2021 | What You See Festival

WHAT YOU SEE OPENING NIGHT | ARIAH LESTER, Gavin-Viano, Sue-Ann Bel, Silvia Gribaudi

On this What You See Opening Night, four artists each in their own way search for connection, take you into their world and thus mark the fourth edition of What You See Festival.

The evening opens in the foyer with Ayahuasca (Rope of Spirits). As drag queen, countertenor ARIAH LESTER shares his quest for identity and makes you think about your own unanswered questions. Then the theatre awaits us. In the musical monologue Able to fuck love, Gavin-Viano makes an attempt to understand his perception of sex and love. Vulnerable and personal, and at the same time critical of our world full of exoticism. In Peso Piuma, the Italian Silvia Gribaudi gives her interpretation of the traditional ‘dying swan’. With her whole being, she seeks intimacy and creates a swan that is both light and powerful. In LEB NNA-EUS, Sue-Ann Bel seeks both the beast and the man and the diva within herself: “As hard as I can, As long as I can, As much as I can, As black as I am.” – Grace Jones

Ayahuasca (Rope of Spirits) / maker & performer: ARIAH LESTER | production: Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam
Able to fuck love / performer: Gavin-Viano | pianist: Joachim Henriëtta | componist: Gavin-Viano & Joachim Henriëtta | arrangeur: Ilja Reingoud | violinists: Eurasia Quartet, Asia Czaj, Stanislav Degtyarev, Ekaterina Degtiareva, Eglė Kaunietytė, Paloma Ortas | sound design: Tobias Stolk| production management: Jostha Delima | thanks to: SENA, Fonds Podiumkunsten en Stichting TRC Promotion
 Peso Piuma / maker & performer: Silvia Gribaudi | part of the project Swans Never Die
LEB NNA-EUS / maker & performer: Sue-Ann Bel | production: Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam

theaterrotterdam.nl/pQrBNTY/ariah-lester
gavinvianofabri.com
silviagribaudi.com
theaterrotterdam.nl/pQOMwCP/sue-ann-bel

It is the unashamed surrender to romance that makes Able to fuck love so special. His vulnerable quest for romance is touching.

Marijn Lems on Theaterkrant.nl

PERFORMANCE
The Netherlands / Italy / Venezuela
English

Thu 18 Nov
20:00
105 min

Theater Kikker

TICKETS

Regular	19,50
Wage Gap -14%*	16,77
Student / CJP / -18 / U-pas	10,-
* In the Netherlands, women earn on average 14% less than men. Transgender and non-binary people, people of colour and people with disabilities often have less chance on the labour market. Are you missing out on income because of who you are? Then buy a Wage Gap Ticket and get 14% discount on the regular rate.

IN FIRST PERSON: THE PLAYROOM | Daniel Mariblanca (Dutch premiere)

What You See Festival is building a long lasting relationship with choreographer and performer Daniel Mariblanca. He has been involved in all festival editions and now shows the intimate In First Person: The Playroom. This solo is part of a grand, multidisciplinary project in which trans and non-binary people share their experiences with relationships and their environment. Mariblanca invites you into his universe. Sometimes playful, sometimes vigorous, he makes you part of his memories. The Playroom is a physical and emotional journey that does not allow itself to be limited by borders. A magical encounter with the unknown.

After the second performance a short, 15 minute conversation with Daniel will take place.

Please note that the performance contains loud noise and some rough nudity

Interested in more? Check here the information about Daniel Mariblanca’s workshop A True Story.

concept & choreography: Daniel Mariblanca | scenography: Kjersti Alm Eriksen | lighting design: Thomas Bruvik | dramaturgy: Miranda Letten | film maker: Ursula Kaufmann | composer: Florian Dorrhofer | sound engineering: Runar Gasterud | financial producer: Camilla Svingen | company and tour management: Davone Sirmans | financially supported by: Norsk Kulturråd, Fri scenekunst – dans, Fond for lyd og bilde, Fond for utøvende kunstnere, Bergen kommune, internasjonal utveksling, Hordaland fylkeskommune, Stikk. | co-producer: BIT Teatergarasjen, Carte Blanche, Kunsthall 3.14, KRAFT | partners: Karmaklubb, Bergen Kjott, Wrap, Litteraturhuset I Bergen | photo: Ursula Kaufmann

71bodies.com

DANCE
Spain / Norway
Language no problem

Fri 19 Nov
19:00
21:30
45 min

Theater Kikker
Kleine zaal

TICKETS

To The Playroom + Karelia with a discount? Buy a combiticket.

Normal	15,-
Wage Gap -14%*	12,90
Student / CJP / -18 / U-pas	10,-
* In the Netherlands, women earn on average 14% less than men. Transgender and non-binary people, people of colour and people with disabilities often have less chance on the labour market. Are you missing out on income because of who you are? Then buy a Wage Gap Ticket and get 14% discount on the regular rate.

HATE ME, TENDER | Teresa Vittucci (Dutch premiere)

The Virgin Mary is one of the most defining female icons in history. She is the embodiment of purity, innocence and perfection, the compassionate wife and grieving mother. In her exploration of hatred and feminism, choreographer Teresa Vittuci unravels the queer potential of this crucial female figure. Revered as the Mother of God by church authorities, she has been criticised by the feminist movement as a role model full of female stereotypes. With gentle violence Vittucci embarks in this solo on a tender crusade to reinstate the matriarch Mary in her role as a powerful heroine and ambassador of a queer feminism, armed solely with the weapon of a vulnerable, compassionate heart.

concept & performance: Teresa Vittucci | dramaturgical advice: Benjamin Egger, Veza Fernandez, Rafal Pierzynski | scenography: Jasmin Wiesli, Teresa Vittucci | production manager: groundworkers // Kira Koplin | production: OH DEAR Zürich | co–production: Tanzhaus Zürich, Theaterspektakel Zürich | special thanks to: Julia Haenni, Gina Gurtner and Simone Aughterlony | kindly supported by co–production partners: Tanzhaus Zürich, Zürich Theaterspektakel, Espacio do Tempo Montemor , Migros- Kulturprozent, Pro Helvetia, Ernst Göhner Foundation | photo: Yushiko Kusano

teresavittucci.com

The work is deeply layered with smart humour, audacious imagery and bold political statements, and Vittucci’s performance is, well, sort of divine.

Claire Lefèvre, springbackmagazine.com

PERFORMANCE
Switserland
Language no problem

Fri 19 Nov
20:00
60 min

Theater Kikker
Grote zaal

TICKETS

To Hate me, tender + The Playroom with a discount? Buy a combiticket.

Regular	19,50
Wage Gap -14%*	16,77
Student / CJP / -18 / U-pas	10,-
* In the Netherlands, women earn on average 14% less than men. Transgender and non-binary people, people of colour and people with disabilities often have less chance on the labour market. Are you missing out on income because of who you are? Then buy a Wage Gap Ticket and get 14% discount on the regular rate.

WHAT YOU SEE RESEARCH | Silvia Gribaudi & Ro Verwey

Every year, What You See together with Het Huis Utrecht invites creators for a mini-residency. This year, the Italian choreographer Silvia Gribaudi and performer, connecter and activist Ro Verwey will immerse themselves in their research for five days. On the sixth day, they share their work with you!

Silvia Gribaudi opened the festival in 2019 in spectacular fashion with her performance Graces. Now she is back and, with radical empathy, goes in search of connection. Playfully, she creates a place of togetherness. But when does a game turn into manipulation? What power relations are at work? A search for a level playing field.

Starting from movement, Ro Verwey makes socially engaged pieces with a large role for non-western identity and gender diversity. Ro uses this research for Let’s talk about Ssss!, a new performance for young people, in which gender diversity, sexuality and consent are central. An interactive form of sex education that suits today’s human beings!

with: Silvia Gribaudi and Ro, Rox, Roxy, Roxana Verwey | supported by: Annette van Zwoll and Milone Reigman | produced by: What You See Festival | in co-production with Het Huis Utrecht | photo’s: foto’s: Laila Pozzo & Beck Delude

silviagribaudi.com
 @worldofro 
hethuisutrecht.nl

RESEARCH
Italy
English & Dutch

Sat 20 Nov
16:00
90 min

Het Huis Utrecht
Studio 3 & Koepelzaal

TICKETS

Normal	15,-
Wage Gap -14%*	12,90
Student / CJP / -18 / U-pas	10,-
* In the Netherlands, women earn on average 14% less than men. Transgender and non-binary people, people of colour and people with disabilities often have less chance on the labour market. Are you missing out on income because of who you are? Then buy a Wage Gap Ticket and get 14% discount on the regular rate.

QUEERING THE CITY OF LITERATURE | Savannah Bay

For the second time, feminist bookstore Savannah Bay and What You See Festival join forces for a literary evening. Queering the City of Literature is an initiative to ‘queer’ the city. Authors Chris Lomans, Anne Chris van Doesburg and Edna Azulay each wrote a text about queer bodies in relation to the city. Personal and poignant, they offer a new view of Utrecht through their texts. On this evening, they will read from their own work, you will be treated to a musical intermezzo and a glimpse will be given of next year’s authors. The texts have also been bundled in a Zine, which every visitor will receive as a gift. So come and join us!

The texts can also be found on different locations in Utrecht. Here you’ll find the routes to go and explore the city yourself.

qtcol.wordpress.com

LITERATURE
The Netherlands
Dutch

Sat 20 Nov
19:00
75 min

Theater Kikker
Kleine Zaal

TICKETS

To Queering The City + GOOD BOY with a discount? Buy a combiticket.

Normal	15,-
Wage Gap -14%*	12,90
Student / CJP / -18 / U-pas	10,-
* In the Netherlands, women earn on average 14% less than men. Transgender and non-binary people, people of colour and people with disabilities often have less chance on the labour market. Are you missing out on income because of who you are? Then buy a Wage Gap Ticket and get 14% discount on the regular rate.

GOOD BOY | Jürgen Theuns

A teenager from Brabant discovers that everyone, especially his family, is different from himself. A crush at age 40 leads to a second puberty and awakes the activist in him. With movement, text, music and songs, theatre maker Jürgen Theuns shares in GOOD BOY, his personal story from the perspective of this young boy from Brabant and the Jürgen of today. A consoling coming-of-age performance about sex, love and the courage to stand up for who you are.

concept and text: Jürgen Theuns | performance: Jürgen Theuns and Valentijn Banga | directing: Ewout Eggink | photo: Martin Pluimers

jurgentheuns.art

Enthusiasm, uneasiness, desire and disgust alternate and give glamour to Theuns’ performances, who for instance can describe the attraction of SM-sex in an almost spiritual way.

Rosalie Fleuren, theaterkrant.nl

THEATRE
The Netherlands
Dutch

Sat 20 Nov
21:00
70 min

Theater Kikker
Grote Zaal

TICKETS

To GOOD BOY + Queering The City with a discount? Buy a combiticket.

Regular	19,50
Wage Gap -14%*	16,77
Student / CJP / -18 / U-pas	10,-
* In the Netherlands, women earn on average 14% less than men. Transgender and non-binary people, people of colour and people with disabilities often have less chance on the labour market. Are you missing out on income because of who you are? Then buy a Wage Gap Ticket and get 14% discount on the regular rate.

QUEER CAFÉ | Bibliotheek Utrecht, Savannah Bay, Queer Film Festival Utrecht 

This month’s Queer Café will focus on (un)Touchable Bodies! Especially for What You See Festival, the Utrecht Library, Savannah Bay and Queer Film Festival Utrecht created this queer café about physical closeness. Writer and performer Senna Pauli and set designer Eva Arends tell about their project HAIRY. Then, writer Helena Hoogenkamp will reflect on her renewed ideas of her gender after she had preventively had to remove her breasts. She wanted her own breasts or none and refused implants. Now she identifies as non-binary. The loving short film Vert by Kate Cox shows the power of courage, acceptance and unconditional love to let go of a life full of shame. All of this lead by the inspirational Teddy Tops.

With: Senna Pauli, Eva Arends, Helena Hoogenkamp, Kate Cox | curators: Teddy Tops, Marischka Verbeek, Joost de Vries | presentation: Teddy Tops | produced by: Utrecht Library, Savannah Bay, Queer Film Festival Utrecht | foto: still uit Vert van Kate Cox

bibliotheekutrecht.nl
savannahbay.nl
qffu.nl

TALKSHOW
The Netherlands
Dutch / English

Sun 21 Nov
13:00
120 min

Bibliotheek Utrecht (Neude)

TICKETS

Member	5,-
Non-member	10,-

THE HUMAN ZOO | Wensley Piqué

We are all prejudiced. Within one and a half seconds, your brain forms a first impression. But what do you do with that first impression? Based on ‘the human zoo’, ethnological exhibitions in which people from other cultures were shown to white Europeans, performer, theatre maker and puppeteer Wensley Piqué developed an encounter. He invites you into his theatrical installation. From that first impression, that first second and a half, you enter into a conversation. Sometimes moving, sometimes confronting, sometimes abrasive, always impressive.

Please note: This performance can only be attended by 1 person at a time.
Make sure you select the time of your choosing when buying a ticket.

concept and performance: Wensley Piqué | set & lighting design: Rob Daanen | production: De Nieuwe Oost | photo: Edwin Smits

Being in connection with yourself, the other and your environment is an important theme in my life, and it comes back in my work. I want to make theatre in order to discuss painful themes and create awareness.

Wensley Pique

THEATRE / INSTALLATION
The Netherlands
Dutch

Sun 21 Nov
15:00 – 16:00 & 17.00 – 18:00 (starting time every 10 minutes)
10 min

Theater Kikker
Kleine Zaal

TICKETS

Regular

5,-

THE WORLDS WIFE (Preview) | Ragazze Quartet, Lucia Lucas, Jorinde Keesmaat & Tom W Green

The poems in the collection The Worlds Wife (1999) by Carol Ann Duffy give a voice to the wives of famous men and thus place historical events and myths in a different light. Eleven of these women enter into dialogue with each other during this chamber opera of the same name. Transgender singer Lucia Lucas takes on all the characters with her heroic baritone and high pitched voice, sharing the stage with the Ragazze Quartet and a looping station. The opera will premiere in 2023. During What You See Festival 2021 you can already see a unique 30 minutes preview, after which a dialogue about the work will unfold.

ragazzequartet.nl
lucialucas.com
jorindekeesmaat.nl
tomgreencomposer.com

CHAMBER OPERA
United States / United Kingdom / The Netherlands
English

Sun 21 Nov
16:00
50 min

Theater Kikker
Grote zaal

TICKETS

Regular	10,00
Wage Gap -14%*	8,60
* In the Netherlands, women earn on average 14% less than men. Transgender and non-binary people, people of colour and people with disabilities often have less chance on the labour market. Are you missing out on income because of who you are? Then buy a Wage Gap Ticket and get 14% discount on the regular rate.

(UN)TOUCHABLE BODIES (combiprogramma) | Introdans, Shishani Vranckx, Youth for Sex, Prisma Group, Shary-An Nivillac

Bodies are here to stay! What You See closes the festival with a splashing combined programme full of dance, music and theatre, and some surprise elements. With strong personalities claiming space and their bodies, sexuality, identity and whole being. The energetic singer and presenter Shary-An Nivillac will guide you through the evening.

Eight young people from different backgrounds enter the barricade in Youth for Sex. They fight for their ideals, sexual freedom, love and individuality. A fight that gained urgency after the homophobic murder of David P. Together with theatre maker Maxime Dreesen, they went into the studio and made this protest performance and manifesto in one.

Shishani means ‘crown’ in one of Namibia’s native languages. She lives up to her name with her music that transcends genres and cultures. Her soothing and powerful voice goes straight to the heart. In addition, singer-songwriter Bahghi will also perform her soulful sounds.

Under the title The Encounter choreographer Adriaan Luteijn from Introdans brings the most diverse guest dancers together with dancers of Introdans. In Pro Forma, three women, each with their own physical style of movement, meet each other on a square plane that literally throws them off balance.

The Prisma Groep foundation, founded in 2010, is committed to supporting bicultural LGBTQIA+ people in Utrecht, including new Dutch citizens. During this evening, they will put their dreams, wishes and desires for the future together in an activist statement, especially written for What You See.

Youth for Sex / directed by: Maxime Dreesen | with: Titiane, Hanae, Milan, Saar, Anse, Luna, Miro, Rebecco | production: De Studio
Pro Forma / choreography: Adriaan Luteijn | repetitor: Diane Matla | dancers: Vérine Bouwman, Eva Eikhout, Lize Wubbels | music: Jaap van Keulen | costume design: Sjaak Hullekes | costume execution: Hermien Hollander | lighting design: Maarten van den Berg | set design: Adriaan Luteijn in collaboration with Maarten van den Berg
Direction: Jürgen Theuns
Presentation: Shary-An Nivillac
image: Anton Fayle

destudio.com
shishani.nl
introdans.nl
stichtingprismagroep.com

DANCE / THEATRE / MUSIC
The Netherlands / Belgium
Dutch

Sun 21 Nov
20:00
90 min

Stadsschouwburg

TICKETS

1st rank Regular	28,50
1st rank Wage Gap -13%*	24,80
1st rank Student/CJP/U-pas	23,50
2nd rank Regular	24,50
2nd rank Wage Gap -13%*	21,32
2nd rank Student/CJP/U-pas	19,50
3rd rank Regular	18,50
3rd rank Wage Gap -13%*	16,10
3rd rank Student/CJP/U-pas	13,50
18 years and younger	12,50
* In the Netherlands, women earn on average 13% less than men. Transgender and non-binary people, people of colour and people with disabilities often have less chance on the labour market. Are you missing out on income because of who you are? Then buy a Wage Gap Ticket and get 13% discount on the regular rate.