Junior Mthombeni and Michael De Cock
Country: Belgium
KVS, Théâtre de Liège and NT Gent
Biographies
Junior Mthombeni is a director, actor, and musician. His work is known for its explosive energy, musicality, and deeply human exploration of identity and connection.
From the SINcollectief and later Jr.cE.sA.r, he created performances that are raw, poetic, and socially engaged — theatre that speaks from the heart of the city and the world. In creations such as Malcolm X, Dear Winnie, and Vaderlandloos, he weaves personal history with collective memory, resistance with vulnerability, rhythm with silence.
Mthombeni’s productions are rituals of community: spaces where music, dance, and storytelling merge into something that is both political and spiritual. With his latest productions Hannibal, Burning City and Barber Shop Chronicles, he once again pushes the boundaries of what theatre can be — confrontational, intuitive, and inspired. He always starts from one conviction: theatre is not a mirror, but a motor for change.
Michael De Cock is an author, actor, and theatre maker, and since 2016 the artistic director of KVS, the Royal Flemish Theatre in Brussels. His books—translated into fifteen languages—and his contributions to Belgian media have made him a leading voice on Europe and migration. Many of his stories have been adapted into films.
Since the early 2000s, De Cock’s stage work has explored migration and identity, with many acclaimed productions amongst which Kamyon who toured in three continents. Together with Junior Mthombeni, he created L’Homme de La Mancha (2018), Hannibal, and Barber Shop Chronicles—an explosive mix of music, humour, and sharp dialogue set across African cities and Brussels. With Catalan director Carme Portaceli, he adapted Mrs. Dalloway, Madame Bovary, L’Alquimista and Maria Magdelana, at Barcelona’s Teatre Nacional.
His latest solo performance, Alleen Verbeelding (Only Imaginatio), is a powerful and poetic piece, in which De Cock advocates for imagination as a vital force in times of crisis. Critics have praised it as “moving, intoxicating, inspiring, and disorienting—a firework with a mission.”
Portfolio & Latest Theatre Performances :
Junior Mthombeni and Michael De Cock have collaborated on multiple projects. There three main productions together are:
-L’Homme de la Mancha: https://www.kvs.be/en/event/l-homme-de-la-mancha-2
An ode to Brel and to Brussels, to imagination, to poetry and to the impossible dreams that our times so yearn for. ‘Despite its explosive staging all the way through, this performance anything but bombs. It’s unexpected, poetic, and has a masterful finish.’ (RTBF).
–Hannibal : https://www.kvs.be/en/Event/hannibal-1
“Cissokho’s string playing makes you glow, Dido’s iconic aria makes you shiver, Gala Dragot’s hypnotic indictment of ‘Masters of War’ lingers, the talent and hunger for life are evident everywhere. Hannibal is intense, colossal, and multifaceted.” (DE STANDAARD)
–Barber Shop Chronicles: https://www.kvs.be/en/Event/barber-shop-chronicles-2
An explosive mix of music, humour, and sharp dialogue between black men set across African cities and Brussels. A must-see creation around masculinity and the special universes created by barbershops.
Laureate of the Polityka Passport (2016)
Award at the Competition for the Exhibition of Polish Contemporary Art for
the « Dibbouk » (2016) Grand Prix at the Festival of Premieres in Bydgoszcz for the « Cowboys » (2018)
Award at the International Theatre Festival Divine Comedy for best directing – for « Melodrama » (2023)
Hannibal
Concept of the Performance:
Directors Junior Mthombeni and Michael De Cock bring together a mega cast brimming with talent. Contemporary music producers breathe new life into Dido and Aeneas by Baroque composer Henry Purcell, giving it a bold and modern twist.From this musical foundation unfolds the story of Hannibal, the Punic wars, and the birth of Europe — a mythical history that feels strikingly relevant today.
In a unique fusion of opera and slam poetry, Techno and classical music, contemporary dance and theatre, Hannibal builds bridges between worlds, eras, and traditions. Artists from Africa and Europe intertwine video and projection techniques with live painting and acoustic instruments.
The result is generous, and boundary-breaking — created by many, yet beating with one shared heartbeat.
Featuring mezzo-soprano Raphaële Green, singer Gala Dragot, harpist Jutta Troch, actors Marios Bellas and Alix Konadu, dancer Zach Swagga, visual artist Elke Gijsemans, Justine Bourgeus (Tsar B), Abel Baeck (NO LABEL), and many others.
Artistic Statement
The performance Hannibal tells the story of the Carthaginian commander Hannibal Barca, the Punic Wars, and the birth of Europe. In the third century BCE, Hannibal embarked on his dizzying campaign: leading his troops through Spain, France, and Italy in a quest to shake the Roman Empire to its core.
At a time when war once again rages on European soil and refugees drown in the Mediterranean, Hannibal gains a painful contemporary resonance. The performance exposes how fear and the hunger for power repeatedly shape history — how myths and propaganda are used to create enemies and justify borders.
What does “civilization” mean when people are dying at Europe’s gates? Hannibal confronts the audience with the question of whether, thousands of years after the Carthaginian general’s march, we have truly learned anything from our own history.
Trailer
