De Brievenschrijver

The strength and fragility of ordinary people in violent times

During WWI, theatre-maker Simon Allemeersch’s great-grandfather flees to the Netherlands. In Zeist camp, he works as a letter writer for four years. This is how he provides his fellow prisoners with much-needed contact with their families and loved ones. Together with a mixed group of actors, Allemeersch reconstructs his great-grandfather’s story. The personal history turns out to tell a story that is universal to this day: a man flees a war on foot, survives in a camp of refugees and waits there for the uncertain end of that war. In a visual, poignant and heartwarming performance, these contemporary stories are interwoven with the figure and fantasy of the letter writer.

The images – stacked chairs like a mountain of corpses, a bride who becomes a bodybag, a man playfully lighting a tea light that becomes a destructive fire – are like the people: rough, small, fragile and often brimming with meaning.’ – focus.knack.be

‘An understated procession of fragile memories.’ – focus.knack.be

Simon Allemeersch writes poetry with trash bags and cardboard in ‘De Brievenschrijver’ Els van Steenberghe

‘A solid plea for empathy and solidarity.’ – www.e-tcetera.be