Culture beat – January 16

Tickets are still available for the American Theatre Company’ show Sylvia, a touching and funny tale about marriage and middle age with a canine twist. Greg and Kate move to Manhattan from the ‘burbs once their children have flown the nest.  When Greg returns home with a dog he has ‘found’ in the park, his subsequent obsession with the street-savvy pooch, throws his marriage into crisis. Christine Marchand directs the AR Gurney drama at the Warehouse Studio Theatre from January 21 to February 1. Meanwhile, head to the Schaerbeek theatre this Saturday (January 18) when the  company’s  improv wing celebrates its first birthday with a theatrical feast of games in an Improv night. Guest performers join in, including Neil Curran, founder of Improv Fest Ireland. Resident troupe The Ghost Sheep perform first full-length improve with The Motel.

In this, the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth, expect productions of the esteemed playwright’s work across the globe. Here in Belgium,  French-language versions are already on the starting blocks. Tonight (January 16), Richard III opens at  the Théâtre du Parc, and runs until February 15, while critically-acclaimed performances of Roméo et Juliette (Fr & Dutch) and Hamlet are entertaining audiences at Théâtre de Liège (January 16 to 22) and Théâtre Le Public (until February 14) respectively.

Another commemoration, albeit one of remembrance, is the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. Bozar Theatre is presenting La Cantate de Bisesero on January 25, a memorial work created by the Groupov collective in 2000 with music by Garrett List. It relates the resistance of one group of habitants in the Kibuye region during the two-month period in 1994 when almost 50,000 Tutsis were killed. It is preceded by the screening of the first four parts of Rwanda 94 by Marie-France Collard and Patrick Czaplinski.

Staying with Bozar, jazz piano legend Ahmad Jamal performs fresh, free-riding music on January 29 as part of a major international tour entitled Saturday Morning. The 84-year-old is a notoriously unpredictable pianist whose brilliant technique ensures explosive  rhythm and harmonies. This a rare performance by a truly innovative  and influential musician. Award-winning Jamal has backing by Herlin Riley on drums, percussionist Manolo Badrena, and Reginald Veal on double-bass.

With the Europalia festival fast approaching the end of its stay, the Johan Muyle, Indian Studio exhibition enters its closing weeks at the Centrale for contemporary art (until February 9). The contemporary Belgian artist has travelled extensively in India over many years, and initially inspired by Bollywood posters created a series of vast sculptures. Some 20 pictures and sculptures are presented here, many in collaboration with the country’s artisans and on display for the first time. There are current-day references, such as violence inflicted on women and the economics of Indian steel magnet ArcelorMittal.