Magic Maids

Eisa Jocson (PH) & Venuri Perera (LK) in coproductie met Frascati Producties

Fri 19 Apr ’24 - Wed 13 May ’26

A ritual of disobedience that rewilds the domesticated feminine. ★★★★ Bakchormeeboy

Past event

Fri 19 Apr ’24

Wed 13 May ’26

Past event

Fri 19 Apr ’24

20:00

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 3

Past event
Sat 20 Apr ’24

20:00

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 3

Past event
Tue 12 May ’26

20:30

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 1

Past event
Wed 13 May ’26

20:30

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 1

Past event

Magic Maids interweaves ritual performance, pageantry and possession. A feral incantation, connecting the history of the European witch hunts to the extraction and exploitation of women’s labour in today’s global chain of migrant care work. The broom becomes an extension of their body, an axis that transforms oppression into monstrous feminist resistance.

The brooming duo dances to rewild the domesticated feminine, performing a ritual of disobedience that dismantles the dominant narrative we live in.

Created by Eisa Jocson (Philippines) and Venuri Perera (Sri Lanka)—artists from countries known for exporting migrant domestic work—Magic Maids emerged from their visit to Basel’s Pharmacy Museum, where they noted the absence of women. They traced connections from European witch-hunts to today’s global chain of care work, evoking the ghost of Anna Göldi, Switzerland’s last executed witch – and a housemaid.

Through sweeping as bodily inquiry, incantation, and protest, Jocson and Perera expose the enduring violence behind domestic labour and reclaim the witch and the maid as rebellious, interconnected figures. Magic Maids is a ritual of disobedience that rewilds the domesticated feminine.

In de press

“Magic Maids is both warning and tribute, a reminder that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, inciting both pity and fear in us for the domestic workers around us.“ ★★★★ Bakchormeeboy

“In Magic Maids, the discomfort hits harder.” ★★★★ de Volkskrant

Duration: 80 min.

Part of

Credits

concept, creation, dramaturgy, performance Eisa Jocson, Venuri Perera sound design Soraya Bonaventure light design Ariana Battaglia artistic advice Rasa Alksnyte, Tang Fu Kuen text advice Ruhanie Perera spiritual advice Nenet Ocson Babaylan-Vaigaland creative presence Arco Renz dramaturgical support Anna Wagner, Alexandra Hennig production advice Sandro Lunin producer Katja Armknecht, Anne Kleiner production management Greta Katharina Klein technical production & touring Yap Seok Hui

"Magic Maids" by Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera is a production of
Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm, in co-production with Frascati Producties
(supported by Ammodo), Tanzquartier Wien, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, SPRING
Performing Arts Festival, Festival Theaterformen, DDD - Festival Dias da Dança,
Kampnagel, Arsenic - Centre d’art scénique contemporain, La briqueterie CDCN du
Val-de-Marne, Points Communs - nouvelle scène nationale Cergy-Pontoise / Val
d’Oise, Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène européenne and Esplanade –
Theatres on the Bay. Funded as part of the Alliance of International Production
Houses by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media and the
Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture.
This project was supported with residences by Kaserne Basel, Puón Institute
Philippines, Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka, Dance Nucleus in collaboration with Studio
Plesungan as part of ARTEFACT Creative Residency, and Colomboscope
Contemporary Art Festival 2024.
With gratitude to the wonderful wise working women who generously shared their
knowledge and stories with us.

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About the makers

Venuri Perera is a choreographer, performance artist, curator and teacher from Colombo, Sri Lanka. In 2022, she graduated from DAS Theater in Amsterdam. Venuri investigates power dynamics when looking at ‘the other’ and in so doing attempts to destabilise how we see this ‘other’. Venuri’s solos and collaborations deal with violent nationalism, the patriarchy, border rituals, colonial legacies and class. Her work has been seen at festivals and biennales in Europe, South and East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Eisa Jocson is a choreographer and dancer from the Philippines. She is recognised in many countries as one of the most charismatic choreographers of her generation. In her productions, Eisa probes the many ways in which workers from the Philippines are abused. In so doing, she always looks for pinpoints of light in these serious subjects, and exposes stereotypes about people from the Philippines, and communities in Southeast Asia in general.