On Friday, November 14 and Saturday, November 15, see a special theater project in collaboration with De Regenboog Groep at theater Frascati in the Nes. The performance STRAATVACHT is based on seventeen meetings with visitors of walk-in centre De Kloof, the oldest shelter for homeless people in Amsterdam. Some of these visitors can be seen on the theater floor. Read more about the project and buy your ticket at a discount.
Clothing makes us presentable, touchable, acceptable. What we wear says something about who we are or who we hope to appear to be. But what if your wardrobe is not a choice, but a donation?
In the short performance STRAATVACHT, playwright and designer Gerbrand Bos and dancer and performer Bess Kuil explore the language of clothing, identity and visibility in the city.
A coat of fabric and stories
.
As opposed to animals, humans do not have fur. We must wear something to protect, present and disguise ourselves. In STRAATVACHT, Gerbrand and Bess expose how clothing forms our second skin.
"By certain means, you can imagine yourself to be a chameleon," Gerbrand explains, "everyone disguises themselves. Clothes show not only who you are, but also who you are trying to be."
This idea is at the heart of the creative process: clothing as a means of disappearing or, on the contrary, appearing. In STRAATVACHT, worn coats transform into sculptures that move between human and material, between inside and outside. Visitors to De Kloof participate as narrators, carriers and co-makers. Using their stories and experiences as a starting point, a collective work of art forms.
"Clothing has an ancient tradition and in today's society marks status and identity. Therefore, it must be aesthetic in addition to functional," said Gerbrand. STRAATVACHT shows the coding behind garments: what does a jacket or pants say about the person wearing it and what prejudices are involved? What do our clothes say about how we relate to each other? Who we want to look like or not?"
Gerbrand and Bess show in STRAATVACHT that behind every coat is a story, about who we were, are, or want to become. In co-creation with visitors of De Kloof, the performance makes tangible how thin the fabric is between being presentable and being invisible.
Co-creation Frascati and De Regenboog Groep
The performance comes about within The (un)told city, the program line of Frascati that makes space for stories that are rarely heard. Frascati works intensively with the city for The (Un)Told City. With the residents and institutions that play a central role in shaping the city of tomorrow. A housing corporation, an interest group or a youth psychiatric institution. Together with them, we explore how the city can be heard. Every collaboration in this regard is unique, such as the one with De Regenboog Groep. What are the different communities and in what ways are they connected or isolated? The city forms a vessel of voices and perspectives that we make public through theater.
Frascati is collaborating for STRAATVACHT with De Regenboog Groep, which has been working for fifty years to help Amsterdam residents who are trapped by debt, addiction, mental health problems or homelessness.
Following: walk Amsterdam Underground
After the end of STRAATVACHT, a tour of Amsterdam Underground will start at the theater. The city guides have lived a nomadic existence and will share their stories and experiences during this tour through the center of Amsterdam. The city tour takes about 60 minutes.