Hideous (wo)men
2013
An experimental soap about the egoless human
Bianca van der Schoot, Suzan Boogaerdt and Susanne Kennedy .
Bianca van der Schoot, Suzan Boogaerdt and Susanne Kennedy have together created the performance Hideous (Wo)men, an expressive and bold theatre production, moulded as a soap. Hideous (Wo)men experiments with the i
llusion of individual autonomy. The pressure to be a unique individual is very intense in our society. We believe we can be real and authentic individuals and shape our lives by the choices we make. But what if that’s not true? What if we’re just people wearing a mask and have learned to consider it our face? Hideous (Wo)men shows people like all of us. People who try to be real. People who play men or women, but maybe aren’t men and women after all. People who think they are of one piece, but in reality are a succession of fragments.
Suzan Boogaerdt says about the gender patterns in the production: “I often play men in our productions because I find it liberating. I project onto men that they allow themselves much more freedom. I think that’s fascinating because it is, in a certain way, very different from what I am, although I identify with men often. The things that are expected from men or women in real life are in fact just some agreement. The borders we have created in our world between a man and a woman provide a sham hold. In Hideous (Wo)men we’ll busy ourselves with that borderland.
llusion of individual autonomy. The pressure to be a unique individual is very intense in our society. We believe we can be real and authentic individuals and shape our lives by the choices we make. But what if that’s not true? What if we’re just people wearing a mask and have learned to consider it our face? Hideous (Wo)men shows people like all of us. People who try to be real. People who play men or women, but maybe aren’t men and women after all. People who think they are of one piece, but in reality are a succession of fragments.
Suzan Boogaerdt says about the gender patterns in the production: “I often play men in our productions because I find it liberating. I project onto men that they allow themselves much more freedom. I think that’s fascinating because it is, in a certain way, very different from what I am, although I identify with men often. The things that are expected from men or women in real life are in fact just some agreement. The borders we have created in our world between a man and a woman provide a sham hold. In Hideous (Wo)men we’ll busy ourselves with that borderland.
