In the monologue 'Drugs kept me alive', Jan Fabre presents a figure on the edge of life. The nearer to death he is the more pills and powders he needs. His henchmen are ecstasy, poppers, speed and cocaine. He is always looking for the perpetual high. However, although he looks death in the face, he is a survivor who is always looking for new ways to outrun the man with the scythe. He explores all the escape routes, and his compass needle is always pointing towards shortcuts between heaven and hell.
Speed is his weapon and humour his drug. Floating on his airship of ecstasy he himself chooses the mirages he finds alluring and yes, which even make him feel intensely happy. The performance is brimming with contradictions and paradoxes. Pills for survival and pills for intoxication. Life between euphoria and the abyss. Jan Fabre wrote 'Drugs kept me alive' for Tony Rizzi. This American dancer and performer was a longstanding member of Ballett Frankfurt under the direction of choreographer William Forsythe. Which is where he met Fabre, with whom he has often collaborated in performances such as 'Da un altra Faccia del tempo', 'Glowing Icons', 'Histoire des larmes' and 'Orgy of Tolerance'.