DOODGRAAG - Danni Heylen and Hans Van Cauwenberghe- Theater performance

'Doodgraag' (Dying to Live) is a raw, intimate, and true-to-life conversation between a son and his mother – about loving life and wanting to die. About how close death only truly comes when it enters your own home. Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes disarmingly witty, always relentlessly honest. A war reporter has seen children die of hunger, seen people shot, and looked death in the eye several times himself. But nothing hits him as deeply as his mother's resolute choice for euthanasia. “A person wants to live with dignity, so a person also wants to die with dignity,” she says, while he struggles with disbelief, grief, and helplessness. A special cast makes this production extra unique: Danni Heylen – as the mother, in a rarely seen, layered dramatic role. Hans Van Cauwenberghe – as the son who endured war, but not the gentle determination of his mother. This play aims not only to move, but also to spark the social conversation about euthanasia – among a broad audience, from policymakers and healthcare professionals to loved ones – in collaboration with civil society organizations, including huisvandeMens. The play is presented based on the book 'Memoires vol leven en dood' (Memoirs Full of Life and Death) by Patrick Van Gompel, which is briefly introduced by Patrick himself.