Elle etait et elle est, meme

Elle etait et elle est, meme | She was and she is, even is inspired by Duchamp’s artwork, The bride stripped bare by her bachelors, even (The Large Glass). Els Deceukelier plays a seductive bride situated in the twilight zone between reality and imagination; the audience are voyeurs. As in Duchamps’ artwork, eternal and unfulfilled desire is central - ‘again...and again...and again’ emerges as the key motif of the performance. The constantly repeating text - Fabre himself calls it a love poem - reflects the ceaselessly regular flow of desire that this bride causes.

Two characters exist in the bride: one distant and one yearning. Deceukelier plays a bride who is and a bride who was, and in doing so, she reveals that it is an apparition rather than a flesh-and-blood person. In this twilight zone, this intermediate reality, the monologue takes place.

The piece fits into Fabre’s oeuvre that presents the woman as an incarnation of the future body. It is a body that breaks out of its own boundaries, that does not allow itself to be limited by a skeleton or flesh, nor does it submit itself to the gaze of the other.

She was and she is, even is a monologue by Jan Fabre for the actress Els Deceukelier. Els Deceukelier has been a critical reference point throughout Jan Fabre's oeuvre. She is what he calls a 'present' model, much more than a muse, she embodies what Fabre considers essential in theatre and acting.

With this performance, Jan Fabre and Els Deceukelier celebrate forty years of artistic collaboration.