REVIEW: The Festival d'Avignon Presents BREL By Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Solal Mariotte

I should perhaps begin with a confession: I don’t know the work of Jacques Brel. In continental Europe, this borders on impossibility, akin to not knowing Elvis in America. But as someone raised in suburban Pittsburgh, points of recognition are few and far between. Perhaps that’s why I struggled to connect with Brel, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Solal Mariotte's evening-length exploration of the Belgian chanteur, currently on at the Festival d’Avignon’s stunning Carrière de Boulbon.

De Keersmaeker and Solal Mariotte share the stage as they deconstruct the movements, language, and impulses of Brel. Their dynamic, accentuated by a four-decade age gap, evokes a modernist Nureyev and Fonteyn. Yet despite the intimacy of the music, they rarely move in tandem, let alone suggest interpersonal connection. Instead, they alternate in the spotlight, trading solos. Their movement vocabulary consists largely of shrugs, shuffling steps, and spins. Through performers explore an affectless cool, occasionally mugging to the audience with theatrical flair.

But the shrugging, noncommittal quality of the choreography also hints at something underdeveloped in the piece. The piece proceeds from song to song like a “best of” playlist. Aside from some inventive play with lyrics, which are projected on the stage, the musical selections feel isolated, explored in a vacuum rather than as part of a larger arc. In a few moments, Mariotte weaves in his breakdancing background, a spark of interest that could have served as the evening’s choreographic engine. Instead, after a couple of passages, we move on. Design elements, Aouatif Boulaich’s appealing costumes and Minna Tikkainen’s evocative lighting, do elevate these vignettes, but they never transcend the feeling of a recital.

The Carrière de Boulbon, a vast quarry some thirty minutes from Avignon, is a beautiful playing space. At times, the choreographers utilize it, particularly as projections of Brel and the Belgian countryside loom over the performers. In one of the production’s highlights, massive waves crash against the back wall, made all the more dramatic by the quarry’s textured stone. Yet this spectacle seems tonally misaligned with the haphazard choreography unfolding below.

Perhaps familiarity with Brel is essential to fully appreciating this work. Still, given the caliber of the performers and the striking beauty of the setting, I had hoped for something more compelling. Instead, what we’re left with feels like a glance through a sketchbook: suggestive, promising, but ultimately unfinished.

Photo Credit: Christophe Raynaud de Lage / Festival d’Avignon

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