Rodrigo Batista — KIDNAPPED: A Training Ground for the Brutality that is Coming
A collective call to reflect, resist, and challenge the forces that hold us captive.
BE premiere
€12 reduced
€8 student
Hello, I am Shelley Duvall. Welcome to tonight’s tale show. Imagine, if you will, a theater in the heart of Europe. And inside this theater, there are two clowns, Terror and Compassion, who arrive from far, far, far away... They do not bring balloons or candy. Instead, they kidnap a bunch of children to teach them that our world is in captivity. Because in this tale, the planet has been stolen, the territories are systematically robbed, the language is kidnapped, and even bodies and desires are looted and bottled.
But hey, don't give up hope! Because the clowns laugh, they weep, they are haunted by déjà-vus, conjuring ghosts of history, dictators, bankers, philosophers, who march across the stage showing us how the fuck we got here. They whisper about fascism, about climate change, about our lives turned into a casino. And the children… oh, the children! They grow too fast in this captivity. Some escape, some vanish, some fall silent forever. Until, at last, the survivors sit among the ruins, listening to the final planetary journal: an Earth where the dead outnumber the living, a stage designed not for us, but for them, the corpses who inherit the Planet.
So, sit close and welcome to tonight’s tale show. It’s called: KIDNAPPED: A Training Ground for the Brutality that is Coming.
about
Rodrigo Batista is a Brazilian theater director and teacher based in Belgium, known for politically charged performances composed of intense physical research practices, geopolitical commentary, and acidic criticism. With 15 years of foundation in studies about biopolitics, tragedy, economic crises, propaganda, and anti-colonial themes, his recent work explores theater as an unapologetic aesthetic response to the crises of contemporary capitalism. Rodrigo has presented works in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, most recently in the frame of his Master a DAS Theatre.
instagram.com/rodrigo_batista_/
Mariana Senne, born in São Paulo, is a Berlin-based theatre maker and performer whose work explores intercultural practices, feminist themes, and new forms of staging. She collaborates widely in the independent scene with artists such as Claudia Bosse/Theater Combinat, Andcompany&Co, Swoosh Lieu, Luise Meier/Christian Filips, SchmiM/Adamczak, Joachim Robbrecht & De Warme Winkel Groupe, Jan Brokof, Friendly Fire, and Karin Beier. Mariana holds a Master’s from DAS Theatre Amsterdam, where she created I love you but I need to kill you now (2021). As a recipient of the Recherche Stipendium – Fonds Darstellende Künste, she develops her punk & carnival aesthetics while connecting personal experience with broader socio-political structures, using the body as a driving force.
instagram.com/marianasenne/
in English
Trigger Warning: This performance kidnaps you. The scene contains climate anxiety, fascism, contemporary corpses, critical speech, colonial and capitalist ruins, and ongoing violence. The audience may be exposed to participation, loud sounds, strong imagery, and political discomfort.
ca. 2h10min
Concept: Rodrigo Batista in collaboration with Mariana Senne
Direction: Rodrigo Batista
Performers: Mariana Senne and Rodrigo Batista
Dramaturgy: Luiz Pimentel, Rodrigo Batista and Mariana Senne
Text: Luiz Pimentel quoting @trenzinhodaalegria, A Fadinha do Brasil, Augusto Pinochet, Bertolt Brecht, Charles Strouse, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Donald Rockefeller, Harold Arlen, Kurt Cobain, Luise Meyer, Margaret Thatcher, Mark Fisher, Michael Jackson, Milton Friedman, Milton Santos, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Rodrigo Batista, Senhorita Bira, Shelley Duvall, Steve Jobs, William Shakespeare, Yip Harburg, and more…
Video: Kathleen Kunath and Rodrigo Batista
Sound: Cainã Vidor
Technician and light operator: Jurgen Fonteijn
Outside eye: Lotte Vrancken
Special effects: Renan Ramiro
Production: WPZimmer
Co-production: Beursschouwburg, workspacebrussels, Kunstwerkplaats, Monty, and detheatermaker
Acknowledgements: Aline Olmos, Annabel Reid, Benne Dousselaere, Campo, Caroline Lee-Jeong, Daniel Córdova, De Brakke Grond, Flávia Pinheiro, Jan Brokof, Joachim Robbrecht, Juliano Bonamigo, Katja Dreyer, KVS, Luise Meyer, Mestizo Arts Platform-WIPCOOP, Mulanga Nkolo, Peter Coppens, Proximamente Festival, Silvia Rigon, Tine De Pourcq, Tom Oliver, Vlaamse Gemeenschap (research beurs), Worm Rotterdam, Zé de Paiva, the children Samí and Antônio, and to all our mothers.
