Socrates

PHILOSOPHER CAROUSEL Over the past ten years, philosopher and theater maker Stefaan Van Brabandt wrote and directed five plays about great thinkers. From their tragicomic lives and inspiring ideas, he made accessible, sparkling theater every time. Philosophers of flesh and blood, told in a language that sticks. Theater that makes you laugh, moves you, and makes you think. In April-May 2027, he resumes his entire philosophy cycle with the original cast, in five Flemish cities at the same time. Also in and around Brussels. Every week the performances change cities, so that every philosopher passes through all five: a carousel of thinkers. "An unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates, “father of philosophy”, teacher of Plato, was the thorn in the side of the Athenian population. He made them think by ironically asking critical questions about all their self-evident truths. Which was not appreciated: at 70, he was accused and sentenced to the death penalty with the poison cup. In the theater monologue 'SOCRATES', the most legendary philosopher in history looks back on his life and thinking a few hours before his death. Concept, text, and direction Stefaan Van Brabandt | Spel Bruno Vanden Broecke | Productie De Verwondering | Coproductie Het Zuidelijk Toneel, Vlaams Cultuurhuis De Brakke Grond, Arenbergschouwburg | Dramaturgie Wannes Gyselinck Pers “Not to be missed.” - Filosoof Johan Braeckman “Socrates is a warm and carefully made first part of a promising monologue series that puts the greatest thinkers in the spotlight because this world needs their enlightened, softening, and enriching thinking more than ever. (…) In a direction by Stefaan Van Brabandt, Bruno Vanden Broecke transforms into an endearingly honest and doubting Socrates. Never thought we would hang on the lips of a philosopher who died 2500 years ago…” - Els Van Steenberghe, Knack. “The tandem Van Brabandt-Vanden Broecke deserves applause for the sobriety with which they approached their subject. The fire of questions in which Socrates finds himself before his death turns in that approach into a universal and timeless framework without having to sacrifice authenticity or current value. (...) Socrates proves that philosophy comes into its own on the boards. We are already looking forward to the rest of the series.” - VETO, Leuvens Studententijdschrift “Excellently acted Socrates.” - Hein Janssen, de Volkskrant “The monologue Socrates is the first of a series written by Stefaan Van Brabandt about great philosophers, which already tastes like more … Over Socrates was said to be as intrusive as a gadfly, but the Socrates van Vanden Broecke is rather cautious and nuanced and therefore all the more convincing. He plays warm, intelligent, and with a subtle sense of humor … The reasoning of Socrates is so current and stimulating that you long for a weekly episode.“ - Anita Twaalfhoven, De Theaterkrant “Fascinating about this first performance is the tension between her emancipatory mission and the doctrine she unfolds. Socrates defends the eternal question, the truth of not-knowing. (...) Forty years after Julien Schoenaerts and his legendary Apologie van Socrates, Bruno Vanden Broecke seeks the truth rather in the natural than in the rhetoric. Sometimes he flies up fervently, sometimes he stands hesitantly turning the tip of his shoe in the sand. ‘I have no philosophy, I philosophize.’ It makes Socrates a fine injection of healthy doubt, as a vaccine against all evidence, all empty rhetoric.” - Wouter Hillaert, De Standaard “Strongest tandem since Eddy Merckx-Vic Van Schil. Must see.” - Marc Coenen, former network head CANVAS