1.)Why did you choose „loneliness“ as a topic?

Thomas Steyaert: I was curious about the relation between loneliness and the use of social media. Why people seem to have the need of sharing, liking and loving on a daily base? There seem to be a constant need of belonging and confirmation. Sometimes I have the feeling there is a kind of collective loneliness. Through research I learned more about loneliness and solitude and believed it was an interesting topic to create an interactive theater work.

2.) How did the whole process of implementation go?

Thomas Steyaert: The direction of BNP Zenica, invited me to create a performance (I had been working there before as a choreographer for theater pieces). I thought it was a good opportunity to give shape to my interest in loneliness and solitude. I proposed the idea of an interactive work and after small doubt they gave me green light for the creation. During the creation, I researched together with the actors, the subject of loneliness and solitude in a contemporary - mostly Western - society. We were reading essays, poems and fragments of books. We were watching movies and listening to songs, all in function of performative actions. What is the essence of the text, movie or song and how to put the essence into form by the use of the body and voice? Through improvisations, the performance slowly got shaped.

3.) What are the benefits of experimental theater in comparison to other media?

Thomas Steyaert: I don’t call it experimental theater. It just made sense to me to create an interactive performance for a small audience in the context of loneliness and solitude. The spectators are personally addressed. They get a special personal treatment. The show would never be the same in a more conventional form. It’s not an experiment, I knew from the beginning it had to be like that. I also know that for most of the Bosnian audience it’s a new way of experiencing theater but it’s a form that has been used worldwide.

4.) Are people in the modern world „lonely in the crowd“?

Thomas Steyaert: I believe that loneliness is a subjective experience. Maybe it is this subjectivity that explains why one person can feel deeply lonely despite being surrounded by friends and family, and another can feel perfectly content alone.

5.) What is the main goal of theater in current, modern times?

Thomas Steyaert: I think in the first place that theater should be a space for curiosity and imagination. Many things in the society are problematic because of a lack of imagination, curiosity but also tolerance. In theater we can explore those rather abstract ideas and take risks. Theater makers have the possibilities to create new ways of thinking, seeing and experiencing on emotional and intellectual levels. I often – not always – have a problem with documentary theater. Facts that we see in the news or read in history books are suddenly transported and somehow reenacted on stage. It’s a very delicate subject.