T H E D U T C H O N T O U R - Theater Instituut Nederland

Language
On request
Contact
Artistic director: Arjen Anker
T +31 (0)294 – 41 15 86
E info@visavis.nl
I www.visavis.nl
Petty bourgeois style
Vis à Vis
of humour
The Vis à Vis theatre company mainly produces large-scale, ingenious summer shows and
projects on location. Visual, dynamic and often just plain spectacular productions, in which
effect and action are more important than the dialogue.
The visual comedy produced by Vis à Vis represents a poetic but chiefly funny commentary on
modern-day man. The company puts the unruly everyday reality of life into an enlightening perspective.
Their approach is indebted to the ‘language’ of film and the rich vocabulary of slapstick.
The company is renowned for its use of special effects and stunning scenery, which often
undergo awesome metamorphoses during the performance. Their technical ingenuity is mainly
intended to underline the message contained in their productions and to supplement their
subtle, petty bourgeois style of humour.
Since it was founded in 1990, the company’s nine productions have attracted a faithful following
of diverse audiences, and they have performed at large-scale festivals in fourteen countries from
Scandinavia to New Zealand. Vis à Vis has acquired valuable experience of outdoor theatre in
very differing conditions.
International
Vis à Vis’ last foreign tour was in 2002, when they performed Picnic in Wellington, New Zealand
(International Festival of the Arts). The company had previously toured in England, Austria and
Switzerland. More recent Vis à Vis productions are also entirely well-suited to foreign tours; there
is little text and they rely heavily on effects. Groenland/Greenland is a bitter visual comedy about
the issue of climate change; Kooiboys is a traditional Dutch drama about two peasant sons vainly
attempting to escape their tyrannical father.
Groenland/Greenland
Photo: Bob Eshuis
The Dutch on tour Physical, site-specific and object theatre
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