Uproarious and tragic, four moments that put presence and absence, lack and desire, greed and spite into perspective. La Libre Belgique

In four wordless stories, we have fun with the gap between life and death. Les Inrockuptibles

In a world collapsing at accelerating speed, is there still a way out?

Timber, the latest work by the Belgian company Still Life, takes its title from the warning cry of a lumberjack just before a tree comes crashing down. The performance leads the audience into a forest built of metaphor, a place that reflects the precarious state of the world today. As our relationship with nature reaches a breaking point and the future grows clouded with fear, the company turns to absurdity as a way of confronting reality, shaping a contemporary fable that depicts a universe on the verge of collapse. The work urges us to rethink how we exist alongside the natural world and to recover a fundamental longing for shared survival.

Since its debut production Où les hommes mourraient encore, Still Life has repeatedly explored themes of death and fragility with sharp irony and dark humor. Following the 2024 hit Flesh, which quickly sold out and sparked passionate discussion among audiences, the company returns this year with Timber. This time, an endangered forest is brought onto the stage, revealing a humanity that turns a blind eye to crisis while still pursuing pleasure. Through scenes ranging from wildlife rehabilitation and wellness workshops to live-streamed picnic dates, the performance constructs a layered wilderness theater suspended between utopia and nightmare.

Timber combines striking visual imagery with wordless performance to confront the collective anxiety that defines human existence today. Dark humor becomes a lens through which we face our own precariousness, asking us to reconsider how we struggle, survive, and imagine between collapse and the possibility of hope.

Concept & Director/ Sophie Linsmaux, Aurelio Mergola
Performer/ Muriel Legrand, Sophie Leso, Sophie Linsmaux, Aurelio Mergola
General Assistant/ Sophie Jallet
Stage Design/ Aurélie Deloche, Nicolas Olivier, Noémie Vanheste
Props/ Noémie Vanheste
Costume Design/ Camille Collin & Cinzia Derom
Movement & Spatial Direction/ Sophie Leso
Script/ Sophie Linsmaux, Aurelio Mergola, Thomas van Zuylen
Sound Design/ Maxime Pichon
Lighting Design/ Guillaume Toussaint-Fromentin
Masks & Puppets/ Joachim Jannin, Jean-Raymond Brassine, Juliette Tracewski
Technical Director/ Nicolas Olivier
Stage Manager/ Charlotte Persoons (alternating with Ondine Delaunois)
Sound Operator/ Hubert Monroy
Revival Lighting/ Margaux Fontaine (alternating with Charlotte Persoons)
Construction/ Rudi Bovy, Charlotte Persoons, Manon Vanheste, Noémie Vanheste
Make-up & Hair/ Mélissa Roussaux, Gaëtan D’Agostino
Interns/ Sarah Brunori, Calista Huisman, Annabelle Kihoulou, Alexandre Moxhet
Teaser Production/ Maxime Jennes
Teaser Footage/ Maxime Jennes, Hubert Amiel
Teaser Stunt Coordination/ Felipe Salas
Photography/ Alice Piemme–Archives & Museum of Literature
Administration & Production/ Marion Couturier
Development & distribution (French speaking territories)/ BLOOM Project–Stéphanie Barboteau
Distribution (worldwide)/ Aurora Nova–Carolina Ortega