Kate Dickie and David McKay. Photo - Richard
Campbell
In 1999 a family of four checked into a hotel in the Belgian town of Aalst. When the parents emerged some days later, their two small children were dead. The parents were accused and ultimately convicted of murder, and the high profile trial led to much soul-searching in the Belgian media.
In 2005 Belgian theatre company, Victoria - under the Direction of Pol Heyvaert - dramatised the case with their stunning production of Aalst, constructed from transcripts of court proceedings, interviews and a television documentary that was made about the case. Fighting off legal proceedings brought against them by the convicted murderers, and coming so soon after the end of the trial, the company were accused by some of sensationalism. Indeed as the play’s English translator, Duncan McLean pointed out, they were forced to ask themselves “what right we had to make theatre out of the fragments of real lives, and of the real suffering of the children”.
The production subsequently played throughout Europe to much critical acclaim and the English version, presented by the National Theatre of Scotland, is currently performing as part of the Perth International Arts Festival, having already played in Sydney and Brisbane.
Pol Hayvaert spoke to Australian Stage’s Simon Piening
AALST plays the Perth International Festival until Sat Feb 16. Further information»
