Ferenc Balcaen / NTGent
PLEASE, open the curtains
Dates
thu 26 nov 2026 - 20:00
fri 27 nov 2026 - 20:00
location
Theaterstudio
price
€ 10 → 25
duration
2h Ferenc Balcaen reflects on grief, alienation and the longing for connection.
Albrecht Dürer sketched Melencolia; Edvard Munch painted Melankoli. These are just a few images of melancholy, but according to theatre-maker Ferenc Balcaen, such representations fall short. Too often, melancholy is medicalised, romanticised, or elevated to an aesthetic, while the emotional weight it carries remains underexplored. Whose sorrow is tolerated, glorified, or ignored?
With PLEASE, open the curtains, Balcaen delves into the many dimensions of melancholy. The performance explores alienation, grief, and despair, but also the yearning for connection. The scenography harks back to the hortus conclusus, a walled garden of silence and reflection. But what happens when silence turns into isolation?
Inspired by Delia Derbyshire’s The Dreams and Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, Balcaen shows that melancholy can also offer solace. In the void between what is and what could be lies the suggestion of hope.
Even during his graduation from the drama programme at RITCS, he made a profound impression. In 2024, his intense visual theatre language was showcased in SCAPEGOAT at DE SINGEL.
With PLEASE, open the curtains, Balcaen delves into the many dimensions of melancholy. The performance explores alienation, grief, and despair, but also the yearning for connection. The scenography harks back to the hortus conclusus, a walled garden of silence and reflection. But what happens when silence turns into isolation?
Inspired by Delia Derbyshire’s The Dreams and Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, Balcaen shows that melancholy can also offer solace. In the void between what is and what could be lies the suggestion of hope.
Even during his graduation from the drama programme at RITCS, he made a profound impression. In 2024, his intense visual theatre language was showcased in SCAPEGOAT at DE SINGEL.
Credits
directed by
with
dramaturgy
light design
decorontwerp
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