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© Lisa Schamlé

The Elephant

Toni Blackwell / Frascati Producties
Thu 30 Apr ’26 - Sat 9 May ’26
On the horror of love and everything that goes unsaid.
Thu 30 Apr ’26
-
Sat 9 May ’26

Selena and Luna have been an item for ages, but for a while now they’ve been missing a feeling of real connection. It’s hard to identify exactly when all the shit started. But something went wrong somewhere. An indefinable silence; a pattern that can’t be pinned down. They’ve split up several times, but are always drawn back to each other. Now, they’re lying in bed together, giving it yet another try.

In this incisive, raw duet, stratified with humour, sorrow and a dash of vampirism, Toni Blackwell explores the complexities of a (queer) relationship. How to commit to someone else when you yourself are traumatised? How does sexual trauma influence new attempts at intimacy? How do unhealthy, destructive patterns become ingrained in a relationship? And how to find a solution that works for both, when each partner keeps on getting stuck for a different reason?

In The Elephant, we follow Selena and Luna through a single night, in the midst of their latest struggle, full of roleplay, quarrels, tenderness and strangulation. Monsters, imagined or all too real, under the bed, and outside the bedroom. A story about the horror of love, intimacy, violence and everything that goes unsaid. 

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Credits

concept, text, direction Toni Blackwell cast Lisa Carreno, Priscilla ter Voert writing cast Esther Duysker scenography Marjolijn Brouwer assistant scenography Lieve van Engelenburg costume design Marjolijn Brouwer & Lieve van Engelenburg sound design Thomas van den Berg dramaturgy Aukje Verhoog intimacy coordinator Geerten Stumpel campaign image Lisa Schamlé final edit campaign image Jianni Elsenhout

     

Toni in the press

"[...] a unique, playful production on the tension between escapism, idealism and self-destructiveness." Theaterkrant on Voor junkies die de wereld gaan redden 

Over Toni Blackwell

Toni Blackwell (1993) fuses the personal with the socio-political in her productions. She graduated in Theatre in Education in Amsterdam in 2021. Her use of bold stylistic choices allows her work to offset hard-hitting subject matter with a lightness of touch. She works closely with her performers, together building characters and worlds that are both provocative and educational. 

Toni’s first Frascati production Voor junkies die de wereld gaan redden premièred in 2024: a raw, highly imaginative piece on a group of friends who live from one afterparty to the next. With Frascati Producties, she previously made Voor Sletten die zijn verkracht as part of Under Construction (2022, winner of the De Troffel award at Festival Cement) and Toni Blackwell’s Medusa with actress Nora El Koussour (Beginnings, 2023). In addition, Toni teaches at the Bijlmer Park Theater and was assistant director of Romana Vrede’s hit production The Story of Travis (Theater Rotterdam / Well Made Productions, 2023). She is currently once again assisting, this time on Romana’s latest production Sisterhood (2026, Theater Rotterdam).

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