Von Financial times
30.04.2004 / Financial times
The business environment might appear of little interest to the world of the arts. But there is something inherently dramatic about the impact of business failure on workers.
It has inspired films such as Brassed Off, about the demise of the British coal industry, and Michael Moore's Roger & Me, on General Motors' decision to close operations in his home town of Flint, Michigan.
The collapse of the Belgian flag carrier, Sabena, in November 2001, was more spectacular than most.
The airline became one of the most high-profile victims of the post-September 11 crisis in the industry. Its financial problems had started well before and it had a poor reputation, but its fall still shocked its 12,000 staff and the Belgian people.
German theatre collective Rimini Protokoll was fascinated by the stories of employees turning up for work to find buildings locked, swipe cards de- activated and e-mail addresses rendered useless. Its members interviewed about 60 ex-Sabenians and what emerged was a "paradigmatic situation for the 21st century".
Stefan Kaegi explains: "We found that it wasn't just about losing a job, it was much more about losing an identity. They wore the Sabena uniform and there was also this American idea of belonging to a corporate family. So we were interested in looking at the end of this corporate identity - what happens to people when all that support suddenly goes."
The result is Sabenation, Go Home & Follow the News, which opens in Brussels today as part of the Kunsten Festival des Arts. The title was inspired by a story told by one of the seven former employees who appear in the show. Kris Depoorter, who spent 10 years on the check-in desks, recalls: "I loved my job, I felt part of a family at Sabena, but we heard nothing from management when this happened. All they said was go home and listen to the news."
Sabena enjoyed a symbolic role in Belgian life, hence the coining of Sabenation. Kaegi says: "It was part of the Belgian national and colonial identity. Its most important route was to Kinshasa. In the 1950s Sabena came to symbolise Belgium like the Atomium in Brussels did. Belgium was a small country and it needed a big airline."
Rimini Protokoll has done a number of shows with what it calls "real-life experts" rather than trained actors to depict the drama of workaday lives. Deadline (2003) for example was about the professionals who have to deal with death.
What does appearing in Sabenation mean to the former employees? Medi Godart, a still-unemployed catering worker, feels let down by the company and the government, a major shareholder. He says: "I'm doing this play to show people what happened to us, so that it can't happen to anyone else."
Former purser Myriam Reitanos was with Sabena for 25 years. After 143 unsuccessful job applications she now trains others who want to work as flight attendants. She says: "I want to do my last flight, to land, to say 'Now it's over.' I have not been on a plane since that time. I never said goodbye."
The business environment might appear of little interest to the world of the arts. But there is something inherently dramatic about the impact of business failure on workers.
'Sabenation, Go Home & Follow the News', Brussels. Until May 6. Tel +32 70 222 199. Then touring to Braunschweig, Hamburg, Rotterdam and Berlin