The Unanswered Question (2020)

The image of two men, one older and one younger, taking turns caring for one another. Produced for the 2020 Amsterdam Fringe and mostly developed online, The Unanswered Question was an evening length musical dance-performance where I invited my now regular performance partner Hans Muller to question masculinity and interpersonal male relationships. The work touches on themes of kinship, fragility, ageing and what it means for two men of different generations to deconstruct their identities together. Through this collaboration we aspired to learn methods of hosting and engaging in an intimate, unconventional and sometimes confronting dialogue on our subjective manhoods.

At the time I dreamed of putting together a dance-performance company called Sabotage. My ambitions were to break down existing social constructs by twisting them around. I wished to change audiences perspectives by choosing subjects that I could address with sincerity, creativity and persistence. However, after finding out from Belgian theatre professionals that establishing a legal entity would not be worth the financial hassle, I decided to leave the idea (and the logo given to me as a birthday present) to remain on the back-burner for the time being, while still keeping the values alive and hot.

Written and performed by Andrée Chapatte and Hans Muller
With the support of the Amsterdam Fringe Festival, La Balsamine and the Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst
Sound: Alice Spenle Light: Rémy Urbain (during residency at La Balsamine)
Sound & Light: Theatervogels (during Amsterdam Fringe show)
Performance documentation: Conny Beneden