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© Ies Kaczmarek

Double bill: trying to get cozy in the dark dark void & AS IT WAS

Manuel Groothuysen & Diane Mahín / Toneelacademie Maastricht + Ryan O’Shea & Mar Esteban Martin / ArtEZ Arnhem
Wed 21 Jun ’23 18:00
Double bill about blankets in the void and relationships.
Wed 21 Jun ’23
18:00
  • Wed 21 Jun ’23
    18:00
    Frascati
    Frascati 4
    Past event

trying to get cozy in the dark dark void

Two beings exist in a green void, with nothing but themselves and two microphones. They vividly sense every event that has ever happened, as well as everything that is yet to come. Stunned by possibility, grasped by fear and sparked by joy, they are unable to embrace the void. This sets off a series of events in which the two struggle to find comfort, provoking a desperate need for blankets.

AS IT WAS

As It Was explores relationships. 

between people and objects, 

between people and places,

between people,

their relational ties.


A still ocean gives way to a zealous storm.

Two friends delve into the term buoyancy.

An ode to intimate friendship in all its glorious mundanity, banality and exuberant heights. 

Finally addressing the knotty relationship between performers and audience.


In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same 
as it was

Duration 30 + 25 min.

Part of

About Diane Mahín & Manuel Groothuysen

After growing up together as Dutch-Iranian siblings, we both studied at the Institute of Performative Arts in Maastricht after completing theoretical majors in social sciences and humanities.

When we work together we connect strongly on our existentialist and absurdist view on reality, as well as how humans are subject to the manipulation of other (non-)human entities. These ideas can be overwhelming and confronting, but also liberating and - if you manage to zoom out - painfully funny. We like to aestheticize these feelings, hoping to reframe mental suffering against the bizarre backdrop of reality. This results in audiovisual performative works which give form to behaviors of humans living inside fabricated and inevitable patterns, such as our inescapable union as siblings.

About Ryan O’Shea & Mar Esteban Martin

Ryan O’Shea (he/him) is a queer performance maker hailing from the UK and now based in the Netherlands. His work weaves threads of ambivalence, abstraction and ambiguity through visually striking, aesthetically sharp worlds permeating with a feeling of otherness. 

Mar Esteban Martin (she/her) is an artist and educator originally from Barcelona and based in the Netherlands working in-between the fields of performance, music and improvisation. Her hybrid practice evokes playfulness, speculation and oneiric imaginaries. She is currently interested in site-responsive performance and the temporalities and performativity of natural phenomena.

Ryan and Mar started collaborating together devising performances and workshops whilst studying on the Home Of Performance Practices Master course at ArtEZ (Arnhem). In their work they are interested in exploring topics through a poetic, suggestive language and in developing a methodology of performance making based on joy, play and experimentation.

© Ies Kaczmarek

trying to get cozy in the dark dark void

direction, performance, light design, sound design Diane Mahín & Manuel Groothuysen technician Caz Egelie with thanks to Toneelacademie Maastricht PR image Ies Kaczmarek

AS IT WAS

Devised/performed by Mar Esteban Martin & Ryan O’Shea Technical support E. Christodoulou Images Steef Kersbergen