Jan Lauwers - Needcompany

Drawing on its dense tangle of topics, motifs, and permanent members, Needcompany, led by director and stage designer Jan Lauwers, investigates the existential questions of the theatre and the meaning of the image. 'Isabella's Room', a story about love and passion, is a creation for the 2004 Avignon Festival. Jan Lauwers conceived the first idea for the story from the enormous collection of ethnological and archaeological objects left by his late father. Nine performers reveal the secret of the room occupied by the main character, Isabella Morandi. Born at the beginning of the twentieth century, she is now blind and lives as a recluse in her room in Paris. She is part of a scientific experiment involving a camera that projects images directly into her brain. The collection of objects becomes Isabella's obsession.