Ibsen on speed
Knack 05/09/07

We are too much social animals to be melancholic
De Morgen 15/04/06

Antagonistic in Antwerp
Télérama 09/11/05

The gang of four of tg STAN
Le Monde 14/09/05

The lawyer in the actor
Knack 04/02/04

tg STAN: STOP THINKING ABOUT NAMES!
Mousonturm Portrait 09/99

A few recent interviews giving a good idea of STAN's starting points and working method.


There's no director to choose the plays, allocate roles and give feedback. The actor is central, and everything is done in consultation and by agreement; this is an essential part of their working method. "The actor shoulders the ultimate responsibility for everything that happens on stage", says Sara De Roo. "If it is good, he can look at himself in the mirror, but he can also do that if it is bad". "That may sound innovative, but it is as old as the hills," adds De Schrijver. "It's a bit like the way Molière and Shakespeare set to work with their troupes. The director is actually an invention of the last century."
Ibsen on speed , Knack, Michael De Cock, 05/09/07


Almost overnight, the two relatively unknown stage actresses became television celebrities. And yet Jolente De Keersmaeker and Sara De Roo, respectively Sofie and An in ‘De parelvissers’, still swear allegiance to their great passion: making theatre with Damiaan De Schrijver and Frank Vercruyssen as the STAN collective. “We realize there are more interesting media than the theatre when it comes to sharing something with the world, but I believe it is important to be able to look your public in the eye. You can’t do that when there are a thousand people watching.”
We are too much social animals to be melancholic , De Morgen, Liv Laveyne, 15/04/06


No rehearsals, no staging… this foursome gaily flaunts all traditional rules of the theatre. They share a predilection for the classical repertoire: Molière, Diderot, Chekhov, Thomas Bernhard. Some of their pieces are interminable. But still the Flemish actors from Tg STAN captivate even those who are most adverse to the theatre. They now have die-hard fans who flock to their performances whatever the title on the bill. The Festival d'Automne pays tribute to this success by putting on five different plays. Why do people like them so much? Because of their off-beat, unexpected and slightly troubling physical presence, their unique tone, their delectable – and devilishly erudite – irony… And above all for their original approach that has become their trademark.
Antagonistic in Antwerp , Télérama, Catherine Firmin-Didot, 09/11/05


There are four of them, two men and two women, and they don't really care if they're trendy or not. Still they managed to invent a new way of making theatre, while bringing to this art a sense of urgency and necessity, a thoroughly contemporary kind of energy, tuned to the rhythms and concerns of our time.
Jolente De Keersmaeker, Sara De Roo, Damiaan De Schrijver, and Frank Vercruyssen make up the original core of tg STAN - tg stands for ‘toneelspelersgezelschap’, an unpronounceable word for French-speakers meaning ‘company of theatre performers’, and STAN for ‘stop thinking about names’. ‘Not because we wanted to ignore the history of the theatre or to dispense with it’, says Frank Vercruyssen, ‘but when we set up the company in 1989, we just couldn't agree on a name. So we toyed with that impossibility.’
The gang of four of tg STAN , Le Monde, Fabienne Darge, 14/09/05


Stan theatre company has been around for fifteen years and continues to provide refreshing and intelligent theatre. The type of cooperation is typical of Stan, which has been a very welcome guest in France, Great Britain, Portugal and Norway: it is a collective but believes that a little promiscuity does not go amiss because it enables them to perform with kindred spirits from other theatre groups and compare notes on their various experiences. So whilst each Stan actor is part of the collective, they also do their own thing. Stan’s alliances with actors from other groups tend to involve the same names time and time again: de Roovers, Dood Paard, De Koe, Dito' Dito and Rosas.
The lawyer in the actor , Knack, Paul Demets, 04/02/04


Since 1989, the year we graduated, we never felt obliged to stay together. Even today we always examine the fact whether or not we still have something to say to each other or to talk about and - we are ten years and thirty six productions further today. We still do ask ourselves if we still belong together and if we still have something to add to the knowledge of each other or to the theatre. That's the only way we can survive. We never pretended to agree, for instance, or to be of completely the same opinion on anything. That's our backbone, actually.
tg STAN: STOP THINKING ABOUT NAMES! , Mousonturm Portrait, Susanne Winnacker and Christine Peters, 09/99