In 2023, De Machienerie will create a new performance based on the following themes:

 

Le Carnaval des Animaux - Grande Fantaisie Zoologique("The Carnival of the Animals") from 1886 is a 14-part composition for ensemble or small orchestra by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921). In this unpublished composition (during his lifetime), Sain-Saëns depicts a number of animals. It is mainly the characteristic features of the animals that are depicted, somewhat mockingly, but also very strikingly.

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The circus is dead, long live the circus! Animals in circuses are prohibited from the Royal Decree of 2 September 2005. After 2 centuries of building a solid foundation on this, there is a shift

within circus culture. We have to look for a new identity and presentation. But what happens to the lion tamers, crocodile trainers, the camels and elephants themselves? Suddenly they are on the street.

 

With these 2 themes, De Machienerie will work towards a new circus experience. We are not talking about an everyday known circus code. No room or tent, no classic set-up or the expectations of a contemporary performance. It is a total atmosphere and visual representation that we create. The spectators will experience this world for themselves. You don't sit passively on a chair and look like a fourth wall

please. No, in this story the visitor becomes part of the performance.

The moment you walk in you are in the performance.

A performance in which the installations are the decor and framework.

A performance in which you walk the stage with the actors and are sucked in with it.

 

In the story of “Les animaux perdus” the animal circus is depicted in a contemporary way without animal suffering, with a big nod to the extinct circus culture. We immerse the spectator in a total experience in which poetic visual installations, circus disciplines and classical music go hand in hand.