We set up a meeting with people from various backgrounds, to throw up some ideas and see what sticks. It’s easier to evaluate ideas with an expert than dream up castles in the sky. For the musical aspects Pieter, Nel and myself are present. Bob Verhelst has his say on the scenography, he’s well seasoned in the fashion industry and in international museum contexts. Lighting and stage lighting Lucas Vanhaesbroek, who has a day job in Het Toneelhuis, where he works closely with Guy Cassiers. Lucas came up with the lightplan of A Prison Songbook. Jeroen Theuns, architect, Pieters’ brother, was involved with the previous B.O.X productions. We’ve also invited friend and movie director Benny Vandendriessche, who worked with us on our short movie Afterglow, strong in visual language and narrative structure.

First item is the location. We have our premiere in DeSingel, but there’s some discussion as to what room would be suited best to our needs. The theatre room is best equipped technically, better than the Blue Room, but we need to make sure we can replicate our show on other locations.

Secondly, narrative structure comes into view. How and to what extent is the music related to the visual content? How do they enforce each other? A few possibilities: a structure with three separate parts, with a clear visual style for every part, that still has unity. Part one, concert. Two, film. Three, projection on canvas. The structure could also start with music, adding more and more visual elements as we go along, culminating in something that becomes pure imagery. Or a structure that starts from a couple of themes in A Folksongbook (death, love, ghosts…)