FINDING WILLARD
Is there room in our society for people who deviate from the norm?
What does it mean to take care of each other in changing times?
photos: Clara Hermans, Geert De Vleesschauwer, Fien Leysen, Tom Struyf
Winter 2018. On a trip to the US Tom arrives, by luck or coincidence, in a small town near the Canadian border. Willard is found on the banks of an outstretched lake, surrounded by the ruins of a former psychiatric hospital. An accidental encounter with an extraordinary landscape and a tiny church community turns into a compelling trip, in which Tom finds his personal life entangled with the town and the people of Willard.
Finding Willard is a cinematic theater piece, much like Tom's earlier pieces Act to Forget and The Tatiana Aarons Experience.
Finding Willard is a travel story about construction and decay, a personal quest about care and community.
''Finding Willard' shows how the longing for an illusory utopian past, the total denial of oppression and injustice, aided by religious belief, forms the basis for what Trump can cause today.'
Dirk De Wachter, psychiatrist'Creating art out of coincidence, Struyf can do that like no other.'
Charlotte De Somviele, De Standaard'Life, that is knowing few things for sure - 'Finding Willard' makes that clear in a way that is as painful as it is poetic.'
Rob de Graaf, playwright'The many special people that Tom Struyf introduces, with their pain and happiness, are immensely intriguing.'
'A worthy portrait of sincere attempts at humane care. It shows how good will is lost in a wrong system.'
Ron Rijghard, NRC Handelsblad'Struyf makes the audience part of his fascination in an inviting and ingenious way.'
'Struyf's enthusiasm is deliberately misleading. Willard's past and present are more complex than he initially suggests.'
Peter Anthonissen, Artsenkrant
