Pleasant Island
Pleasant Island is a documentary theatre performance in which Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere navigate the spectator through audio and images from their research on Nauru, a small island-state in the Pacific Ocean.
Once called ‘Pleasant Island’ by Europeans, the island can be considered as a metaphor of our current day and age. After the exhaustive exploitation of the island’s vast underground phosphate resources, the island was left in economic and ecologic ruins. Today Nauru is most known for hosting refugee detention centres in return for money from Australia. This sparked the government of Nauru to ban most journalists and researchers from entering the island, in an effort to keep negative news from reaching the outside world. Meanwhile, the island risks to be swallowed by the ocean as a result of the rising sea level.
Drawing on interviews and conversations with residents and migrants on the island during a rare visit to Nauru, Huysmans and Dereere encounter the limitations of a world that is intent on endless growth. The performance uses two smartphones to guide the spectator through personal recordings of conversations, whatsapp messages, images and skype-calls. Through their phones, the performers are both close to and far away from this microcosm where colonization, capitalism, migration and ecology intertwine.
By & with: Silke Huysmans & Hannes Dereere
Dramaturgical advice: Dries Douibi
Sound mixing: Lieven Dousselaere
Production: Campo
Coproduction: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Spielart Festival, De Brakke Grond, Spring Festival, Kwp Pianofabriek, Veem House for Performance, Kaap
With the support of: VGC
Residencies: Beursschouwburg, Kaap, Buda, LOD, Stuk, De Grote Post, De Brakke Grond, Kwp Pianofabriek, Veem House for Performance
Thanks to: all conversation partners
REVIEW
‘Pijnpunten van migratie, gender en identiteit worden op het Kunstenfestivaldesarts prachtig verbeeld’
De Volkskrant (The Netherlands, 12.05.2019)
REVIEW
‘Théâtre: le Kunsten déplace ses lignes à Molenbeek. Le festival bruxellois de création contemporaine fait voyager sur l’île de Nauru et en Thaïlande.’
Le Monde (France, 13.05.2019)
REVIEW
‘Kleinste eiland van de wereld legt grootste spiegel voor’
Theaterkrant (The Netherlands, 13.05.2019)
REVIEW
‘Goed begonnen is snel ontgonnen’
De Standaard (Belgium, 13.05.2019)
REVIEW
‘Théâtre. À Bruxelles, les propositions engageantes du “Kunstenfestivaldesarts”’
Des Mots de Minuit (France, 21.05.2019)
REVIEW
‘Eco-critical theatre’
Asahi News (Japan, 12.09.2019)
AUDIO-REVIEW
‘Moet u naar Pleasant Island en/of Let us believe in the beginning of the cold season?’
De Zendelingen (Belgium, 10.07.2019)
INTERVIEW
‘Theaterstuk 'Pleasant Island' zoomt in op Nauru, vroeger een paradijs, nu een vluchtelingenkamp’
De Morgen (09.05.2019)
RADIO INTERVIEW
‘Pompidou op maandag 6 mei’
Klara (06.05.2019)
UPCOMING DATES:
May 12: Auawirleben, Bern (CH) *cancelled
May 13: Auawirleben, Bern (CH) *cancelled
May 26: Freiburg Festival, Freiburg (DE) *cancelled
May 27: Freiburg Festival, Freiburg (DE) *cancelled
June 26: Festival Belluard Bollwerk, Fribourg (CH) *cancelled
Jul 11: Festival Theaterformen, Hannover (DE) *cancelled
Jul 12: Festival Theaterformen, Hannover (DE) *cancelled
Aug 15: Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zürich (CH) *cancelled
Aug 16: Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zürich (CH) *cancelled
Aug 17: Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zürich (CH) *cancelled
Sep 1-8: La Bâtie, Geneva (CH)
Oct 6: Contact Theatre, Manchester (UK) *cancelled
Oct 8: Artsadmin, London (UK)
Oct 9: ACCA, Brighton (UK)
Oct 11: Cambridge Junction, Cambridge (UK)
Oct 13: Festival d'Automne, Paris (FR)
Oct 14: Festival d'Automne, Paris (FR)
Oct 15: Festival d'Automne, Paris (FR)
Oct 16: Festival d'Automne, Paris (FR)
Oct 17: Festival d'Automne, Paris (FR)
Nov 16: Arge Kultur, Salzburg (AT)
Nov 17: Arge Kultur, Salzburg (AT)
Nov 21: Het Paleis, Antwerp (BE)
Nov 28: CC Ter Vesten, Beveren (BE)
Dec 4: Beursschouwburg, Brussels (BE)
PAST DATES:
→ 2020
Apr 30: CC De Schakel, Waregem (BE) *cancelled
Apr 23: Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry (UK) *cancelled
Apr 22: Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry (UK) *cancelled
Apr 3: Zona K, Milano (IT) *cancelled
Apr 2: Zona K, Milano (IT) *cancelled
Mar 25: Festival Cement, Den Bosch (NL) *cancelled
Mar 24: Festival Cement, Den Bosch (NL) *cancelled
Mar 21: Points Communs, Cergy-Pontoise (FR) *cancelled
Mar 20: Points Communs, Cergy-Pontoise (FR) *cancelled
Mar 18: Pilar, Brussels (BE) *cancelled
Mar 13: Leietheater, Deinze (BE) *cancelled
Mar 11: Arenbergschouwburg, Antwerp (BE)
Mar 6: Theatre Commons, Tokyo (JP)
Mar 5: Theatre Commons, Tokyo (JP)
Feb 7: Rosendal Teater, Trondheim (NO)
Feb 6: Rosendal Teater, Trondheim (NO)
Jan 11: Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna (AT)
Jan 10: Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna (AT)
→ 2019
Nov 29: Akcent Festival, Prague (CZ)
Nov 22: Kunstencentrum Nona, Mechelen (BE)
Oct 31: Pact Zollverein, Essen (DE)
Oct 29: Spielart, Munich (DE)
Oct 28: Spielart, Munich (DE)
Oct 26: De Grote Post, Ostend (BE)
Oct 25: Campo, Ghent (BE)
Oct 24: Campo, Ghent (BE)
Oct 23: Campo, Ghent (BE)
Oct 4: Materiais Diversos, Cartaxo (PT)
Sep 25: De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL)
Sep 24: De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL)
Aug 8: (21:00) Theater Aan Zee, Ostend (BE)
Aug 8: (15:00) Theater Aan Zee, Ostend (BE)
Aug 7: Theater Aan Zee, Ostend (BE)
Jun 27: Latitudes Contemporaines, Lille (FR)
May 21: SPRING Festival, Utrecht (NL)
May 20: SPRING Festival, Utrecht (NL)
May 13: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE)
May 12: (20:30) Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE)
May 12: (15:00) Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE)
May 11: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE)
May 10: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE) *premiere
Pleasant Island
Pleasant Island is a documentary theatre performance in which Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere navigate the spectator through audio and images from their research on Nauru, a small island-state in the Pacific Ocean.
Once called ‘Pleasant Island’ by Europeans, the island can be considered as a metaphor of our current day and age. After the exhaustive exploitation of the island’s vast underground phosphate resources, the island was left in economic and ecologic ruins. Today Nauru is most known for hosting refugee detention centres in return for money from Australia. This sparked the government of Nauru to ban most journalists and researchers from entering the island, in an effort to keep negative news from reaching the outside world. Meanwhile, the island risks to be swallowed by the ocean as a result of the rising sea level.
Drawing on interviews and conversations with residents and migrants on the island during a rare visit to Nauru, Huysmans and Dereere encounter the limitations of a world that is intent on endless growth. The performance uses two smartphones to guide the spectator through personal recordings of conversations, whatsapp messages, images and skype-calls. Through their phones, the performers are both close to and far away from this microcosm where colonization, capitalism, migration and ecology intertwine.
By & with: Silke Huysmans & Hannes Dereere
Dramaturgical advice: Dries Douibi
Sound mixing: Lieven Dousselaere
Production: Campo
Coproduction: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Spielart Festival, De Brakke Grond, Spring Festival, Kwp Pianofabriek, Veem House for Performance, Kaap
With the support of: VGC
Residencies: Beursschouwburg, Kaap, Buda, LOD, Stuk, De Grote Post, De Brakke Grond, Kwp Pianofabriek, Veem House for Performance
Thanks to: all conversation partners
REVIEW
‘Pijnpunten van migratie, gender en identiteit worden op het Kunstenfestivaldesarts prachtig verbeeld’
De Volkskrant (The Netherlands, 12.05.2019)
REVIEW
‘Théâtre: le Kunsten déplace ses lignes à Molenbeek. Le festival bruxellois de création contemporaine fait voyager sur l’île de Nauru et en Thaïlande.’
Le Monde (France, 13.05.2019)
REVIEW
‘Kleinste eiland van de wereld legt grootste spiegel voor’
Theaterkrant (The Netherlands, 13.05.2019)
REVIEW
‘Goed begonnen is snel ontgonnen’
De Standaard (Belgium, 13.05.2019)
REVIEW
‘Théâtre. À Bruxelles, les propositions engageantes du “Kunstenfestivaldesarts”’
Des Mots de Minuit (France, 21.05.2019)
REVIEW
‘Eco-critical theatre’
Asahi News (Japan, 12.09.2019)
AUDIO-REVIEW
‘Moet u naar Pleasant Island en/of Let us believe in the beginning of the cold season?’
De Zendelingen (Belgium, 10.07.2019)
INTERVIEW
‘Theaterstuk 'Pleasant Island' zoomt in op Nauru, vroeger een paradijs, nu een vluchtelingenkamp’
De Morgen (09.05.2019)
RADIO INTERVIEW
‘Pompidou op maandag 6 mei’
Klara (06.05.2019)
UPCOMING DATES:
May 12: Auawirleben, Bern (CH) *cancelled
May 13: Auawirleben, Bern (CH) *cancelled
May 26: Freiburg Festival, Freiburg (DE) *cancelled
May 27: Freiburg Festival, Freiburg (DE) *cancelled
June 26: Festival Belluard Bollwerk, Fribourg (CH) *cancelled
Jul 11: Festival Theaterformen, Hannover (DE) *cancelled
Jul 12: Festival Theaterformen, Hannover (DE) *cancelled
Aug 15: Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zürich (CH) *cancelled
Aug 16: Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zürich (CH) *cancelled
Aug 17: Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zürich (CH) *cancelled
Sep 1-8: La Bâtie, Geneva (CH)
Oct 6: Contact Theatre, Manchester (UK) *cancelled
Oct 8: Artsadmin, London (UK)
Oct 9: ACCA, Brighton (UK)
Oct 11: Cambridge Junction, Cambridge (UK)
Oct 13: Festival d'Automne, Paris (FR)
Oct 14: Festival d'Automne, Paris (FR)
Oct 15: Festival d'Automne, Paris (FR)
Oct 16: Festival d'Automne, Paris (FR)
Oct 17: Festival d'Automne, Paris (FR)
Nov 16: Arge Kultur, Salzburg (AT)
Nov 17: Arge Kultur, Salzburg (AT)
Nov 21: Het Paleis, Antwerp (BE)
Nov 28: CC Ter Vesten, Beveren (BE)
Dec 4: Beursschouwburg, Brussels (BE)
PAST DATES:
→ 2020
Apr 30: CC De Schakel, Waregem (BE) *cancelled
Apr 23: Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry (UK) *cancelled
Apr 22: Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry (UK) *cancelled
Apr 3: Zona K, Milano (IT) *cancelled
Apr 2: Zona K, Milano (IT) *cancelled
Mar 25: Festival Cement, Den Bosch (NL) *cancelled
Mar 24: Festival Cement, Den Bosch (NL) *cancelled
Mar 21: Points Communs, Cergy-Pontoise (FR) *cancelled
Mar 20: Points Communs, Cergy-Pontoise (FR) *cancelled
Mar 18: Pilar, Brussels (BE) *cancelled
Mar 13: Leietheater, Deinze (BE) *cancelled
Mar 11: Arenbergschouwburg, Antwerp (BE)
Mar 6: Theatre Commons, Tokyo (JP)
Mar 5: Theatre Commons, Tokyo (JP)
Feb 7: Rosendal Teater, Trondheim (NO)
Feb 6: Rosendal Teater, Trondheim (NO)
Jan 11: Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna (AT)
Jan 10: Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna (AT)
→ 2019
Nov 29: Akcent Festival, Prague (CZ)
Nov 22: Kunstencentrum Nona, Mechelen (BE)
Oct 31: Pact Zollverein, Essen (DE)
Oct 29: Spielart, Munich (DE)
Oct 28: Spielart, Munich (DE)
Oct 26: De Grote Post, Ostend (BE)
Oct 25: Campo, Ghent (BE)
Oct 24: Campo, Ghent (BE)
Oct 23: Campo, Ghent (BE)
Oct 4: Materiais Diversos, Cartaxo (PT)
Sep 25: De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL)
Sep 24: De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL)
Aug 8: (21:00) Theater Aan Zee, Ostend (BE)
Aug 8: (15:00) Theater Aan Zee, Ostend (BE)
Aug 7: Theater Aan Zee, Ostend (BE)
Jun 27: Latitudes Contemporaines, Lille (FR)
May 21: SPRING Festival, Utrecht (NL)
May 20: SPRING Festival, Utrecht (NL)
May 13: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE)
May 12: (20:30) Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE)
May 12: (15:00) Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE)
May 11: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE)
May 10: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (BE) *premiere