01-11-2022

ROUW - a walk along places of loss - November 4th to 27th

Starting on Friday the 4th of November ROUW, the latest work by theater maker Marte Boneschansker, will premiere at Plein Theater . ROUW is a walk through places of loss. Wearing headphones, you follow a carefully mapped out route through the neighborhood to listen to stories of mourning that correspond to the locations in question.

Walking through Amsterdam-East along places of loss.

Grieving is about loss. About that what disappears and passes. About death, but also broken relationships, lost friendships and the loss of jobs, bodies and landscapes. How do we deal with the ending? How do we make room for mourning?

With headphones on you walk through Amsterdam-East along places of loss. Listening to stories from local residents, you come very close to the mourning experiences of these Amsterdam locals. ROUW is a walking audio performance about whats no longer here anymore. Marte - who went through a grieving process herself in the past year - is finding a way to find comfort in each other by grieving collectively.

The body keeps the score:

Our body stores trauma, sadness and fear: The body keeps the score. Through body work and movement we can feel and let go of those emotions. Yoga, dancing, but also something as simple as walking helps us to grieve and process. Walking is thinking with your feet, giving something a place without language. Inspired by thinkers such as Bessel van der Kolk and Rebecca Solnit, ROUW is a walking experience in public space.

By letting the audience walk during the performance, Marte investigates how we can sharpen our senses from a physical experience in order to let the stories touch more deeply. Vos van der Noordt's music creates a meditative, rhythmic cadence. While walking you listen to the mourning practice of others and you descend deeper into your own loss

Dinner:

Eating and mourning go hand in hand in many cultures. That is why Marte asked Maureen de Jong, owner of ’t kleinkookbedrijf, to develop a vegetarian funeral meal for ROUW. Before or after the walk, to share the bitter and the sweet together.

Maureen has her own studio in Tugela85 in the Transvaalbuurt. There she works with local chefs Najat el Hallabi and Badr Baig, who run the kitchen and devise culinary programs. Together with them and neighbor and mourner, Kitty Hoedjes, Maureen creates a Comfort Table with savory and sweet.

You can join dinner between 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm. Reservations can be made in advance by buying a combi ticket in the ticket shop. We have room for 30 people every evening.

Maureen de Jong is a culinary performance artist specializing in inter-culinary exchange, personal food heritage and how both can be a means to relate, connect and build community. Her work is an ongoing journey in search of the meaning of one's culture and heritage through food.

credits:

Concept: Marte Boneschansker | Business management, sparring partner: Koosje Laan | Business management a.i.: Edgar Witteveen | Scenography: Katrijn Westland | Music: Vos van der Noordt | Performance: Achref Adhadi, Vincent Brons, Nina-Elisa Euson | Sound design: Dennis Slot | Mixing: Arno Peters | Production: Jakob Proyer | Technical producer: Jorn Kortooms | Dramaturgy: Vincent Brons | Directing assistance: Nina-Elisa Euson | Coupeuse: Syl van Duyn | Route advice: Hannegijs Jonker | Graphic design: Zuzanna Loch | Image: Viviane Sassen | Teaser: Saskia Habermann | Publicity: Nikla Katsburg | Community: Shayne McCreadie | Thanks to: all the people we spoke to, the participants of The Year of Mourning, Studio FCP, Carla van der Elst, Huis ten Bosch, Marianne Burgers, Andree Douglas and Rinus Brommer

The Year of Mourning

In prelude to the performance, The Year of Mourning started in March 2022, a program for everyone from the age of 18 in which the stages of grief (denial, anger, negotiation, depression and fear) are central. On the basis of new and old rituals, space was created for shared loss and together with the participants and various creative makers, such as OTION, Bart van de Woestijne and Joske de Koning, she explored the different faces of mourning. It turned out to be a source of inspiration for the final performance. The accompanying Instagram channel (@hetjaarvanrouw) shows which guests and themes have been reviewed. And mourning stories of participants are also shared.

About Marte:

Marte Boneschansker makes one-on-one documentary/experimental theater. Armed with a microphone and in permanent collaboration with business leader and sparring partner Koosje Laan, she develops intimate, physical audio works that are somewhere between theater and installation.

Marte previously made BLOOS, BLOOS de men and TOURIST, the quarantine podcast about Where we are and how the audio works for Mortals. She also publishes the magazine Bühne Bisoux, which provides coaching to audio makers and works as a model.

Playdates & Tickets:

Dates and times: From November 4 to 27 on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday,

The walk starts every 10 minutes between 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM and lasts 1.5 hours. 4 people can start at a time.

On November 11, 12 and 13 there will be free access for members of We Are Public!

In the media:

Theater maker Marte Boneschansker made an intimate performance about mourning in all its facets - Volkskrant 03 Nov '22

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