A ritual inspired by female mystics from different centuries. Hair suspension artists and choir members search for connection.
Mystica is a ritual inspired by the 12th-century mystic Hildegard Von Bingen and her companions. Slowly, we're bringing them into the here-and-now as flesh-and-blood women. Floating hair suspension artists perform polyphonic chants together with choir members, forming a community which learns to speak one shared language. Texts of various mystics are rewritten and brought back to the present: there are still lessons left to teach us from these texts, even today.
Mystica is a performance by Muziektheater Transparant and MOVEDBYMATTER directed by Kasper Vandenberghe, which brings circus and musical theatre together. With music composed by Timo Tembuyser and Jens Bouttery, the performers physically explore the construction of a spiritual microcosm in which everything and everyone is intertwined. A search for the lost undercurrent of mystical, feminine energy in our society. Mystica is not an escapade, but a performance in which community is central.
“The performance is unique because it's aesthetically compelling, musically strong and as a physical performance stunning.”
Johan Thielemans, Pzazz
“We are welcomed into the circle and become part of what the performers are experiencing. We see all the details: tense, trembling muscles, teary eyes, and looks that betray concentration, pain, and relief.”
Daphne de Roo, E-tcetera
“You see six bodies not so much telling or singing about mysticism but, above all, embodying mysticism [...] Mystica therefore also feels like a ritual that calls for connection in the most virtuoso, gentle and anointing way possible.”
Els Van Steenberghe, Knack Focus
Credits
- Concept | Direction • Kasper Vandenberghe
- Assistant director • Leire Froufe Vigara
- Dramaturgy | Text • Elisa Demarré
- Composition | Musical direction • Timo Tembuyser
- Bass composition | Sound design • Jens Bouttery
- Hair suspension artists • Lia Vilão / Lina Isaksson / Marta Camuffi
- Choir • Marthe Koning / Sofia Ferri / Timo Tembuyser / Hélène Vrijdag (10 & 11/4/2025)
- Hair suspension coach • Ingrid Esperanza
- Scenography | Lighting design • Peter Quasters
- Costumes • Tina Heylen
- Rigging advice • Joppe Wouters
- Rigger • Soo Mee Beyers
- Technique • Bart Celis / Bert Demeulenaere / Laurens Ingels
| Location | Dates | Hour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schouwburg Kortrijk (Kortrijk) +32 56 23 98 50 www.schouwburgkortrijk.be Show on map | 1/2/2025 2/2/2025 | 20:15 20:15 | |
| CC Brugge (Brugge) +32 50 44 30 60 www.ccbrugge.be Show on map | 15/2/2025 16/2/2025 | 20:00 20:00 | |
| CC De Grote Post Oostende (Oostende) +32 59 56 85 00 www.degrotepost.be Show on map | 22/2/2025 | 20:00 | |
| MAD Festival (Antwerpen) www.madfestival.be | 10/4/2025 11/4/2025 12/4/2025 | 21:00 21:15 21:15 | |
| Festival van Vlaanderen Mechelen (Mechelen) +32 70 22 2800 www.lunalia.be Show on map | 10/5/2025 | 20:15 | |
| CC De Spil Roeselare (Roeselare) +32 51 26 57 00 www.despil.be Show on map | 13/5/2025 | 20:00 | |
| Leietheater Deinze (Deinze) +32 (0)9 381 07 40 www.leietheater.be Show on map | 6/6/2025 | 20:00 |