Three generations of women in a visually rich performance
What happens when a war doesn’t end with its final battle? In ravensbrück, theatre maker Stefanie Claes explores how her grandmother’s wartime past continues to echo through her own life.
Aline Vervoort, Stefanie’s grandmother, was arrested during the Second World War and deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp. She survived, but carried the scars of that time with her for the rest of her life — scars that would quietly pass on to her daughter and granddaughter.
From a young age, Stefanie sensed that something unspoken lingered in her family. As a child, she dreamed of soldiers on her street. It wasn’t until she was sixteen that she learned the truth. Conversations with her mother and grandmother gradually made her realize how deeply the past is woven into the present.
In ravensbrück, she tells this family story without words. Through imagery, drawings, light, and needlework, she gives form to emotion and memory. The performance is intimate and precise, inviting quiet attention — where every gesture matters.
The piece was developed together with Mia Kermis, with whom Stefanie has shaped her own theatrical language: artisanal, personal, and visually poetic. Inspired by conversations with her family, as well as letters, documentaries, historical research, and insights from trauma experts, Stefanie creates a layered work of reflection and care.
ravensbrück is not only about the past of war, but about how that past lingers — in bodies, in silences, in everyday life. It explores how history embeds itself in the present, often without us even realizing it.
At the heart of the piece are three generations of women. Their connection, resilience, and vulnerability form the emotional core of this deeply evocative performance.
Selected for TheaterFestival 2024, ravensbrück has been praised for its precision and emotional depth.
The performance takes place in the context of the Dutch remembrance days on May 4 and 5, at a location hosted by Podium Explore, in collaboration with Podium Explore. Suitable for adults and children aged 10 and up.
SHIFT, an initiative of Explore the North and Stadsschouwburg De Harmonie.
Grounded performing arts: raw, honest, topical and disruptive. You come to SHIFT because you want to know what is going on: in your head, in the world, with others, with yourself, in the big and in the small. For curious thinkers and critical dreamers. Throughout the year, in changing locations, you will find must-see performances, off the beaten path of theater. From spoken word to postmodern dance. From theatrical pamphlet to poetic requiem. These are performances by young and more established artists who touch on current affairs and the future.