detheatermaker

Under the Influence is inspired by John Cassavetes’ film ‘A woman under the influence’ (1974). In that film, we follow the couple Mabel and Nick Loghetti (played by Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk). Mabel hangs on to their home and all the duties she performs within it as a housewife. She languishes there. At the same time, Nick’s inability to relate to Mabel’s breakdown leads to passive aggression. He dominates Mabel by being blunt and impatient. Cassavetes poignantly asks who is really “insane”: the woman or the world around her?

Theatre-makers and lovers Colette Goossens and Stan Martens were touched by Mabel and Nick’s story. Together with Laurens Aneca, they started working on the story. On the one hand, they appropriated it to explore the madness within their own form of relationships; on the other, they used it as a starting point to consider broader, societal questions.

What forms can love take anno 2023? How can we reconcile security with adventure? And do different rules apply in the bedroom than outside? To what extent can power games, unfair advantages and subtle atrocities thrive there?

This performance is part of En Avant, the theatre carrousel of five established houses (Het Nieuwstedelijk, Theater Malpertuis, Theater arsenaal, Compagnie Cecilia, Theater Antigone) that want to give new talent a presentation platform.

Selected by Compagnie Cecilia and Theater Malpertuis for En Avant 2024.