Ictus: Happy End

7.15 pm: Introduction by Tom Pauwels (Ictus) and Bruno Hardt (visual artist).

In 'Happy End' there are three disciplines that interact: the music by the Greek composer/director Georges Aperghis, the visual art of Hans Op de Beeck, Bruno Hardt and Klaas Verpoest ... and 'Klein Duimpje' by Charles Perrault.

In this version of the well-known fairy tale, no appeal is made to the nostalgic images from La Douce France, nor is there a search for the lost imagination that surrounds fairy tales from the past. The emphasis is on the cruelty of the given: the search, an initiation ritual accompanied by loss, wandering in a labyrinth, the endless succession of corridors with no way out.

Animation and hand-drawn image sequences alternate, just as bruitages and samples (produced at Ircam) are inextricably linked to the live music. The set-up here is straightforward: a 14-piece ensemble placed under a large film projection screen, the sound spatialized in space, the fairy tale told in voice-off.

"The original design and the beautiful score by Aperghis, played excellently by the Ictus Ensemble, kept 'Happy End' stimulating from the first to the last minute. This music theater work remains far from all fairy-tale associations it asks pertinent questions about what this story can still mean for us today."

Maarten Beirens - De Standaard 14/12/2007