The father

De Vader is the new production by the artist duo Marieke&Sophia, based on August Strindberg’s play of the same name from 1887. In the original story, a marriage falls apart when a woman makes her husband doubt his paternity. Marieke&Sophia have reworked this classic yet distinctly misogynistic domestic drama into a daring and physical performance in which fiction and reality collide. With a playful yet incisive blend of theatre and performance, they challenge conventional drama and confront the audience with entrenched notions of gender, power and identity that continue to shape our world today. They interweave Strindberg’s text with influences from female body art of the 1960s and 1970s, thereby creating space for a critical reinterpretation of patriarchal thinking. The duo Marieke&Sophia Marie Schraepen and Sophia Bauer make up the artistic duo Marieke&Sophia; both are actresses and theatre makers. Their work is based on a strong sense of social commitment and a desire to make complex, often uncomfortable issues tangible. With De Vader, they continue along these lines in a production that is both physically and thematically challenging. ---------------------------- This performance is part of Man man man. A program about masculinity in all its forms. Boys, men, fathers, and sons are at a turning point. Traditional images of masculinity are being challenged, while new forms of masculinity are still evolving. In this program, we explore questions and answers to collectively arrive at a healthy, inclusive, and free way of being a man.