De Vader

Co-production

Residencies

  • 14.09 > 26.09.2026
  • 26.05 > 30.05.2026
  • 07.07.2026
  • 07.07.2026
  • 03.11 > 14.11.2025

The Father is the new pro­duc­ti­on by artist duo Marieke & Sophia, inspi­red by August Strindberg’s living-room dra­ma of the same name (1887). Together with Anna Franziska Jäger and Rodrigo Batista, they rework this dated, sexist pie­ce into a con­fron­ta­ti­o­nal per­for­man­ce. What if Strindberg’s world­view is less out­da­ted than we might think?

In the ori­gi­nal plot, a father spi­rals into an exis­ten­ti­al cri­sis when his wife plants doubt about his pater­ni­ty. Who is he wit­hout power over his own fle­sh and blood? The patri­arch loses con­trol, and ulti­ma­te­ly perishes.

Starting from Strindberg’s fear of beco­ming obso­le­te, the makers chal­len­ge the clas­si­cal ide­al of man­hood and search for more fluid forms of (male) autho­ri­ty. The mea­ning of the male body shifts: from punis­hing and dis­ci­pli­ning to vul­ne­ra­ble, porous, and an object of desi­re. Father beco­mes daddy.

The Father is a phy­si­cal per­for­man­ce about vic­tim­hood, mas­cu­li­ni­ty, and power. Blending per­for­man­ce, sin­ging, and text, the makers attempt to grasp the patri­ar­chal scripts that con­ti­nue to sha­pe the pre­sent day.

con­cept Marieke&Sophia I per­for­man­ce Anna Franziska Jäger, Marieke Schraepen, Rodrigo Batista, Sophia Bauer I dra­ma­tur­gie Bauke Lievens I eind­re­gie Geert Belpaeme I licht­ont­werp Jan Maertens I kos­tuums Alexandra Panou I sce­no­gra­fie Eva Demulder I out­si­de eye  Jonas Baeke I pro­duc­tie KWP Kunstenwerkplaats I copro­duc­tie Monty, BUDA, workspa­ce­brus­sels I met de steun van De Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie I met dank aan CAMPO, KVS, De Brakke Grond, 30CC Leuven, CC De stei­ger, Gouvernement & Willem De Wolf 


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