Commitment Phobe

Ira Brand / Frascati Producties
Wed 19 Apr ’23 - Sat 23 Mar ’24
A dedication to doubt.
Wed 19 Apr ’23
-
Sat 23 Mar ’24

Know where you stand.
know what you think.
know what you want. 
Take a position.

But what if strong positions are no longer workable in a world that is endlessly changing?

Commitment Phobe is an exploration of doubt in a society that values certainty. With a live experiment, Ira Brand together with performer Tiana Hemlock-Yensen researches what it means not to know, not to choose, and keep moving.

How can we conceive of doubt as a strength without making ourselves powerless? What does it mean to not ‘take a position’ as a political choice? Commitment Phobe is an exploration of the space between yes and no. A dedication to doubt.

About Ira Brand

Ira Brand is an international performance-maker, writer and curator. She graduated from Dartington College of Arts (UK) in 2007 and in 2019 completed the DAS Theatre Masters in Amsterdam, where she is now based. She makes interdisciplinary live performances: solo stage shows, one-on-one pieces, duets or participatory work. She sets off from personal stating points as a means of addressing broader social, political and formal issues.

As both performance maker and curator, Ira Brand has carried out projects both as artist and curator in London, Hong Kong, Auckland, Lisbon, Kanazawa and Salvador da Bahia. For the past years she has made, amongs others, the piece Ways to Submit (2019) and the collage performance like the party has been cancelled,(coproduction with Festival Cement, 2022). Since 2022, she has been affiliated to Frascati Producties, where she directed and performed in the work Commitment Phobe (2023).

Press about Ira Brand

"Brand zet haar lichaam en de ruimte in om een paar prikkelende vraagtekens te plaatsen bij de kaders van het verhalen vertellen." Theaterkrant over Like the party has been canceled (2022)

"Ways to submit is een boeiend sociaal spel." Theaterkrant over Ways to Submit (2019)

"A fantastic and constantly surprising piece of theatre that discusses power on multiple levels." ★★★★ The Spy in the Stalls (UK) over Ways to Submit (2019)

created and written by Ira Brand performed by Ira Brand and Tiana Hemlock-Yensen scenography and light design Paul Boereboom sound design Thomas van den Berg dramaturgy Marta Keil final direction Abigail Conway campaign image Lisa Schamlé co-production wpZimmer, C-Takt, Festival Cement, The Yard Theatre with support of Ammodo