With Shelly Shonk Fiffit, Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe taps into a theme that is as unfathomable as the title: the cosmic. As always, Meirhaeghe does not begin with a clear-cut concept, but instead takes certain fascinations and a dynamic group of performers as his starting point. The show is driven by a double artistic motor: the hypnotic electronic music of Italian composer Caterina Barbieri and the James Webb Space Telescope.
World premiere
18 January 2024
Toneelhuis Antwerp
The infinity of the universe swallows us up. Science searches, but our imagination is absolute. The largest and most sophisticated space telescope allows us to look far and deep into the universe, but also in the past. What fascinates Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe even more than the discovery of this telescope, is the capacity of human beings to rise above themselves and the universe in their thoughts. Their capacity for invention. In this show, Meirhaeghe links the high tech of a telescope to the primitiveness of handcraft and manual techniques.
Benjamin’s travel companion on this trip beyond the boundaries of the body and time is the Italian composer Caterina Barbieri. Barbieri makes electronic music that is potentially ‘transformative and mind-expanding’. To the sounds of the hypnotic ‘Fantas’ (from the magisterial 2019 album Ecstatic Computation), the performers, singers and dancers give themselves over to the inexplicable and indescribable.
Shelly Shonk Fiffit promises to be an intense and ecstatic visual and musical trip through our inner world and the remote corners of the cosmos. Fiffit!
Concept and direction: Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe
Performers: Alphonse Eklou, Bully Fae Collins, Eurudike de Beul, Faust de Winne, Fumiyo Ikeda, Hanako Hayakawa, Malique Fye, Nathan Felix-Rivot
Music: Caterina Barbieri
Scenography and light design: Bart van Merode, Zaza Dupont
Costume design: Sietske Van Aerde
Dramaturgy: Louise van den Eede
Text: Jori(k) Amit Galama
Vocal coach: Wouter Deltour
Production: Toneelhuis
Coproduction: Tandem Scène nationale
With the support of: the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government and Look@Leo.
Distribution: ART HAPPENS, Toneelhuis
| Date | Performance | City Country | Organisation/Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03.04.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | Amsterdam (nl) | Internationaal Theater Amsterdam |
| 30.03.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | Brussels (be) | KVS |
| 27.03.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | Douai (fr) | TANDEM scène national Arras-Douai |
| 21.03.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | The Hague (nl) | Het Nationale Theater |
| 10.02.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | Ghent (be) | NTGent |
| 09.02.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | Ghent (be) | NTGent |
| 07.02.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | Rotterdam (nl) | Theater Rotterdam |
| 30.01.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | Groningen (nl) | SPOT / Stadsschouwburg |
| 25.01.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | Antwerp (be) | Toneelhuis |
| 24.01.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | Antwerp (be) | Toneelhuis |
| 20.01.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit | Antwerp (be) | Toneelhuis |
| 18.01.2024 | Shelly Shonk Fiffit (premiere) | Antwerp (be) | Toneelhuis |