To make the general public aware of the decline in family farming, the Belgian theatre group Art & Tça staged the play “Feeding humankind, that is a job” at the National Theater in Brussels. What is special about this play is that it combines elements of a classical play with a documentary film. For it the two leading actors Charles Culot and Valérie Gimenez visited various farming families in Belgium and collected some ten filmic testimonials on the state of non-factory farming.

Altogether the stage play paints a picture of agriculture plagued by crises, globalisation, the impact of the agricultural industry and the increasingly cutthroat competition in deregulated markets. Against this backcloth human and social dramas take place, with more and more family farms being driven out of business. In this situation the farmers themselves feel left to their own devices with their problems and worries. Filmed scenes of the big European Milk Board demonstration in November 2012 in Brussels incorporated in the play strikingly express the anger and discontent of the European farmers. “Our aim with this play is to stimulate people to think at the same time about the state of the modern world and about the collective and individual commitment of us all”, say the director Alexis Garcia and the two leading actors about their motivation for this theatre project.

“Feeding humankind, that is a job” was on at the National Theater in Brussels from 4 to 15 February. Anyone wishing to see the play has the opportunity to do do so shortly in further performances in Belgium and France: Théâtre des Doms/Avignon: 25.03.14, Théâtre de la Cité in Marseilles: 26 to 28.03.14, Centre Culturel de Sivry: 12.04.14, Centre Culturel de Bastogne: 9.05.14, Stavelot: 16.05.14 or Centre Culturel Waremme: 17.05.14.