I came to theatre as an outsider. I studied graphic arts. I never had a proper theatre or drama education. When I and other friends started to make performances in the beginning of the eighties, we did it with our own money and without any links to the existing theatre field. We just did what we wanted to do without any reference to other theatre makers. One of my first performances was based on the play Kaspar by Peter Handke, the story of a boy forced to learn language and forced to speak. Now, thirty years later, I am the artistic director of the biggest theatre company in Flanders. I now belong to the center of the theatre field. But I continue to cultivate my view as an outsider. I keep on looking for the Kaspar in myself, for the outsider who refuses to speak the language of the others. That struggle is for me the heart of all artistic authenticity.
Guy Cassiers
