‘Nothing is what it seems, nothing is real, and nothing will ever be as it was. Everything is suspicious.’ This is how Wageningen theatre society WDT announced the thriller Sick Brother that they will be performing in April in the Cultuurwerkplaats.
Students Denisse Román Clemente (Forest & Nature Conservation MSc), Indira Louissen (Forest & Nature Conservation BSc) and Renske Timmermans (Biobased Sciences MSc) are members of the theatre society WDT and actors in Sick Brother.
Louissen: ‘The play is a nod to the reality show Big Brother.’ The participants in that programme are locked up in a house with cameras everywhere that record them day and night. While people round the world are watching them on TV, the residents have to perform various tasks. What ups the pressure is the fact that the person who holds out to the end wins a lot of money.
‘The aim of Sick Brother is to make all the candidates so afraid that they actually want to leave the show,’ explains Timmermans. ‘The organization comes up with actions to chase off the participants. But,’ she says mysteriously, ‘are they the ones thinking this up? Or is something else going on?’ Louissen adds, ‘I don’t want to give the plot away, but things happen that the presenters don’t know about either. The audience will wonder who to believe, what is part of the show and what is not. Gradually, you find out what is really going on.’
‘We started rehearsing at the end of October,’ says Román Clemente. ‘We began by getting to know one another, doing exercises and learning to respond to one another. The play is taking shape now. Everyone is more comfortable in their roles and the set and nearly all the props are finished. It promises to be great.’
Louissen: ‘We will be performing in the Cultuurwerkplaats. The audience will be on the stage and we’ll be in the room. So they will be higher, looking down on the Sick Brother house.’
Sick Brother
April 12, 13 (matinee), 16, 17, 22 and 24
Cultuurwerkplaats, Wageningen.
Tickets 11.50 or 15 euros via wdttoneel.nl
Tips
FRI 21 March
Queer open stage
Shout, De Wilde Wereld
FRI 28 – SUN 30 March
Reclaim the Seeds
Festival at various venues in Wageningen
April
Woeste Hoeve anniversary parties
(Opening party 2/4, Western party 3/4, techno party 4/4, post-beer songs party 8/4, closing party 9/4. See Insta @woestehoeve)
