Playgrounds


An opera performance in a hall of mirrors, in which visitors are immersed in the collective consciousness.

Everyone knows Freddie Mercury. The great pretender. A man of many guises. We know him as an immigrant, man, woman, outcast, gay, married man, diva, star…. Freddie himself was an outsider, but at the same time, like no other, could make a – temporary – collective of all his individual fans. This ‘multi-mindedness’ inspired the performance duo Boogaerdt/VanderSchoot to create a performance about the tension between being absorbed in the group and distinguishing yourself as an individual.

Composer Michael Rauter developed a completely new composition especially for this, inspired by Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

More than a performance, Freddie is a collective experience of group dynamics, immersion, movement, being absorbed in the crowd and detaching from it again. Because aren’t we all, in our own way, a Freddie?


THE NEW BOHEMIANS

Suzan Boogaerdt and Bianca van der Schoot form the occasional group The New Bohemians for Freddie, together with composer Michael Rauter, filmmakers Helena Muskens and Quirine Racké, spatial designers Wikke van Houwelingen and Marloes van der Hoek, and costume designers Erik Bosman and Karin van der Leeuw.

In their Playgrounds series, Boogaerdt/VanderSchoot investigates the role of the body and the live encounter in a digitized world dominated by visual culture. Freddie is the second show in the series.


REVIEWS

Boogaerdt en Van der Schoot voor dummies.’
Theaterkrant

‘De ene die velen is.’
Telegraaf

‘Freddie is een knap geconstrueerde collectieve beleving.’
Volkskrant

‘Ondertussen klinkt er een cellosonate van Bach, die geleidelijk overgaat in citaten uit ‘Bohemian Rhapsodie’. Componist en cellist Michael Rauter maakte deze knappe compositie.’
Trouw

‘Suzan Boogaerdt en Bianca van der Schoot dwalen steeds verder af van het traditionele theater en zoeken nieuwe wegen. De toeschouwers vervullen de hoofdrol.’
NRC


CREDITS

WITH & BY Suzan Boogaerdt & Bianca van der Schoot
CELLO & ELECTRONICS Michael Rauter
VIDEO DESIGN Helena Muskens & Quirine Racké
SCENOGRAPHY Wikke van Houwelingen & Marloes van der Hoek
LIGHT Wikke van Houwelingen
COSTUME Erik Bosman & Karin van der Leeuw
TECHNICS John Thijssen, Arjen Klerkx, Arjen Fortuin, Andi Krijgsman, Hein van Leeuwen, Peter Leeuwenburg, Fabian Smit & Eva Arends
SET Vorm & Decor, Mario Mantel

ALL PRODUCTIONS