Theater Oostpool

Come and watch a perfect, sweet and lovely little family see their lives destroyed by the internet.

A new black comedy by Hulst & Tarenskeen, ‘purveyors to the court of razor-sharp theatrical satire’ (De Volkskrant), known for the theatre hits ‘Showmeister’ and ‘Millennial I VREDE’.

Exposed brick wall, a racing bike on the wall and a big plant in the corner. The Smit family have it all sorted. Two forty-somethings with nice jobs, a good relationship and a 15-year-old daughter, whom they are raising by the left-wing progressive handbook. Consent, transparency, open conversations at the kitchen table. Everything can be discussed. They have nothing to hide.

But it would be a boring play if we didn’t drag this family through hell. A website appears. With a timer. 24 hours. When the clock hits zero, everyone will be able to see everyone else’s complete browser history. Every search. Every DM. Every night of porn. Every question you ever asked Google or ChatGPT.

Outside, total anarchy breaks out. People burn laptops and data centres are stormed. Inside, things go eerily quiet. The parents decide to tell each other everything pre-emptively. Small confessions become bigger ones. Fantasies are voiced, supposedly without judgement. And while their marriage slowly crumbles, their teenage daughter has a different problem.

At school, you see, she always pretended she’d already seen everything. All the shocking videos people talked about to look tough. In reality, she was watching dance tutorials. Now she has 24 hours to catch up on her lost innocence. Four screens at once. No breaks. 2 girls 1 cup.

OVERLOAD OVERLOAD OVERLOAD

‘Browser History X’ is a dark comedy about shame, desire and the right to a hidden side. Because do we really want to know everything about each other? Or is it precisely our secrets that keep us together?

Following the acclaimed ‘VREDE’, this is the second instalment of Hulst & Tarenskeen’s Millennial series, about the generation that saw the internet emerge, normalised it and is now being brutally overtaken by it.

Credits Concept and direction: Hulst & Tarenskeen Writer: Kasper Tarenskeen Performed by: Reinout Scholten van Aschat, Eva Van der Gucht and Sara Afiba Scenography: Jan Hulst Costume: Patricia Lim Lighting design: Yuri Schreuders Sound design: Kasper Tarenskeen Dramaturgy: Fanne Boland Production manager: Ilze Versloot Photography: Elza Jo, editing Pieter Hulst