Overview
Abattoir Fermé is a theatre collective based in Mechelen, Belgium and was founded in 1999. The company's early work might best be described as bizarre, semi-underground guerilla theatre, combining influences ranging from dadaism to horror movies into a personal and humorous, yet disturbing style. These early, more or less experimental plays were often situated in some nightmarish underbelly of society, featuring social outcasts and freaks. Between 2002 and 2005 the company's love for fantasy worlds, filmic narratives and often grotesque acting style were further explored and new themes presented themselves. Inspiration was now found in science, the counterculture, outsider art, dissident politics, twisted sexuality and various themes clouded by obscurity or neglected because of their taboo nature. The formal aspects and visual style of the performances also became more poignant, sampling and contextualising influences from comic books, Hollywood, subcultures, underground cinema, paintings, etc. The piece Galapagos (2004) proved to be a breakthrough. In its visual design, dark atmosphere and fragmented narrative, Galapagos marked a new step in the development of Abattoir's artistic discourse. The production received wide critical acclaim and earned the company a selection for the annual Flemish-Dutch Theatre Festival as an extraordinary and memorable production. With Galapagos, Abattoir Fermé began performing outside of Belgium in The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Norway. From 2006, Abattoir Fermé started producing around two new full plays per year - combined with various side-projects. In the film-inspired Chaos Trilogy (2005-2007) and especially in the critically acclaimed ""wordless productions"" like Tourniquet (2007), Mythobarbital (2008) and Snuff (2009), Abattoir Fermé further focussed on the development of new and highly visual narratives. Public and critics have characterised Abattoir Fermé's voice as provocative, physical, sensorial, funny, disturbing, extremely visual and often with a dark sense of humour. Though always recognisable as the voice of the same company, each production can be quite different from the other. What binds them together, is a love of themes and forms like cinema, private backrooms, the metropolis, horror, the human body, the grotesque and burlesque, rituals, the enigma, the underground, outsiders and all things deviant. In recent years, the company has also engaged in unexpected and critically acclaimed collaborations with a myriad of artistic partners, including a children's puppet theatre, such as Nevermore, based on E.A. Poe's work and a pop group Hardboiled, with cult combo Capsule. In 2008, a residency at the Brussels film school RITS resulted in Cinérama, a collection of 9 short films. That same year, Abattoir Fermé received the annual Flemish Culture Prize - usually reserved for more ""established"" companies - for its ""penetrating and ominous theatre, about the stories that frighten society and about the theatre itself."" Also in 2008, the company received a nomination for the European Theatre Prize for new theatrical realities. Recent performances by Abattoir Fermé have been touring all over Europe, most visibly in artistically adventurous venues and festivals with a penchant for new dramaturgies and innovative styles. ILLUSTRATIONS 180 colour *
