De Maan - Amai Speciaal Chapeau

‘AMAI SPECIAAL CHAPEAU’ starts from a simple but powerful thought: families exist in all shapes and sizes. It is an ode to everything that is ‘different’. Karlien Torfs and Nikolas Lestaeghe create a performance rooted in their own lives, a life in which they raise a daughter together as good friends. ‘AMAI SPECIAAL CHAPEAU’ stems from the many questions people have about their family structure and their ambition to question the ‘normal’. In a world where the house-garden-child-family is becoming the norm again, they look for ways to shape their own lives in their reality that does not align with this model. They are making the performance for their daughter, who was three years old at the time of the premiere, and for all other three-year-olds. I have two homes. AMAI. Above one of my houses live two dinosaurs, who have been adopted. Next to my other house live three grandmas, there is a lot of telephoning. The cranes live in between, that is a blended family. SPECIAAL. The people in my city form wonderful families always with an extra plate of food, a shoulder of comfort to spare and a pancake ritual! CHAPEAU! “However exuberantly versatile it unfolds, you won't catch them in idle arbitrariness. ‘AMAI SPECIAAL CHAPEAU’ is not merely creative animation for children, but above all a project for the makers where their heart lies. You can feel that. You also notice that in the ingenuity behind every detail, such as the sheep that bleat ‘meieiei’ and ‘weieiei’ at each other from two separate mountain peaks: the entire individualization and polarization of this era in one image. Yes, that's possible! Thoughtful simplicity without simplism or essentialism: that is what makes children's theater special. This performance by De Maan and 4hoog has it all.” (Wouter Hillaert, Pzazz) Concept and performance Karlien Torfs and Nikolas Lestaeghe Eindregie Simon D'Huyvetter Figuren Paul Contryn and Katinka Heremans Decorontwerp Paul Contryn, Nikolas Lestaeghe and Karlien Torfs