How much madness can be packed into a single performance? How many improbable events can you make sense of in your own mind? In Not Quichot six storytellers commemorate their good friend Q—but who was Q’s *best* friend? Through gripping tales, they take you along on their adventures with Q across Europe—traversing mountains and forests, and passing by farmers' protests and burning libraries.
Sarah Moeremans and I had long wanted to do something with the figure of Don Quixote. That is hardly surprising, given how often he has been adapted for the stage. However, we were looking for a contemporary version—a character who, unlike Quixote, would avoid losing his mind from reading too many books. We wanted someone who wouldn't be seen as an out-of-touch intellectual, but rather as a man who knows how to roll up his sleeves and get to work. Mr. Q—our Quixote—decides to work in logistics. Driving around goods through Europe allows him to mingle with ordinary working people and experience as much as possible. We don't hear about his adventures from him directly, but from his alleged fellow travelers, for Q has long since died. Or so the story goes.
Not Quichot premiered outdoors at the Boulevard Festival in 's-Hertogenbosch. It subsequently toured major theaters before shining in locations ranging from the coast of Terschelling (Oerol Festival) to the Gold Coast of China (Aranya Theatre Festival). Not Quichot is part of a series of plays I developed in collaboration with Sarah Moeremans, in which we "crash-test" classics to use the resulting wreckage as inspiration for relevant "instruction and entertainment."