Doolhof in je hoofd | De Theaterstraat

Maze in your head is a reconstruction of what happens when someone loses control over themselves and their environment. How do healthcare providers, police officers and policy makers react? And friends and neighbours? In the performance Maze in your head, real stories and experiences, candid conversations with the audience and exciting theatre scenes are intertwined. In this way, players and audience together search for a way out of the maze of systems, thoughts and possible solutions.

Biography

Theaterstraat is a collective of makers that develops and presents unique, social-artistic projects and cultural activities in and from Amsterdam-Noord. They develop projects about urgent social-societal topics that arise from the environment.

Background info

In recent years, incidents involving so-called 'confused persons' have increased significantly. Due to a complex interplay of political and social systems, the willingness to live with the 'deviant' seems to have decreased significantly. Help seems further away than ever and various agencies, sometimes out of necessity, point to each other. This is painfully apparent, especially in a large city and in times of crisis. Meboer believes that the solution can be found by bringing residents and professionals together with art as a means and as a conversation starter.

Since 2020, she has been researching how we as a society deal with people with misunderstood behavior. In conversations with experts by experience, healthcare providers and community police officers from Amsterdam-Noord, it soon becomes clear that she is not an objective outsider. Due to her personal experience with labels, stigmas and mental health, she can be considered an insider.

The performance Doolhof in je hoofd is the result of her research. The text was developed based on the conversations and interviews with both bystanders and insiders. The audience also experiences what happens in the head of a person who loses control of life.

As a discussion leader and player, Rianne reconstructs the reaction of various bystanders to the escalation of someone with temporarily confused behavior. Each performance is different, because the audience is a third player, who talks along and thinks along. Doolhof in je hoofd is a combination of documentary theater and dialogue with the audience. The maker gives space to diverse perspectives, which challenge the audience to step out of their daily role.