combined to create an enigmatic performance with rugged features. Occasionally overbearingly intense, the performance featured a politicized type of humor that challenged the audience of earnest although not overly serious viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
Unseen Universes<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Choreography and performance Sissy Mondloch. Dance. Luxembourg.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Sissy Mondloch. Photo: Zo\u00eb Mondloch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sissy Mondloch, choreographer, dancer and dance teacher, created Unseen Universes<\/em> in an attempt to sensitize audiences to the critical issue of the environment and to instigate a meaningful dialogue between the individual and their own inner terrain. She states that her interest lies in the individual\u2019s relationship to their inner world; she endeavors to showcase those psychic landscapes that relate to the exterior world, while expressing and influencing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her choreographic vocabulary and stage setting evoked the four basic archetypal elements which are the material of mythology and physical existence: water, earth, air and fire. In performative terms, her stylistic approach of perhaps intentional naivete successfully revealed the artist\u2019s intention. The unseen universes can become visible through introspection and acceptance of the whole: through its expressive choreography, the body interacts with the environment and the space which contains it, thus affecting its wider context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
The Whore of Canaan<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Text and Performance Lana Nasser. Language: English and Arabic. Jordan | Netherlands.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Lara Nasser. Photo: Cees Rullens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I would like to begin my commentary on the performance of L. Nasser, Jordanian writer, actor, performer, voice-artist and dreamworker, with the informative notes she wrote in the script; I am grateful for her trust and generosity in sharing her work with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding her dramatic character(s) she introduces:<\/p>\n\n\n\n