Schwalbe speelt vals / Schwalbe Cheats

Radical and uncompromising

Who are we when we feel cornered? Who are we if the other is weaker? Who are we if the other does not stick to the rules? We try to save ourselves with the phrase ‘it’s only a game’, but at that point it’s already too late... In Schwalbe’s third performance, Schwalbe speelt vals, the players lose themselves in the game.
  
Schwalbe: ‘In this performance we hope to expose the dark side of human nature – which you hope or believe is not present in you – by playing a game where the distinction between truth and falsehood and between surrendering yourself and watching gradually fades.’
  
Tim Etchells, co-founder of Forced Entertainment in the UK, did the final editing of Schwalbe speelt vals.

• The Schwalbe theatre collective creates physical theatre in which the body is a starting point. The physical is pushed to the extreme; the ultimate consequence of an assignment is sought. The effort – which leads to action – is the performance. The course of that effort changes every night. In 2011 we presented their performances Spaar ze and Schwalbe speelt op eigen kracht.