Jan Fabre - Troubleyn

In this double bill of monologues, 'Elle était et elle est, même', a solo production from 1991, is followed by 'Etant donnés', a new play by Jan Fabre. Both are inspired by a different work of art by Marcel Duchamp, to which their titles refer. In 'Elle était et elle est, même', the character is a seductive white bride, situated in the murky twilight zone between reality and the imagination (male), modelled on Marcel Duchamp's 'La mariée mise à nue par ses célibataires, même'. The title of 'Etant donnés' is taken from Duchamp's last work, 'Etant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau, 2° le gaz d'éclairage' (1946-1969), which consists of a peep-show box with a worn wooden door, through which two holes afford a view of the 'installation' inside the box: a female nude, lying on a bed of leaves and twigs. Starting from this image, Jan Fabre wrote an absurd dialogue between a woman and her vagina.