X Y WE
X Y WE is a powerful performance that effectively and truthfully offers a glimpse into the lives of intersex people. On the floor are six people, of all ages, who each and together tell their story, some for the first time in their lives. Together, they form a close ensemble of experts by experience, directed according to their different ambitions and talents. They play, certainly, but above all they are themselves. In an inviting tale full of imagination, lightness and humour.
Start 8:00 pm
Location Grote Zaal
Duration 60 minutes
XX chromosomes form a woman,
XY chromosomes form a man.
And when I asked, is it possible ... the teacher said:
No, there is no such thing.
We do not exist. They said.
Don't tell anyone. They said.
So we live unseen, unheard.
And you have come to believe that we do not exist.
Until now.
NOW WE GIVE YOU WORDS. WE GIVE YOU A STORY. OUR STORY. YOU CAN TELL IT TO ANYONE.
190,000 Dutch and 57,000 Belgians are intersex persons: people who were born with a body that does not conform to the normative definition of male or female. They have often been kept often remained silent, even by themselves, on the advice of doctors. Theatre maker Marleen Hendrickx, herself intersex, breaks through that silence with her performance.
X Y WE is part of the theatre campaign of the same name which makes a practical contribution to the emancipation of intersex people, by increasing knowledge about being intersex and working towards a legal ban on 'unnecessary operations' in this context. Because until recently and sometimes still today, the mainstream medical world adapts intersex people to the prevailing gender norms.
-|-Marleen Hendrickx's campaign also consists of her solo performance X Y I and the interactive education programme F Y I (For Your Information). X Y WE runs until the end of 2022. Both performances play in hospitals and other medical centres (conferences), in schools and in regular theatres.
25 March - 3 april
LIEVE STAD,
Amsterdam is a city of many faces, literally, because we live here together with many different nationalities. Lieve Stad is about the city and all its inhabitants. This festival, a collaboration between ITA and Meervaart, is about bringing people together, in the city, in the theatre, in society. How do we live together and what stories do all individuals and groups carry with them? They all have their own stories, strengths and challenges. Showing these is the starting point of Lieve Stad,
CREDITS
composition and direction Marleen Hendrickx
actors and texts X Y WE Katoo, Nienke van Dijk, Joyce Kiela of Chanel Asberg, Geert de Vocht, Koen Wildenbeest and Marleen Hendrickx
text composition Jorg van den Kieboom
stage image Robin Schijfs
clothing Jeanne Foesenek
tour management Jos van Aert
Stage technique Kees Theunissen / Jasper Nijholt
graphic design Gijs Martens
webdesign Tijgerbrood
trailer and scene photography Sjoerd Derine / Rob ten Broek
production Bureau Pees
X Y WE is made possible by the VSBfonds, the VriendenLoterij Fonds, Fonds ZOZ, Stichting Janivo, the Nederlandse Klinefelter Vereniging, We Are Public and L'Oréal.
Bureau Pees receives long-term support from the City of Breda and the Province of Noord-Brabant.