Bambie speelt Bambi

It had to happen: a show about the little deer that Mimetheatergroep Bambie is named after. Who hasn’t been enchanted by the most famous children’s film of all time? And what is it actually telling us? In Walt Disney’s version, Bambi grows up in an idyllic forest where all the talking animals are friends, and he finds his destiny with a partner and as father to yet more Bambis. But that is a heavily romanticised version of the original story. In the 1923 book by Austrian writer Felix Salten, nature is cruel and Bambi remains alone. Because to survive, you have to learn to rely on yourself.

In its own visual theatre language – wildly absurdist and emotionally charged – Mimetheatergroep Bambie sets Disney romance against Salten realism. Iconic film scenes are given a new translation: Bambi’s adorable birth, the slapstick slipping and sliding on the ice, the death of Bambi’s mother, the hormonal discovery of love. The forest is a home invaded by the elements, inhabited by human figures with animal urges. In Bambie speelt Bambi three individuals search for a personal answer to the question of what our ‘natural’ destiny is – and which life lessons are needed to grow up in these times. 

45 minutes before the start, Annette Embrechts, dance and theatre journalist for de Volkskrant, will give an introduction. You can reserve a free place for this during the ordering process.

Credits

Performers/creators: QiQi van Boheemen, Odin van Diepen and Jochem Stavenuiter

Director: Jochem Stavenuiter and Marijn van der Jagt

Compositions and sound design: Amber Docters van Leeuwen

Lighting design: Manuel Boutreur