Benjamin Verdonck
In April 1995, Benjamin Verdonck obtained his degree from the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp, where he studied Performing Arts under the direction of Dora van der Groen. He acted with the Zuidelijk Toneel (Ivo van Hove) and Toneelgroep Hollandia (Johan Simons and Paul Koek), and also created his own music theatre in association with Valentine Kempynck and Muziekmakerij Think of One. He played with De Roovers, Dood Paard , Walpurgis, DitoDito, Lampe, Arne Sierens and Het muziek Lod.
From 2000, he began to investigate the power and functions of theatre in public spaces. The result was visible in projects such as BARA/KE 2000 (a tree house project on the Baraplein in Brussels and the Sint-Jansplein in Antwerp), Hong Kong Woman Disappeared for De Zomer van Antwerpen and Hirondelle/Dooi Vogeltje/The Great Swallow (a seven days' theatre show in a bird's nest at 32 metres above street level, mounted on the wall of the administrative centre of Brussels. A year later, he repeated the performance at the Rotunda Building in Birmingham). He also set up smaller projects, like Shopping=Fun, I'll Come Running Straight To You and I like America and America likes Me (a three days and nights' conversation with a pig, meant to express his confusion and concern about the tension between the U.S. and Iraq). Valentine Kempynck and Geert Opsomer are in charge of dramaturgy, while Samuel Verdonck and Sven Roofthooft do the realisation. Furthermore, he builds tree houses, writes about and for theatre (Metamorphosen and I M Happy Men) and works as a theatre director (Misschien wisten zij alles and WewilLlivestorm).
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