In Woe three teenagers are standing amidst the audience, addressing it directly. They want to describe something but cannot find the right words for it. They lead each spectator through the memories of their youth. Gradually, the ordinary image of childhood becomes distorted. The show talks about a traumatic memory of being abused as a child. A sudden encounter with subjective experiences, fantasies and dreams is clashed with scientific information on what happens to the human body and brain when a person is abused. Kaldor gives her young actors space to be themselves; they don’t play for us, but rather with us and with our imagination.
EDIT KALDOR was born in Budapest and emigrated as a child to the United States. Having returned to Europe, she graduated from Das Arts Masters of Theatre and started to make her own shows, whose distinctness quickly gained recognition in contemporary theatre. She is interested in the inner experience of people in the contemporary world who seem isolated and unable to communicate. In her works Kaldor combines the elements of fiction and documentary; she works predominantly with non-professional actors, and often reaches for digital media, using them in her show’s narrative in a subtle and well-thought-out – though very direct – way.
Concept and direction by: Edit Kaldor
Performers: Tirza Gevers, Kobbe Koopman, David de Lange,
Text: Edit Kaldor, Karmenlara Ely and the performers
Artistic assistant: Annefleur Schep
Dramaturgical advice: Camilla Eeg-Tverbakk, Nicola Unger
Light and technique: Jan Fedinger, Ingeborg Slaats
Hardware/software advice: Tony Schuite
Woe is produced by: Stichting Kata / Edit Kaldor and co-produced by: Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin,Teatro Maria Matos, Lisbon and STUK, Leuven
Supported by the Dutch Performing Arts Fund, Amsterdam Arts Fund and SNS Reaal Fund