Orphans
STAN - Dennis Kelly
- Theater
STAN's take on British playwright Dennis Kelly's play "Orphans" challenges moral issues. The collective plunges us into the heart of an evening where the party quickly turns sour. STAN uses the corrosive writing of the English writer to explore today's social cruelty and the violence hidden in the intimacy of the family.
Helen and her husband Danny are at home celebrating the news that Helen is pregnant with their second child, but their meal is interrupted by Helen’s brother Liam, who arrives covered in blood, claiming that he found an injured boy on the street. The more Danny and Helen grill him, the more it appears that Liam is not as innocent as he makes out.
In chaotic and true-to-life dialogues, which graphically convey faltering, staccato communication, Kelly meticulously unravels a moral dilemma in which the border between good and evil is wafer-thin and the inconsiderateness of everyone’s behaviour is a metaphor for a wider discussion about racism, discrimination and social deprivation. So ‘Orphans’ is an unsettling reflection on the capacity within us all to do wrong.
« Maybe there’s no good and evil. Just mistakes and not mistakes. »
FLANDERS
In English with French surtitles.
From 14 years old.
Text Dennis Kelly
By and with Evgenia Brendes alternating with Ibtissam Boulbahaiem, Jolente De Keersmaeker, Atta Nasser, Haider Al Timimi et Gustavo Vieira
Light creation Stef Stessel
Costumes Sietske Van Aerde
A production of STAN, in co-production with Kloppend Hert, Moussem, Toneelhuis, Vooruit | STAN is associated artist at Théâtre Les Tanneurs.
© Kurt Van der Elst