Directed by Kasper Vandenberghe, with music by Timo Tembuyser and Hens Bouttery, Mystica is a theatrical rite that gives voice to the great female mystics of history — Hildegard von Bingen, Sun Bu’er, Mirabai, Rabia al-Basra — bringing their wisdom into the present. Their words, rewritten and intertwined with music, continue to whisper questions, visions, and lessons that transcend time. Three acrobats, suspended by their hair, float in space like apparitions of ancient knowledge. They join the choir in polyphonic chants, weaving a shared language of body and sound, matter and spirit. Through movement and voice, they summon a microcosm where everything resonates as one. Produced by Muziektheater Transparant and MOVEDBYMATTER, Mystica merges circus and musical theatre into a ritual that revives the feminine energy of contemplation and trance. Here, the community gathers, listens, and lets itself be carried away, rediscovering a collective breath in the suspension of body and voice.
Kasper Vandenberghe began his theatre training in 2004 at Toneelklas Dora van der Groen. Early in his career, he worked with leading companies such as Zuidelijk Toneel (Annalemma, 2007; Talkshow, 2018), Miet Warlop (Springville, 2012), and the Ghent-based collective Ontroerend Goed (The Smile Off Your Face, 2010).
From 2008 to 2020, he performed with Troubleyn/Jan Fabre and has been teaching at the Teaching Group Jan Fabre in Antwerp since 2013. In 2018, he founded MOVEDBYMATTER, a transdisciplinary circus company where he serves as artistic coordinator, director, and performer.
With MOVEDBYMATTER, he created Panic Fear of Standing Still, Calculated Risk, BITBYBIT, and DAR. For Mystica, in collaboration with Muziektheater Transparant, he takes on the roles of director and coordinator.
As an actor, he has appeared in television series such as Beau Séjour and Onder Vuur.
Jens Bouttery (b. 1988, Oostduinkerke, Belgium) is a drummer, composer, and producer based in Rotterdam. Trained as a jazz drummer at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, his work spans orchestral music, pop, underground dance, and metal.
He has played with bands such as Winchovski, Jef Neve, Blue Monday People and has worked in studios for Warhaus, Admiral Freebee, and Karim Gharbi. He has produced albums for Hendrik Lasure, Lisa Verbelen, and Urland and co-founded the Brussels label ~suite with Benjamin Sauzereau.
In theatre, he has created music for companies such as Wunderbaum, Naomi Velissariou, Club Guy & Roni, and Urland, with whom he co-composed a fusion of doom metal and opera for Death.DEF.
His film scores include Misschien Later, Allegory of the Jam Jar, and L’Homme Inconnu.
Timo Tembuyser (b. 1991, Aalst, Belgium) is a singer, performer, composer, and theatre maker active in Belgium and the Netherlands. He merges architecture, theatre, and music, composing polyphonic scores that shift between harmony, cacophony, and silence.
After earning a degree in Architecture and Urban Design from Ghent University (2014), he trained as a performer at Toneelacademie Maastricht (2019) and pursued musical theatre studies at Fontys (2024).
His vocal research is shaped by experiences in alternative communities in Greece and Portugal, as well as his initiation into shamanism with the Shipibo tribe in the Amazon.
He collaborates with directors such as Aïda Gabriëls and Nicole Beutler and co-founded Studio SIBLING with Hélène Vrijdag, exploring voice, pleasure activism, and queer-gender perspectives.
Concept | Direction • Kasper Vandenberghe
Assistant director • Leire Froufe Vigara
Dramaturgy | Text • Elisa Demarré
Composition | Musical direction • Timo Tembuyser
Bass composition | Sound design • Jens Bouttery
Hair suspension artists • Lia Vilão / Lina Isaksson / Marta Camuffi Choir • Marthe Koning / Sofia Ferri / Timo Tembuyser
Hair suspension coach | choreography • Ingrid Esperanza Scenography | Lighting design • Peter Quasters Costumes • Tina Heylen
Rigging advice • Joppe Wouters
Rigger • Soo Mee Beyers
Technique • Bart Celis / Bert Demeulenaere / Laurens Ingels
