An interactive theatrical experience like no other where YOUR vote decides the outcome.
The show begins with five candidates on stage. At the end of the show, only one will be victorious.
Through a series of guided prompts and questions, Fight Night takes you— the audience—on a journey to choose the best candidate. As each round progresses, the audience learns more information about each candidate that will inform their vote. Coalitions, debates, consultants, exit polls, and spin doctors will inform your vote. The host will seemingly do anything to derail the candidates’ best intentions. Will the audience choose someone who represents their views? Or will they side with the opposite?
With a mix of hilarious, unpredictable moments and sharp political commentary, Fight Night is full of twists and turns that will have audiences rethinking how – and why – they vote. In this never-the-same-show-twice experience, the real world will remain outside: there are no actual political statements made inside the theater, only a brilliant analysis of how decisions are made in a democracy.
Info
Venue
Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage
559 Washington Street Boston, MA 02111
Dates
Sep 20, 2024 - Sep 21, 2024
Tickets
Details
75 minutes (no intermission)
Ages 16+
Group Sales available now
Warning: contains swearing and mild adult themes
Access
Audio Described Performance
Sat, Sep 21 8:00 pm
Gallery
Photo Credit: Michiel Devijver M
Photo Credit: Michiel Devijver M
Photo Credit: Michiel Devijver M
Photo Credit: Michiel Devijver M
Photo Credit: Michiel Devijver M
Photo Credit: Michiel Devijver M
Photo Credit: Michiel Devijver M
Artists
Company
Ontroerend Goed
Ontroerend Goed is a Belgian, Ghent-based theatre performance group of international renown. The group is made of young creators who explore the space between theatre and performance, writing their own texts from a strong basic concept and adapting familiar formats from various media. From sensorial experiences with blindfolded, individual audience members, over anarchistic teenage performances up to shows that profoundly explore what it means to be a theatre-goer, the group continues to create work that is equally challenging and treacherously shallow. A lot of contemporary plays cannot be experienced unless you’ve attended them and many of those performances are hard to transcribe on paper, because of their visual and physical nature. Of course, it’s always possible to make a video recording, but watching that is a diminished experi-ence. Although Ontroerend Goed embrace the ‘nowness’ of theatre and its visual and physical possibilities, the group wanted to take an extra step to share its work. In this book, Ontroerend Goed explore different forms to convey a theatrical experience on paper. Each performance has its own way of approaching the audience, so each text has its own way to address the reader. This book is not made to turn the page and docu-ment the performances as a past experience, but for people to use it as a tool. A tool to play, adapt, oppose, relive, challenge and inspire.
Aurélie Lannoy
trained in drama at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion
in Louvain-la-Neuve (2000-2001) and in Lecoq techniques at Kleine Academie in
Brussels (20012004). She studied actor studio techniques at the Susan Batson studio
in New York (2010). In 2004 Aurélie joined Ontroerend Goed. She collaborates
with them regularly as an actress, creator and performer and is a core member of the
company. Alongside her work with OG, Aurélie works with other groups, notably
the musical showgroup Les Vedettes (2016) and the Parisian theater company Les
Divins Animaux for the project Flirt (2015), Les Perdants (2019) and Zoo (2021). On
screen, Aurélie has featured as a lead character in Inacia (2013) by Charlotte Dupont,
Lucha Libre (2014) by Ann Sirot and Raphael Balboni and in Coupeur de route by
Christophe Granger (2022).
Angelo Tijssens
studied theater in Antwerp. He has been part of
Ontroerend Goed for a decade, both as a member of the artistic core and as a
performer, with credits in Fight Night, Are we not drawn onward to new erA, TM,
A Game Of You, Loopstation, Internal, £¥€$, Every Word Was Once An Animal
and A History Of Everything. He co-wrote several short films, with selections at the
Cannes Film Festival and international awards. He was Lukas Dhont’s co-writer for
the Camera d’Or winning feature film Girl. The film went on to be an international
arthouse hit, winning awards all over the globe, such as the Queer Palm and a Golden
Globe nomination. Together they also wrote Dhont’s second feature Close (2022),
which was nominated for the Oscars. Meanwhile, he has become a member of The
Academy, the body that sets the selection for the Oscars. At present, he is working on
some new projects. His first novel, De Randen, was published in 2022. Angelo Tijssens teaches scenario at KASK/School Of Arts in Ghent, and lives and works in Antwerp, with his husband and their cats.
Julia Ghysels
graduated in 2015 at the Koninklijk Conservatorium
Antwerpen. During her studies, she performed in De zaak van de dieren tegen
de mensen (2014) by HETPALEIS and Alsemkomt (2014) by de Roovers. After
graduating, she was in production like ‘Othello’ (2015) by Toneelhuis and adult
world (2015) by echo maker MT and Cie Covar. Her collaborations with Ontroerend
Goed include Loopstation, £¥€$, Fight Night and TM. For director Jetse Batelaan
she performed in Het eind van het begin van het einde (2020-2021). Her television
credits include Gent-West (2017) and Fenix (2018).
Prince K. Appiah
an actor, music artist and writer. He graduated from the Royal
Conservatoire of Antwerp in 2021. His studies include a 7 month stint at The Royal
Conservatory of Scotland from 2018 to 2019. He has played in plays like Vrede Liefde
& Vrijheid and Kiss & Ride from Het Nieuwstedelijk. He played the lead in the
television miniseries De Shaq (2021). Following Funeral, Fight Night is the second
production of Ontroerend Goed in which he can be seen.
Leonore Spee
is a musician, writer and performer. She founded Teletext with Sascha
Bornkamp. Teletext makes Dutch music and performances, develops audio tours,
gives workshops and forges artistic alliances inside and outside the black box. She is
affiliated with Ghent performance collective Ontroerend Goed and music theater house
WALPURGIS. She is a member of feminist writing collective Hyster-X.
Alexander Devriendt
is the artistic director and one of the founders of the Belgian theater performance group Ontroerend Goed. His past work includes the
creation of the personal theater trilogy (The Smile Off Your Face, Internal & A Game
of You), the celebrated teenage play (Once, and for all we’re gonna tell you who we are
so shut up and listen). His most recent productions are £¥€$, Funeral and Are we
not drawn onward to new erA. His plays have won several awards and are performed
all over the world, recently performing in Shanghai, USA and Edinburgh.
Jonas Vermeulen
graduated in 2013 at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp.
Fans of electronic punk and rock may know him from the band Psycho 44. He appeared
in several tv-shows such as Red Light, Studio Tarara, Den 11e van den 11e and In
Flanders Fields. In 2022 he made his debut on the big screen as the main character
Frank Verstraeten in Robin Pront’s feature film Zillion. Jonas works most of the time
in theatre. With his own concert-theatre performances The Great Downhill Journey
Of Little Tommy and The Only Way Is Up, which he created with partner in crime
Boris Vanseveren, he toured around the globe. Jonas can frequently be seen as an
actor and musician in the work of companies such as Ontroerend Goed, FC Bergman,
Olympique Dramatique, Compagnie Marius, Hetpaleis and many others.
Michaël Pas
has been acting prolifically in film, television and theater, since
his graduation from drama school in Antwerp, Belgium. Michaël is multilingual
and performs in Dutch, English, French and German. On stage he has worked
with ITA director Ivo Van Hove, and for film he collaborated with Lars Von Trier
(Nymphomaniac II) and Lee Tamahori (Emperor, starring Adrien Brody). ‘Are we not
drawn onward to new erA’ was Michaël’s first collaboration with Ontroerend Goed.
“A funny and revealing piece of psychological interactive theater…a very invigorating 80 minutes.”
— Chicago Tribune
“A cross between Big Brother and an Italian general election.”
— The Independent, Paul Vallely
“Offers a clever mix of propositions that probe how you feel about other people, but also how you view yourself.”
— Chicago Tribune, Chris Jones
September 18, 2024
What did you think about Fight Night?
Join the conversation and let us know what you thought about Fight Night! Comment below, either by following one of the prompts below or with whatever crosses your mind. We...
Read MoreSeptember 11, 2024
ArtsEmerson Season Openers
ArtsEmerson is just a few days away from opening the first show of our 24/25 season, Fight Night, coming to Boston from Belgium's celebrated theater company, Ontroerend Goed. To welcome in...
Read MoreSeptember 11, 2024
Fall Accessibility Performances at ArtsEmerson
We have announced our fall accessibility performances for this season, including for Fight Night, In the Same Tongue and On the Eve of Abolition. Our accessibility performance include Audio Described...
Read MoreAugust 16, 2024
Welcoming Ontroerend Goed to ArtsEmerson!
ArtsEmerson is thrilled to welcome Belgium's Ontroerend Goed to the Robert J. Orchard Stage from September 20-21 for their interactive performance of Fight Night! Ontroerend Goed was founded in Ghent, under artistic...
Read More