Bigmouth

Words are powerful things; when spoken by powerful voices, they can change minds, inspire nations and reverberate through the centuries. In this tribute to 2,500 years of oratory, Valentijn Dhaenens performs fragments of famous and lesser-known speeches to show how the tricks of the rhetorical trade have hardly changed over time.

Bigmouth was the sell-out hit of Edinburgh Fringe 2012. From the rousing to the frankly inept, from Socrates to Osama bin Laden, Dhaenens brings to life some of the most memorable orations in history, comparing the methods and madness of mankind throughout the ages and showing how picking the right words can turn the weakest argument into the strongest, achieve world power, or simply win the hand of a beloved.

Direction & performance Valentijn Dhaenens
Light & sound design Jeroen Wuyts
Costume design Barbara de Laere
In co-production with De Tijd & STUK

Photos: Dan Dennison