Language: Dutch
Duration: 60 min
For the performance Family, theatre maker Louis Janssens has invited four performers from different generations to join him on stage. They share stories, ask questions, and seek comfort, support, and recognition in one another. The piece explores how family ties connect us and how they inevitably shape our lives—about blood relatives and chosen family. About parents, children, growing up, and the fear of being left behind. The performers appear on stage as themselves, but as the performance unfolds, they gradually seem to become each other’s family.
Family is a poetic and relatable text-based performance about the universal concept of family. Starting from a queer perspective, they tell a broader human story about having and searching for family. Not everyone has children, but in the end, we are all someone’s child.
In recent years, Louis Janssens created the solo performance Serenade (#nieuwjong Het TheaterFestival 2021), the duet Analoog with Willem de Wolf (Het TheaterFestival and Nederlands Theater Festival 2023), and Desire (Het TheaterFestival 2024), which was previously presented at Explore the North Festival. He now presents Family, together with an intergenerational queer cast including Peter Seynaeve (NTGent, Het Zuidelijk Toneel), Maureen Teeuwen (Maatschappij Discordia, mugmetdegoudentand), Mourad Baaiz (Artemis/hetpaleis/Het Zuidelijk Toneel, Schauspielhaus Bochum), and Francis Geeraert (Compagnie Barbarie).
This performance is part of SHIFT, an initiative by Explore the North and Stadsschouwburg De Harmonie. SHIFT presents raw, honest, current, and disruptive performing arts. You come to SHIFT to understand what’s happening—in your head, in the world, with others, and within yourself, on both a grand and intimate scale. For curious thinkers and critical dreamers. All year round, SHIFT brings must-see performances to unexpected venues—off the beaten theater track. From spoken word to postmodern dance. From theatrical manifestos to poetic requiems. These performances by both emerging and established makers reflect on the present and the future.
Credits
Direction: Louis Janssens & Peter Seynaeve
Text & performance: Louis Janssens, Peter Seynaeve, Maureen Teeuwen, Mourad Baaiz & Francis Geeraert
Lighting design: Shane Van Laer
Technical support: Fee Van Herck
Production management: Lori Tuerlinckx
Intern (observation): Emma Claessens
Production: vzw Louis
Co-production: Perpodium
With support from: Monty, CAMPO, c o r s o, kunstencentrum nona, De Grote Post, Het Nationale Theater, Theaterfestival Boulevard, De Brakke Grond, deAuteurs & The Flemish Government
Special thanks to: Leonore Spee, Sara De Roo, Willemijn Zevenhuizen, Eva Dermul, Lies Van Loock, Simon Baetens, Elsemieke Scholte, Willem de Wolf & Tim Taveirne
With the support of the Belgian Federal Government’s tax shelter via Cronos Invest
Met de steun van de taxshelter van de Belgische Federale Overheid via Cronos Invest
About the creator
Louis Janssens (b. 1995) graduated in 2018 from the Drama program at KASK Ghent. From 2012 to 2022, he formed the two-person collective Desnor together with Ferre Marnef. They created various performances such as Ideale Plaats, #BOS, Galileo, and Toverberg. His solo performance Serenade premiered in 2021 and was selected for #nieuwjong at Het TheaterFestival 2021. In 2022, he created Analoog together with Willem de Wolf at De Hoe (selected for Het TheaterFestival & Nederlands Theater Festival 2023). The performance Desire premiered in August 2023 at Theaterfestival Boulevard and was selected for Het TheaterFestival 2024. He is an artistic associate at Monty and teaches Acting at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp.
