Schauspielerin | Sprecherin | Performerin | Theatermacherin

OWN WORK

4.48 APOCALYPSE

Foto: Anna van Kooij

This disturbing and imaginative monologue attempts to turn self-hatred into social criticism. If everyone is fighting loneliness, wouldn't we be better off forming an army? 4.48 Apocalypse is a radical adaptation of 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane. Bush B. and the Babe Cave arms the unnamed character with a walkie-talkie and a crossbow. This allows her to finally fight her bloodthirsty thoughts and anxiety attacks.

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Concept Birgit Welink, Lisanne van Aert

Text Lisanne van Aert

Performers Birgit Welink, Merel Severs, Isabel Hees, Max Laros, Louis van Rijt, Christopher van Duijn, Rosita Segers en Merette van Hijfte

Coaching Mart van Berckel

Costume + Stage Rosa Schützendorf

Produced by Festival Tweetakt Utrecht / Megan Liz Reid

"She is not lacking in words, in pathetics, in intelligence, in self-mockery, or in loneliness. The latter peeks through all the roles she plays. Wearing a child's hat, she squeals about the secret of neoliberal society and lashes out at the capitalist system. She gives herself X-ray eyes to see through everything like a superhero. Welink understands the art of suffering and laughing, of remaining herself and making a fool of herself. She can fake cry and really cry at the same time. She is shameless and ruthless and throws herself completely into her role.” - Dick van Teylingen

See full review on theaterkrant.nl

LET ME BE YOUR HERO BABY

Foto: Baldwin Henderson

Five woman stand amid the sand and carcasses. They call themselves Lone Ranger Girl, Rock Slide Girl, Red Torpedo Girl, Swamp Thing Girl and Hot Spot Girl. Which of them is going to save the world? Inspired by the heroine Antigone in Sophocles' classic, they are trying to hold their own in today's world. But who is the enemy and how far are they willing to go for true heroism?

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A REVIEW WRITTEN BY ARNE SCHÜTTLER

"The OUTNOW! - Festival opened with concentrated femininity and a courageous "Fuck you!" against the male gaze. A prelude that left questions.

The Dutch premiere of this year's OUTNOW! Festival is physically intense. In "Let Me Be Your Hero, Baby" the five performers work against femininity - the sort that's determined by patriarchy and the masculine gaze - while at the same time they work off themselves.

The performance finds its thematic framing in the Antigone tragedy which is repeatedly quoted during the evening: the ancient Sophocles piece about a woman who follows her own principles regardless the dominant male system of order and is, as a final consequence, driven to death.

The performers lie motionless and randomly spread out on a circle of sand which forms the center of the otherwise wide, darkened stage. As they slowly awaken, life returns. The women rise and start singing. Little by little, through a choreographed and choral way of physical acting and speaking, they unfold an associative-apocalyptic world full of brutality and misogynistic poses in which our “zeitgeist” is frighteningly reflected. Through the text of Lisanne van Aert they develop doomsday and healing scenarios, fictions of the woman as an authoritarian hero figure and as a rescuer in distress, and images of cheerful self-submission under the sign of the body and fitness cult.

A dear "Fuck you!"

The language of this attraction-optimization lies within neo-liberal advertising phrases: "Do it! Just do it!" Again and again, these English slogans break through the text, which is mostly written in Dutch. The performers impress through the use of their bodies, their physicality granting the language further impact. Through provocative stretched out chins and wide-legged macho attitudes they caricature the concept of a masculine-understanding that, on the other hand, equates femininity with self-sacrifice and being a victim. In an aerobic-choreography with forced-cheery face, the women join to their fate but not without subverting the whole performance with a courageous "Fuck you!"

Dressed in white underpants, crop tops and shoes they practice sexualized feminine poses. Denying the usual pop-commercial context exposes the absurdity of this. Although the almost naked performers reveal the male-sexualized view of the woman, they also objectify themselves: ironic subversive infiltration or irreconcilable contradiction? The performance aims towards the first, while also raising many other questions through the richness of association and intensity."

Also

Review @ Weserkuier (german)

Concept Birgit Welink, Lisanne van Aert

Text Lisanne van Aert

Spel Merel Severs, Annica Muller, Henke Tuinstra, Maxime Vandommele, Birgit Welink

Coaching Martine Manten

Photo Baldwin Henderson,

Thanks to Ine te Rietstap, Luana Soro

Performances

24.06.2018 Visavis // Almere (NL)

03.03.2018 Oostblok Theater // Amsterdam (NL)

02.03.2018 Oostblok Theater // Amsterdam (NL)

02.06.2017 Schwankhalle // Bremen (D) OutNow! Festival

16.04.2018 Akademietheater // Utrecht (NL) // Festival Tweetakt

13.02.2017 Het Huis // Utrecht (NL) // Makersdag

08.12.2016 Theater Kikker // Utrecht (NL) //Wintercollectie

26.06.2016 Brakke Grond // Amsterdam (NL) // ITS Festival

25.02.2016 Akademietheater // Utrecht (NL) // HKU

24.02.2016 Akademietheater // Utrecht (NL) // HKU

23.02.2016 Akademietheater // Utrecht (NL) // HKU

22.02.2016 Akademietheater // Utrecht (NL) // HKU

TOO OLD TO DIE, TOO YOUNG TO TRY

Too old to die, too young to try is a physical performance by the collective DAS LEMNISCAAT, born out of research, associations and ideas around the theme of silence. DAS LEMNISCAAT drew inspiration from the Greek god Kairos and a week's stay in a nursing home. For this performance they examined their own transience and drew inspiration from conversations with the elderly. Together with director/choreographer Arend Pinoy, they created an associative and physical quest that, because of its fragility, forces the performance to emerge anew each night.

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Concept and performance: Tessa Friedrich, Liza Kollau, Dennie Lukkezen en Birgit Welink

Coaching: Arend Pinoy.

Lightning design: Elisabeth Kaldeway

Produced by: Festival Tweetakt

Performances

25.06.2018 BOSLAB, Amsterdamse Bostheater

26.06.2018 BOSLAB, Amsterdamse Bostheater

27.06.2018 BOSLAB, Amsterdamse Bostheater

28.06.2018 BOSLAB, Amsterdamse Bostheater

29.06.2018 BOSLAB, Amsterdamse Bostheater

30.06.2018 BOSLAB, Amsterdamse Bostheater