Studio Sibling

MISSA HOMO SACER is a theatrical mass about the sinner. It is a composition for one solitary male body, a five-part women’s choir and the echoes of another man on electric guitar. Between confession and exorcism, a lone voice tries to get a hold of his sins in seven poetic readings. Between soothing and punishing, the community of performers searches for harmony, connection and forgiveness — for truth.

MISSA HOMO SACER is both a choir concert and a monologue. The seven poetic lectures zoom in on personal sins, questions and desires — and they zoom out on the concept of sin at large and the role of community in the process of judgement and forgiveness. Seven newly composed polyphonic songs structure this poetic ramble. The songs stem from the liturgical tradition of the Catholic Mass, but cast it in a different light. Inspired by Gregorian sounds and the later Flemish Polyphony, a new and contemporary Kyrie, Credo, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei are heard in MISSA HOMO SACER.

Sometimes a cappella, sometimes pushed and pulled by the electric guitarist's raunchy blows, the voices balance a light classical singing with a raw and more embodied sound. For this mass about the sinner, two songs are added to the five chants of the Ordinarium: a Confiteor Deo: a confession of guilt (mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa), and an Ave Satani: an exorcism, based on texts from the Exorcismus Maximus (the official exorcism ritual of the Catholic Church).

Through their scenography of voices and bodies, the seven performers of MISSA HOMO SACER open up a sacred space, balancing between faith and disbelief, community and selfishness, contemplation and ecstasy. The audience slowly descends into a no man's land, where it is invited to reflect on faith and religion, individual and collective, sin and desire, identity, sexuality and love.

credits

A sinner (text & vocals) Timo Tembuyser An echo (electric guitar) Laurens Mannaerts
A community (five-part choir for high voices) Charlotte Dommershausen, Sofia Ferri, Loulou Hameleers, Nelleke Kuipers & Hélène Vrijdag

Concept, composition, text, direction & production Timo Tembuyser

Thanks to Lisse Knaapen, Petra Ball, Lena Stallinga, Romy Moons, Job Greuter, Gerty Vande Perre, Jana Pieters, Karlijn Krijger, Rose-Anne van Elswyck, Robbert Klein, Eva Van der Post, Viktor De Greef, Yulia Hartog, Daan Jaartsveld, Fashion Clash Festival, Toneelacademie Maastricht & Muziektheater Transparant