Viviane De Muynck . Needcompany

If you have ever read the memoirs of Claire Goll you will know what to expect. Spice! This German writer was the muse, lover or confidante of a whole series of avant-garde artists at the beginning of the twentieth century. Her friends included Joyce, Rilke and Breton, Léger, Dali and Chagall. She was born in the fin de siècle in Berlin, into an authoritarian, Jewish, matriarchal world. It left her with a deep and lasting hatred for her mother and contempt for women. Later on in life she married the French poet Yvan Goll. In addition to her personal history, in 'Alles is ijdelheid' Claire Goll relates degrading stories about many of her contemporaries. Her autobiographical account reveals a bitterness about the fact that public acknowledgement and artistic importance do not always coincide. 'One's own experience does not correspond with the image remembered or recorded in the camera obscura of history.' In a production by Jan Lauwers the actress Viviane De Muynck gives shape to the character of Claire Goll. Following her heartbreaking interpretation of Isabella Morandi in 'Isabella's room', the actress accepts a new challenge with Claire Goll. This time she is alone on stage. What the two theatre characters have in common is a complex family history and a passion for men in a long, adventurous life that encompasses all the great revolutions of the twentieth century.