Orphans
"Maybe there's no good and evil. Just mistakes and not mistakes." - Dennis Kelly
In his play Orphans (2009), Dennis Kelly tells a brief story of three people: Helen and her husband Danny are at home celebrating the news that Helen is pregnant with their second child, but their celebratory dinner is interrupted. Helen's brother Liam turns up covered in blood and claims to have found an injured boy on the street. The more Danny and Helen grill him, the more it becomes clear that Liam is not as innocent as he pretends to be.
In chaotic and true-to-life dialogue that almost faithfully reflects the faltering and jolting communication between people, Kelly meticulously unravels a moral dilemma. The thoughtlessness of everyone's behaviour forms a metaphor for a larger conversation about racism, discrimination and social disruption. Thus, Orphans becomes a disturbing reflection on the capacity in all of us to do evil.
• A reoccurring name in the Kaai programme, tg STAN is known for their open way of working; giving everyone a say in everything, from choice of text, set and lighting to costumes and posters. In Orphans, tg STAN takes up Kelly's text for the second time. Whereas in Move (on) (2020) the text was still intertwined with dance, poetry and literature from the Middle East, now Kelly's theatre text itself takes centre stage.
“Geweldig stuk. Prachtige vertolkingen. (…) tg Stan maakt er een indrukwekkende bewerking van.” – Pzazz
text Dennis Kelly | by & with Evgenia Brendes, Jolente De Keersmaeker, Atta Nasser, Haider Al Timimi, Gustavo Vieira | light Stef Stessel | costumes Sietske Van Aerde | production STAN | co-production Kloppend Hert, Moussem, Toneelhuis, Vooruit
This performance contains depictions of racism, verbal abuse and fake blood.