A procession and a dog
In a theatre, various people come together for a memorial service. As is in keeping with funeral tradition, each individual has a different memory, image or idea of the person being commemorated. After all, the deceased person fulfilled many different roles and carried many unseen experiences with him. Gradually, multiple voices rise in unison as they share their story. Voices who have been rejected, persecuted or forgotten. Yet they are here now, and could not be more alive. They form in a procession that contains a flood of stories, speeches and music: all different in nature and time, but moving as one, united.
A collective of performers, writers and composers from different disciplines and backgrounds worked together intensively on this production. By sharing stories, teaching each other songs and choreographies and exchanging skills in workshops and through online channels, they laid the foundation for this production. The creative team shared their ideas with the performers, who in turn came up with a plethora of visions and creations. This all came together during the intense final rehearsal period in the run-up to the performances in ITA. In the actual theatre, the audience surrounded the performers, and in turn were enveloped by mourning rituals and joy, accompanied by man’s best friend the dog – our guide, protector and human connector.
Review from NRC Handelsblad:
‘…The climax comes early in the performance. Stephanie Pan, composer and performer, lies on her back. Three dogs bark at her, accompanied by menacing brass. But then she straightens up and parries the threat with an anger aria annex empowerment song. Great is it, how she transforms in that scene – also lyrically impressive – into something undeniably powerful.’
Performance credits
Concept & creation Lisenka Heijboer Castañón, Manoj Kamps, Antonio Cuenca Ruiz, Sarah Sluimer, Pete Harden, Carmen Schabracq, Atelier Clement, Hendrik Walther
Music Ethan Braun, Rick van Veldhuizen, Sarah Hennies, Lingbo Ma, Stephanie Pan
Text Sarah Sluimer, Alma Mathijsen, Romana Vrede, Olivier Willemsen, Esther Mugambi
Musical director Manoj Kamps
Director Lisenka Heijboer Castañón
Costume and mask design Carmen Schabracq
Set design Atelier Clement
Lighting design Hendrik Walther
Dramaturge Antonio Cuenca Ruiz
Musical dramaturge Pete Harden
Text dramaturge Sarah Sluimer, Manoj Kamps
Cast Chloë Abbott, Marc Alberto, Berima Amo, Jonathan Bonny, Katharine Dain, Reinaldo Donoso, Efe Erdem, Aktas Erdogan, Gil Gomes Leal, Manoj Kamps, Yung-Tuan Ku, Luciana Mancini, Esther Mugambi, Wilco Oomkes, Stephanie Pan, Edu Rojas, Maciej Straburzynski, Thora Sveinsdóttir, Cody Takács, Patrick Votrian
Coproduction with Asko|Schönberg