Birds of a Kind
Selected by Nederlands Theater Festival!
“Directed by Alize Zandwijk, Birds of a Kind offers besides food for awareness a glimmer of hope that transcends polarising perspectives on genetics. An invitation to open the heart to that oh so treacherous other.” – Theaterkrant
Birds of a Kind by Canadian-Lebanese writer Wajdi Mouawad is a family drama set amid the enduring tensions between Palestine and Israel, and their far-reaching consequences. We are aware of the changed context in which Birds of a Kind is now being performed, but feel it is more important than ever to bring this story to the stage. We see theatre as a powerful medium to tell stories and engage in conversation.
Location On tour in the Netherlands
Run time 130 minutes
Genre Theatre
Language Dutch
Birds of a Kind
A distinct theme in the work of Mouawad is that great history and individual lives are inextricably linked. He shows how people from diametrically opposed cultures nevertheless try to live together. That is also the case in Birds of a Kind (Vogels).
When the German-Jewish Eitan and the American-Arab Wahida happen to meet in the library of New York, they fall in love instantly. But is their relationship likely to succeed? Eitan's family carries the memory of the Holocaust with them. Therefore, his father cannot live with his son's choice.
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Things are turned upside down when Eitan is seriously injured in a bomb attack by a suicide bomber in Israel. Family members gather around the hospital bed, uncovering a long-held secret that shatters all assumptions of identity and enmity.
The work of Wajdi Mouawad was put firmly on the map in the Netherlands by Alize Zandwijk. She directed his Bossen (2014), Kust (2012) and Branden (2010), which became a theatre hit. Birds of a Kind (2019) has previously been performed in Germany, also directed by Alize Zandwijk.
Alize Zandwijk about Birds of a Kind
“About a meeting that is destined: a Jewish boy and an Arab girl meet in a library. A beautiful love story. But the Jewish father cannot accept his son's choice.
About the boy's quest for his father's roots, the roots of his family. Which causes a lot of confusion. Because nothing is what it is. About the roots of the girl who has found her homeland again. Because she did everything she could to exorcise it.
About enmity and about identity. About the birds that can fly back and forth over the Israeli-Palestinian wall. A breathless search for who you are. And that we should be able to live like the birds.”
REVIEWS
NRC
“The actors' strong silent acting makes the drama play out on their faces as much as in the dramatic scenes they witness with us. In this way, Zandwijk makes the passage of the past into the present tangible.”
de Volkskrant
“With her fanciful direction, Alize Zandwijk has made Birds of a Kind an exhilarating performance.”
de Telegraaf
“A poetic attempt to connect.”
Het Parool
“Thus Birds of a Kind intertwines larger history with personal lives and choices, or lets them collide.”
Trouw
“No comfort perhaps, but in this piece lots of glimpses of beauty.”
Theaterkrant
“Directed by Alize Zandwijk, Birds of a Kind offers besides food for awareness a glimmer of hope that transcends polarising perspectives on genetics. An invitation to open the heart to that oh so treacherous other.”
PROGRAM BROCHURE
Read more about the production's direction, scenography, costumes and music in our digital brochure.
Alize Zandwijk is a Dutch director. She studied at the Academy for Expression by Word and Gesture in Kampen. In 1997, Zandwijk won The Proscenium Prize, one of the VSCD Awards.
From 2006 to 2016, she was artistic leader of the Ro Theater. During this period, she was responsible for the company's artistic policy together with Guy Cassiers. She continued her career at Theater Bremen as Oberspielleier, for which she received the Kurt-Hubner-Preis in 2020.
In season 24/25 her direction of Birds of a Kind will be reprised.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Credits
directed by Alize Zandwijk
written by Wajdi Mouawad
translation Tom Kleijn
dramaturgy Peter van Kraaij
scenography Thomas Rupert
costume design Sophie Klenk-Wulff
lighting design Mark van Denesse
compositions Maartje Teussink en Amber Docters van Leeuwen
sound design Dennis Slot
animation Wim Bechtold
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private producer Mies and Jaap Kamp
supported by Ammodo en KPMG
with thanks to Theater Bremen en Nesoptiek
This performance is sponsored by
Ivo van Hove adapted Who Killed My Father, by internationally acclaimed writer Édouard Louis, for the stage. Van Hove turned the very outspoken book into a monologue, especially for Hans Kesting.
