One Song

Celebrated throughout Europe, this piece by the exceptional Belgian artist Miet Warlop is literally breathtaking. It is not only the people on stage who get out of breath, but also the audience, as they watch 14 performers in a hilarious sports spectacle that turns out to be a sweaty concert of a single song. A stage with a grandstand and a playing field, a football team and a commentator, a violinist on the balance beam and a singer on the treadmill, fan scarves, flags and a song that fuels the atmosphere: in »One Song«, Miet Warlop dares to tread the line between sport, competition and rock concert. The participants work themselves into a kind of trance until they are completely exhausted, giving their all, down to the last note and the last drop of sweat. Like a religious community in ecstasy, they gather around the song that embodies the spirit of their community, creating a compelling allegory of life, loss, art and theatre… Miet Warlop is one of today’s most important performance artists working at the interface of theatre and the visual arts. In 2026, she will design the Belgian pavilion for the Venice Biennale.

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What the press say:

‘Performers capable of the inconceivable play, sing and embody a song for an hour – pure joy, the sensation of many festivals.‘
Süddeutsche Zeitung

‘A frenetic tableau … The most exalted show of the opening days eliciting a massive ovation.’
The Guardian on the premiere at the Festival d’Avignon

‘Miet Warlop knows how to play with clichés. That’s what makes the performance so charming and substantial, and has given it cult status.‘
Tanz

‘Warlop creates a world of beautiful chaos in which things happen without rhyme or reason. It induces all sorts of complex emotions, from disgust to euphoria, while inviting the audience to be the judge of the characters’ actions – they are violent or playful, lonely or mischievous, brilliant or idiotic.’
Time Out Singapore

‘It’s incredibly fun, really a great hour.’
Deutschlandfunk Kultur