Katrientje
You’re only truly dead when you’re silenced.
Lucinda Ra
Prices
| middelbaar | €8.00 |
|---|---|
| middelbaar - vriendenschool | €6.00 |
This production will also be staged as a one-off performance at Monty, as a co-production. As soon as the ticket link becomes available, you’ll be able to find it here too.
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After more than seven years of illness, Katrien Claes died on 6 November 1991 from the effects of two brain tumours. She was 12 years old. Twin sisters Barbara and Stefanie were 9 at the time, their older sisters 16 and 18.
Above all, Barbara and Stefanie remember that period for the silence, the distance and the lack of physical comfort. To this day, this profoundly traumatic experience continues to have a lasting effect on their lives. Katrien’s death occurred at a time when people had few means to cope with such grief. In Katrientje, Barbara and Stefanie explore grief (in children), family structures and long(er)-term psychological consequences.
Drawing on conversations with their mother, sisters, trauma experts and therapists as well as on their own experiences, they have created a show about the impact of (non-existent) grief on adult lives. Lucinda Ra is a collective to which Stefanie and Barbara Claes belong. They often work with theatrical forms that also belong beyond the theatre stage. Books, texts, animated films, concerts and exhibitions are also part of their practice. A few years ago, they were also guests at hetpaleis with the wonderful Ravensbrück, staged in the context of the TheaterFestival.
Want to learn more about Barbara Claes / Lucinda Ra?
Lucinda Ra is a collective of theater makers, jazz musicians, and visual artists, within which GOOD COMPANY supports the work of Barbara and Stefanie Claes. They navigate the realms of chaos, fantasy, and genius, cherishing the richness of life, even when it is brutally harsh. In their view, something great is always the sum of many small things.
Stefanie and Barbara often work with theatrical forms that are not limited to the theater stage. Books, texts, animated films, concerts, and exhibitions are also part of their practice. They undertake long-term residencies in places where the arts are not a given and delve into themes such as social housing, mental health, geriatric psychiatry, and poverty.
In 2022, Lucinda Ra received the Ultima Performing Arts Award for their entire body of work. The jury praised “(...) the way they engage with the stories of vulnerable people in a thoroughly participatory and respectful manner and how they document from the ground up (...)”. But the Taalunie Playwriting Prize and two nominations for the Flemish and Dutch Theater Festival also feature on their list of accolades. Lucinda Ra has strong ties to Ghent’s cultural scene and counts VIERNULVIER and KOPERGIETERY among their trusted co-producers. They organize their work from the attic of Ghent’s Dr. Guislain Museum.
Want to learn more about Katrientje?
Evelyn Coussens spoke with Barbara Claes for Etcetera (in Dutch).
prepare for your class visit
In order to minimise disruption to the performances, hetpaleis requests that you switch off your mobile phone before the start of the performance. Eating, snacking, drinking and photography are not permitted.
Responding to the performance is of course allowed, and even encouraged!
View the theatre codes here.
Plan je klasbezoek praktisch
