Animal

February 5, 2022 Tom Struyf

Animal / 8+

A headbanging parakeet.
A butterfly faking its own death.
A gorilla recognizing itself in the mirror.
A crocodile saving a deer from drowning.
A monkey carefully petting a bird.

Animal is an imaginative, colorful and physical theater piece about animals that look like people and people who look like animals, for young and old (age 8 and up).

Alongside YouTube-videos and conversations with people both big and small, two actors attempt to become animals on stage: they interpret and experiment, act out situations and marvel at the result. Animal is about funny flamingos, smart pigs, and plodding people. About how we interact with animals, how we see them as human or chop them into pieces.

Animal is inspired by (among others) the work of the Dutch biologist Frans de Waal, who has tried to explain human behavior by analyzing animal behavior - and the other way around. For Animal, Tom Struyf spoke with Bas Haring (philosopher), Tinkebell (artist), Charel Van Riet (WWF-ranger and tree-climber), Astrid Elburg (personal leadership coach), Dirk Draulans (biologist and journalist), Joske Van Tiggelt (who owns over 200 animals), Matthijs Schouten (ecologist and philosopher), and Ruben Vandewalle (butcher).

Animal premiered January 25, 2020 in DE Studio (Antwerp, BE), and was performed in Flanders and the Netherlands in the spring and autumn of 2020.

Remember the dragons...

January 27, 2022 Tom Struyf

Remember the dragons… / 10+

photos: Marc Domage, Frederik Buyckx, BERLIN

A girl from Marocco is never hungry, can’t feel pain and barely needs any sleep. A Danish boy has known since he was four that he would rather be a girl. A kid his age, from South-Africa, secretly joins his grandfather at night to create crop circles in nearby fields. Remember the dragons… is a feast of lies, and submerges you in a bath full of stories that seem too absurd to be true.

Remember the dragons… allows young and old to be captured by stories and look at them from different perspectives, sending you home with a special set of shared memories - and a beautiful and shiny moonstone.

‘Lies, fantasy, stories, it was - and will remain for days after - a wonderful balancing act on the line between fiction and truth.’
Tuur Devens, theaterkrant.nl

Remember the dragons… is a multimedia theater performance, for ages 10 and up. The young ones gets a seat at a large oval table with thirty television screens, while the accompanying adult or parent is brought to an interactive waiting room, with a live connection to the table.
In Remember the dragons… fifteen different languages can be heard. All stories are subtitled.

concept: BERLIN after Perhaps all the dragons... | text & creation: Tom Struyf, Bart Baele & Yves Degryse | music: Eric Thielemans | scenography: Manu Siebens | film sets: Sophia Hahmann & Eric Moonen | costumes & props: Jessica Ridderhof & Fien Leysen | research: Fien Leysen | camera & editing: Geert De Vleesschauwer | production management: Fien Leysen, Celeste Driesen & Claire Hoofwijk | production: BERLIN, hetpaleis & Kopergietery | co-production: Tweetakt festival (NL), Rotondes (LU) & Le CENTQUATRE-PARIS (FR)

Remember the dragons... premiered on December 26, 2017 in the Kopergietery (Ghent, B), and was performed from 2017 to 2020 in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, France and Italy.

Act to forget

January 25, 2022 Tom Struyf

Act to forget

When actor Tom Struyf finds an old photograph of himself which he can not comprehend, an intense battle with his failing memory follows. Through conversations with a neurosurgeon, a psychologist, a psychic and his own grandmother, he tries to discover what is going on in his head. When his research has led him high into the Swiss mountains, Tom finally realizes what he has forgotten all this time.

Act to forget transforms from a naive attempt to understand how our doings are determined by our thinking into a passionate plea for love, over time and generations.

‘An iconic, uplifting and sometimes even funny story’
Els Van Steenberghe, Knack

‘The images are of a compelling beauty’
‘An intelligent editing that feels really contemporary in the use of media’
Liv Laveyne, cobra.be

Act to forget was selected for Circuit X by the jury of the Theatre Festival 2013 in Flanders and nominated by copyright association SACD for deAuteursprijs 2013.

concept, text and performance: Tom Struyf | co-creation: Willem De Maeseneer | camera and editing: Geert De Vleesschauwer | technics: Klaartje Vermeulen/Geert De Vleesschauwer | production: watmarswas | co-production: kultuurfaktorij Monty & detheatermaker | in collaboration with kc STUK, wp Zimmer & HETPALEIS | with the support of the Flemish Government & SACD

Act to forget premiered on October 11, 2012, in kc Monty (Antwerp, B), and was performed almost a hundred times from 2012 to 2017, in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria and Italy.

The Tatiana Aarons Experience

January 23, 2022 Tom Struyf

The Tatiana Aarons Experience

photos: Rob Stevens, Linda Lemmen, Dru Blair

Sunday June 14, 2009. Lisbon, Portugal.
Tatiana Aarons, a psychology student at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, meets the young actor Tom Struyf whoʼs traveling alone. What first seems an extraordinary conversation takes a strange twist and appears to go according to an ingenious scenario.

One year later, Tom tries to reconstruct the facts and to answer the question: who is this woman and more importantly, who is she not? He decides to return to Lisbon and leaves on Sunday, June 27, 2010, in search of Tatiana, not knowing if he’ll find her or what he’ll do when he does.

The Tatiana Aarons Experience is a travelogue based on (non-)true facts.

‘A spicy, very nice theater experienceʼ
‘A promising, nice discovery, Tom Struyf and his slippy, smart but accessible theater universe.ʼ
Els Van Steenberghe, Knack

‘Struyf is a born storyteller. Without fuss he tells the audience his story, casually, with an exciting and amazing timing.ʼ
‘A perfectly constructed performance.ʼ
Alinde Hoeksema, theaterjournaal.nl

The Tatiana Aarons Experience was praised by the jury of the Theatre Festival 2011 in Flanders and selected for Circuit X, a project that aims to encourage promising young dramatists.

concept, text and performance: Tom Struyf | dramaturgy: Eve Hopkins | technics: Rob Berendse | production: watmarswas | with the support of O.T. Theater Rotterdam

The Tatiana Aarons Experience premiered on August 26, 2010, at the O.T. Theater (Rotterdam, NL), and played for almost a hundred times from 2010 to 2022, in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and South-Africa.

PLAYwriting

January 20, 2022 Tom Struyf

PLAYwriting

Under the watchful eye of Dutch author and theatre maker Heleen Verburg, writers Rebekka de Wit, Mustafa Kör, Tom Struyf, Maud Vanhauwaert and Renée van Marissing spent the past year working on a new script for youth theatre. Their five new texts were presented in Flanders, the Netherlands and Germany in lectures, interviews and a short documentary film by Fien Leysen.

PLAYwriting is an initiative by Barbara Wyckmans (director of HETPALEIS) and Bart Moeyaert (Guest of Honour at the 2016 Frankfurt Book Fair), in collaboration with Het Zuidelijk Toneel, Flemish Arts Centre de Brakke Grond and Staatstheater Mainz. PLAYwriting aims to introduce young writers to writing plays for children and young adults through practical experience, to better stimulate the creation of a new youth repertoire.

texts: Maud Vanhauwaert, Mustafa Kör, Renée van Marissing, Tom Struyf & Rebekka de Wit | coaching: Heleen Verburg | a project of HETPALEIS & Frankfurter Buchmesse 2016 | in collaboration with Het Zuidelijk Toneel, Flemish Arts Centre de Brakke Grond and Staatstheater Mainz

PLAYwriting was presented in October 2016 in Antwerp (B), Mainz (D) and Frankfurt (D). The texts are published in Dutch and German by De Nieuwe Toneelbibliotheek (NL).

Another great year for fishing

January 13, 2022 Tom Struyf

Another great year for fishing

How do you live in the now? In a world with never-ending click-options trying to continually distract you?
How do you stay true to yourself when everything around you is screaming it can be better, faster, nicer?

Actor Tom Struyf and dancer Nelle Hens are looking for the emergency exit. With the help of a wide range of spin-doctors, psychiatrists, journalists and philosophers they try to unravel what happens in the backrooms of the rat race. Who’s running the show?

Another great year for fishing is the adorned story of a life where fiction and reality become more and more intertwined. A play about the question how to lead a normal life in an ever-changing society that constantly requires a great deal of adaptability.

'Sounds, words, images, bodies, all of it grabs you by the throat'
Tuur Devens, theaterkrant.nl

'Honest, generous and immensely refreshing'
Rebecca Johnson, Theatertreffen-blog

'An infinitely beautiful, truthful, patient and wise performance'
Milo Rau, jury Stückemarkt Theatertreffen

Another great year for fishing was selected for Stückemarkt of Theatertreffen 2015 in Berlin, focusing on young European dramatists who have developed a new theatrical language.

concept, text & performance: Tom Struyf | dance & choreography: Nelle Hens | co-creation: Willem De Maeseneer | camera, editing & technics: Geert De Vleesschauwer | production: watmarswas | co-production: detheatermaker, Flemish Arts Centre de Brakke Grond & deBuren, TAKT Dommelhof and C-Mine Genk | in collaboration with kultuurfaktorij Monty | with the support of the Flemish Government, the City of Antwerp & the Flemish Literature Fund

Another great year for fishing premiered on October 23, 2014, in kc Monty (Antwerp, B), and played for over forty times from 2014 to 2016, in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and South-Africa.

Heimat

January 6, 2022 Tom Struyf

Heimat

Freek Vielen, Rebekka de Wit, Tom Struyf, Suzanne Grotenhuis and Harald Austbø spent a week in a nursing home, curious to find out what’s left of a life that’s nearly over. Looking for the perceptions of people with the most experience in what we all want to do so well: living.

Armed with a camera they decided to dig deeper. Deeper and deeper. Closer to home. Each of them asked their parents and grandparents at the once so familiar kitchen table: what is life about? And how should it be lived?

In Heimat they answer the answers they were given and encounter new questions. About yesterday, today and tomorrow. About our grandparents, ourselves and our children.

'Heimat touches and leaves a lasting impression. As a grandma says: 'Open your arms to love, and then close them.' Let this performance embrace you and cherish it.'
Tuur Devens, theaterkrant.nl

'Heimat is touching and recognizable theater that responds to our emotions, but above all is damn well put together.'
Eline Van de Voorde, cobra.be

Heimat was praised by the jury of the Theatre Festival 2014 in Flanders and selected for Circuit X, a project that aims to encourage promising young dramatists.

from and with: Rebekka de Wit, Suzanne Grotenhuis, Harald Austbø, Tom Struyf, Freek Vielen | text: Rebekka de Wit | direction: Freek Vielen | music: Harald Austbø | technics: Sander Salden | production: detheatermaker | co-production: TAZ, deBuren, the Dutch Embassy in Belgium, De Tijd, kc deSingel & Flemish Arts Centre de Brakke Grond | in collaboration with vzw zonder walt

Heimat premiered on August 6, 2013, at TAZ Festival (Oostende, B), and was performed almost fifty times from 2013 to 2015 in Belgium and the Netherlands.