ONTROEREND GOED
Handle with Care
/BEL/
Handle with Care is theatre stripped down to its essence. No actors, no technicians. Just a box. And you.
A box is mailed to the theatre. The instructions are clear: Invite a group of people, on a specific night, at a specific time. Let the audience take their seats. Place the box at the centre of the stage. The audience is waiting. And then an audience member stands up and opens the box.
The show has started.
In Handle with Care, Ontroerend Goed puts you in control. We provide the structure; you shape the experience. Choose your role—take the lead or observe as others make choices that steer the performance in unexpected directions. Together, you create something special: a shared experience filled with reflections on time, transience, and togetherness.
And don’t worry—there are no wrong choices in Handle with Care. You’ve got this. For one hour, you’ll live something unique, fleeting, and unrepeatable.
Here. Now. Together. No one is watching. What is yours, stays yours. Take good care of it. And send us a postcard.
Duration: between 60 & 90 minutes, depending on the group
Language: simple English
Age: 14+
Performances:
Wed, 2.07 at 17:00 in Culture Centre big hall (in Estonian) (BUY TICKET, ticket sale starts at 15th of April at 12.00)
Thu, 3.07 at 19:30 in Culture Centre big hall (in Estonian) (BUY TICKET, ticket sale starts at 15th of April at 12.00)
Fri, 4.07 at 15:30 in Culture Centre big hall (in English) (BUY TICKET, ticket sale starts at 15th of April at 12.00)
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The Belgian theatre-performance-group Ontroerend Goed (a punning name, roughly translated as “Feel Estate”) produces self-devised work grounded in the here and now, inviting their audiences to participate as well as observe. Whether they are performing backwards, turning spectators into voters who eliminate actors, guiding strangers through a labyrinth of mirrors and avatars to meet themselves, or placing the audience at the controls of the financial system, the company has made it its trademark to be unpredictable in content and form.
They first emerged on the international scene in 2007, with ‘The Smile Off Your Face’, a one-on-one show in which the audience is tied to a wheelchair and then blindfolded. Their hit show ‘Once and For All’ was an uncompromising celebration of raw teenage energy on stage. Since then, the Belgian company has won numerous prizes across Europe and has hit New York, Sydney, and London to critical acclaim.
Ontroerend Goed is Alexander Devriendt, Charlotte De Bruyne, Karolien De Bleser, Aurélie Lannoy, Leonore Spee, Samir Veen, Remi Cosijn, Wim Smet, Hannes Pieters, Luna Boone, Justine Boutens & Beth Thyrion
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“More than a decade on, Ontroerend Goed is no less exciting as a company but it has matured, becoming more compassionate in the way it explores and uses intimacy. It recognises a responsibility beyond the time spent in the theatre together.”
Lyn Gardner, The Stage
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Concept & creation: Alexander Devriendt, Karolien De Bleser, Samir Veen, Leonore Spee & Charlotte De Bruyne
Design: Nick Mattan & Edouard Devriendt
Voices: Silvio Vovk (HR), Jong Wook Yang (KR), Gina Beuk (DE), Karolien De Bleser, Leonore Spee, Samir Veen, Charlotte De Bruyne, Aurélie Lannoy, Alexander Devriendt, i.a.
Translation: Martine Bom (FR), Aurélie Lannoy (FR), Samir Veen (EN), Tiffer Hutchings (editor EN), Lore Meesters (DE), Hong Zhan (CN), Tai Yin Chang (CN), Mima Simić (HR), Dayoung Jeong (KR), Andrea Romano (IT), i.a.
Production team: Leda Decleyre, Lynn Van den Bergh, Willie-Marie Hermans & Hannes Pieters
Assembly: Jana Vos, Emma Verhaegen, Roos-Marie De Schryver, Juta Donckers
Photography: Ans Brys & Joëlle Desmet
Video: Aaron Denolf
Production: Ontroerend Goed
Coproduction: NTGent (BE); Stadttheater Schaffhausen (CH); Melbourne Fringe (AU); Theatre Royal Plymouth (UK); Take Me Somewhere, Glasgow (UK); CCAM Scène Nationale de Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy (FR); IDFA, Amsterdam (NL); De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL); YOUNG Theatre, Shanghai (CN); Hexagone Scène Nationale, Meylan (FR); MAIF Social Club – Biennale Némo, Paris (FR); La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand (FR); Lowry, Salford (UK); Scène Nationale Carré-Colonnes, Saint-Médard-en-Jalles (FR); Theater RAMPE, Stuttgart (DE); The Zoom Arts Center, Seoul (KR); Hong Kong Arts Festival (HK); Cambridge Junction (UK); The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (HR); La Mouche, Saint-Genis-Laval (FR); Sapienze CREA, Nuovo Teatro Ateneo, Rome (IT); Gothenburg English Studio Theatre (SE); Perpodium, Antwerpen (BE)
With the support of: the Flemish Community, the city of Ghent, the Tax Shelter measures of the Belgian federal government & Cronos Invest
Many thanks to: Angelo Tijssens, Wouter Lambrechts, zwartopwit, Speelkaartenmuseum / Rock Paper Pencil, Turnhout
