THEATRE
During and after her studies, Elsbeth has created several performances, both solo and in collaboration with others. On this page, you can read more about these productions, and in her portfolio, you will find more visual material from the performances.
What is the role of silence in times of war and recovery? What does war sound like? And what could not be spoken of before and after the war?
In the performance Stil Leven, young people from Amsterdam, under the guidance of theatre makers Elsbeth Hoefkens and Hannah Vrijenhoek, explored the history of the city during World War II. They spoke with older generations about what it was like to be young during the war. These personal stories and memories, supplemented with other historical source materials, form the foundation of the performance. In a quiet ritual, the performers reveal what lies beneath the silence.
Direction: Elsbeth Hoefkens and Hannah Vrijenhoek
Text: PACT year 1 performers, Elsbeth Hoefkens, and Hannah Vrijenhoek
Performance: PACT year 1 performers
Production: Alejandra Zabala
Co-producers: CC Amstel and Theater PACT
to be
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Aletta Jacobs, Beyoncé, Emma Watson, Angela Merkel, the neighbour from number 85, Oprah Winfrey, Eva Jinek, Michelle Obama. Just a few examples of independent strong women. Women who fight for equal treatment, and seem to be an endless source of strength. In Mother Nature, this inexhaustibility is examined in connection with the human perspective on nature.
In the performance Mother Nature, two women question the concept of the “powerful woman.” Through feminist texts, music, female role models, and interesting anecdotes, the current trend of how we look up to powerful women is explored. And how, secretly, we also view nature in this way. This performance exposes the issue within this mindset: an exhaustion battle. The audience is therefore challenged to question and nuance their perspective on women and nature.
Mother Nature was performed in 2021 at festival De Oversteek.
Direction and concept: Elsbeth Hoefkens
Performers: Anne de Jong and Maud Eikenaar
Young people from Arnhem, under the guidance of theatre maker Elsbeth Hoefkens, delved into the history of Arnhem during World War II. Their research forms the basis for the short film PuinHoop.
The short film PuinHoop is about finding hope and looking ahead during a time of crisis. In this dynamic film about movement and stillness, director Elsbeth Hoefkens captures a group of young people reflecting on their future. Through WhatsApp conversations, physical theatre, and old radio fragments, they shape their search. Do they find comfort in the stories of the past? About the obstacles along the way. About the ideals and dreams of then and now.
Theater Na de Dam
PuinHoop was part of the twelfth edition of Theater Na de Dam, where nearly 500 young people participated in 43 projects across the Netherlands, working to make 4th May meaningful, despite the pandemic. Based on digital conversations and letters exchanged between young and old about the war, something valuable is created in many different forms, and we reflect not only on the past but also on the complex times we live in now.
The short film PuinHoop premiered on Tuesday, 4th May 2021, at 20:30 on YouTube. The short film can be watched here.
Direction: Elsbeth Hoefkens
Young people from Arnhem: Merijn Hardeman, Joeke Groot, Marinus Hondeveld, Luke Peek, Femmy Smits, Pauline de Does, Mina Hondeveld, Ruth de Does, Juno Rutten, and Sofie Staals.
Directorial guidance: Nicole Vervloed
Artistic advice: Kasper Tarenskeen
Costume advice: Femke van Neerven
Recruitment and youth guidance: Marti Arts
Production manager: Jeroen Heinen
Marketing: Andrea Lentink
Campaign image: Anna Fransen
PuinHoop is a co-production of Muziektheater De Plaats and Toneelgroep Oostpool.
 
“Identity is about sharing ideas, beliefs or history through a common set of attributes and signs establishing a recognizable sense of identification.”
IK BEN DUSÂ is an interdisciplinary performance in which six performers join you in exploring the meaning and role of identity. It is an investigation into how identity comes into being, why it comes into being the way it does, its impact, its rigidity, its past and present. It looks at where it rubs and where it illuminates. It explores where understanding opens up and where it closes.
Six performers will engage you in this conversation. They will discuss the disappearance of old certainties, about how the world has become more unpredictable, diffuse, and changeable over the years. About the many opportunities this has brought, but also about the diminishing of our sense of stability. About how ideological structures and religions have lost much of their significance. About how people often focus mostly on themselves. About colour as ‘unclaimed territory’. About Dutch identity and why it has such resonance today. About clothing. And about the desire to connect. And about the fact that this desire is not unique to our time; it has always existed and will always continue to do so.
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Why the performance IK BEN DUS?
There is very little that occupies the human mind more than the self. The factors by which we derive our own and each other’s identity are constantly changing. And this development also impacts society as a whole. Precisely because we humans are so preoccupied with ourselves. It is this interplay between the individual and society that I find utterly fascinating—and highly relevant today! That is why I decided to investigate this theme and create the performance IK BEN DUS together with my performers.
IK BEN DUSÂ was performed in 2020 at the Delft Fringe Festival and in 2019 at ArtEZ University of the Arts.
Direction and concept: Elsbeth Hoefkens
Performers: Anne de Jong, Boy van der Heiden, Iris Hulleman, Kim Herman, Maud Eikenaar, and Sydney Benitez.
In the performance PLEASE, the collective Teder Tuig explored what it truly means to experience pleasure. What is the difference between natural and artificial pleasure? When is something authentic? Is pleasure bad? What is the boundary between pleasure and pain? And what about our guilty pleasures?
The performance PLEASE was performed on 13th, 14th, and 15th October 2020 at the Melkfabriek in Arnhem.
Concept and performance: the collective Teder Tuig, consisting of Andrea Vermeer, Cas Bastiaans, Elsbeth Hoefkens, and Sem van der Panne.
Directorial guidance: Joost Brouwer
