De Pauw (Engels) - depot voor het VTi

josse de pauw
ents themselves sometimes came across as grotesque, rather than
their effects (e.g. the scene changes in Radeis wegens ziekte).
In addition to the non-verbal material and the variety tradition,
Radeis opted for a highly specific humorous approach. The
absurd situations, drawn randomly from life, often gave shape to
minor examples of universally recognisable objectionable behaviour.
The humour arose when over-familiar topics or objects
were suddenly deposited in the surprising context of the gag.
However, Radeis’ main concern was not to get as many people
laughing as possible; what was much more important to them
was what the audience were laughing at.
Once again, lasting research was more important than quick
success. The rhythm and timing of the visual and/or musical
humour played a decisive part. Not the quickfire gag that cuts
through everything on its way to the target, but the slowly built
pay-off. In their quest for laughter they preferred to advance as
slowly as possible, because the slower the jaw muscles opened,
the more powerful the humour. Quick, sharp pay-offs conceal
the trouble that leads to virtuosity and honest dealing with the
audience. According to Josse De Pauw this slowness was essential
to Radeis’ work. ‘Speed is often an obligatory way of handling
humour,’ he says. ‘One exacts respect from the audience by
sheer force.’ 4
Another pillar of Radeis’ performances was the importance of
the set and the props. The dressing of the stage was never simply
a background, but always actually participated in the action.
Here too a certain evolution was discernible in the way the actors
approached the objects. Whereas in the initial shows the objects
invariably took centre stage and the action revolved entirely
round the set (Radeis wegens ziekte), the attention gradually
shifted towards the involvement of the objects in the acting. They
no longer functioned as gadgets, but became things with an independent
life, object-actors that entered into dialogue with the
actors who manipulated them (Echafaudages).
The unique thing about Radeis was that its members worked in
different disciplines: a trained actor (Josse De Pauw), a sculptor
(Pat van Hemelrijck), a mime-artist and ceramist (Dirk Pauwels)
and an engineer and cabaret artiste (Jan De Bruyne), who was
16 / Kritisch Theater Lexicon - 14 e - August 2001
artistic development: de pauw’s way and weg
later replaced by a photographer and technician (Georges
Brouckaert). Each member had his own speciality within this
non-hierarchical structure and was responsible for it. In fact this
quartet made several sorties into other media: they wrote a series
of short films (L’Union fait la Force, 1982), worked on television
programmes for Belgian, Dutch and German broadcasters (3
Short Movies for Belgian Television), designed a number of theatrical
cartoons for Viewmaster, tinkered with a photo-novel and
even recorded a single (Praten met jou/Fietsen op de heide).
Radeis did not put on high-flown theatre packed full of political
posturing or heavyweight philosophy. Their theatre was
intended to be without pretension, ‘with not too much fuss’. This
‘new variety’, as Johan Wambacq described their work, 5 was naturally
not completely noncommittal (the later productions had a
clear theme), but Radeis insisted that the audience was free to
interpret the performances (or not) as they wished. Or, as it was
so expressively put on the programme sheet for Echafaudages, ‘I
know there is something in it,’ said the man. He opened his wife’s
shopping bag, and yes: a pound of bacon, six eggs and a bottle
of still water. It was for him to choose.’
Radeis made its debut in 1977 with Sirkus Radeis, an independent
production by the Beursschouwburg for the Mallemunt festival.
On a highly-coloured, self-designed old-style bandstand,
the performers put on a popular show as a tribute to real circus
artists. Despite its success, the group was soon forced to switch
to making productions for theatres because of the unreliable
Belgian weather and the low financial yield from street-theatre.
In this sense, Radeis wegens ziekte, theater zonder veel cinema
(1978-81) was their first ‘real’ production. The circus ring was
replaced by the archetypical interior of the Flemish country cottage.
The set here made its resolute entrance as an additional
actor. The props danced across the stage in all directions and
combinations. Four men sat at the table, stood waiting, cleaned
or moved in various configurations on the stage. At the beginning,
much play was made of the length of the performance. It
was in this piece that the actors came closest to the real time of
a performance. The (deliberate) dullness and clumsiness were
thematised, in a staged radio talk by Wim Van Gansbeke [a theatre
critic] who prematurely announced the end of the show
17 / Kritisch Theater Lexicon - 14 e - August 2001