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Formed in 2008, Das Fräulein (Kompanie) was established to develop and promote the work of Belgian artist Anne-Cécile Vandalem. Its theatre creations are original works conceived, written and directed by the artist herself. Das Fräulein (Kompanie) is currently subsidised by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.

In 2003, Anne-Cécile Vandalem began to create and write the shows ZAÏ ZAÏ ZAÏ (2003) and HANSEL AND GRETEL (2005) with Jean-Benoît Ugeux. Her preference has been for fiction ever since.

From 2008 to 2013, the notion of home played a leading role in her work. It is seen as the perfect place of confinement, through which and with which everything happens. Starting from an ultra-realistic universe, she has defined the context of so-called domestic tragedies on an individual level in (SELF)SERVICE at the Théâtre de Vidy-ETE (Lausanne), on a family level in HABIT(U)ATION (2010) at the Théâtre de Namur (Belgium), and on a collective level with AFTER THE WALLS (UTOPIA) at the Théâtre National de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles during the Kunstenfestivaldesarts. These shows make up the Parentheses Trilogy.

Alongside this trilogy, she also created MICHEL DUPONT with the sound engineer Brice Cannavo to reinvent the opposite of the world in a sound show for adults and teenagers.

In 2014, Anne-Cécile Vandalem began exploring the modalities of posture and imposture. She questions a subject/individual’s capacity for action and transformation of reality within different societal spheres, and within her writing addresses the issue of disclosure and fragility as an honest and/or strategic posture. Her creations LOOKING FOR DYSTOPIA, STILL TOO SAD TO TELL YOU and WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?  each in their own way bear witness to these new aesthetic concerns.

In 2016 she created a diptych on sadness, comprising STILL TOO SAD TO TELL YOU (video installation) and TRISTESSES.

ARCTIQUE, which premiered in 2018, is the second part of a trilogy on the end of humanity through major failures of our time.

In 2019, Anne-Cécile Vandalem joined forces with the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz to create DIE ANDEREN, a show performed in German by the company’s actors.

In 2020, the artist was preparing to recreate TRISTESSES in German for the Burgtheater in Vienna but this was postponed due to the COVID-19 health crisis.

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The last part of the Trilogie des parenthèses, After TheWalls (UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA) continues to explore the links between individuals and where they live, and one last time tackles the issue of the isolation of mankind.

UTOPIA is a fictional conference, a theatrical celebration,during the course of which an architect shares his visions of the future: an unprecedented architectural dream, a real utopian explosion, as a solution to the social, demographic and ecological challenges of our era.

In After the Walls (UTOPIA) a speaker shakes upper conceived ideas on contemporary habitat. A cheeky and quite insane theatrical piece by a Belgian playwright who dares (…) It seems impossible while watching this show not imagining a sequel or response. Anne-CécileVandalem intended it.

H. Le Tanneur, Les Inrocks, November 2013.

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