Lara Staal - De Gevangenis

Belgium has struggled for years with overcrowded, completely outdated prisons. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture has already repeatedly reprimanded our country. The European Court of Human Rights condemned Belgium in 2014. Why do we stubbornly cling to a system that we have known for decades is failing?  

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Four ex-convicts, together with theatre maker Lara Staal, have made a razor-sharp analysis of our prison system. After Dissident, about the Flemish education system, and SERDI, about child welfare, Staal once again gives a voice to people who are burdened by a failing system. Prisons form a parallel universe. They are mini-societies that exist alongside the visible, open society. What do we think about punishment and imprisonment today? And which voices are definitive in this? With Bahadir Kanmaz, Kevin Laforce, Adam Rambouk, and the very hip rapper Freddie Konings. 

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In a number of scenes, essayistic and clearly divided into acts preceded by an (inter)title, the four players sketch the prison system and the lack of guidance for those who return to civilization. They alternately adopt a didactic or playful attitude. In this way we get a theoretical, historical explanation of prison design, or learn about ‘detention damage’ – the inability to participate in normal life again after a period in detention. Then the reinforcing factor of theatre as role-playing becomes visible again. Players switch between themselves and their characters, reverse roles, and are just as likely to play a judge as a prison guard. Sometimes exaggerated, sometimes with a dose of understanding. The audience also becomes complicit when the lights go on. – Ans Van Gasse in Pzazz  

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• Lara Staal (born 1984, Zwolle) is a researcher, writer, and curator. She studied theatre pedagogy at ArtEZ in Arnhem and theatre science & dramaturgy at the University of Amsterdam. Between 2013 and 2016, Staal worked as a programmer at Frascati, where she developed various socio-political programmes. At NTGent, where she is artist in residence, she developed the series De Staat van from the 2018–2019 season, in which she reflects on fundamental classical values. In the 2021–2022 season, Staal created the successful performance Dissident along with five 'problem cases' from Ghent schools. In July 2023 SERDI, a monologue by Serdi, a beatboxer and actor from Ghent on his experience with youth care and directed by Staal, premiered at Theater Aan Zee. 

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concept & regie Lara Staal | cast Bahadir Kanmaz, Kevin Laforce / Laurens Aneca, Adam Rambouk, Freddie Konings | dramaturgie Matthias Velle | licht- & decorontwerp Grischa Runge | video-ontwerp Aisha Adepoju | spelcoach Laurens Aneca