Magical musical theatre that makes visible the often hidden issues surrounding femicide.

In NO VAARWEL, theatre-maker Naomi Inez pays a powerful and poignant tribute to her artistic, eccentric mother and to all the women who have lost their lives to lethal violence. With this taboo-breaking, musical, dynamic solo, she gives a voice to the voiceless, breaks through stigmas and makes visible the often hidden issues surrounding femicide.

A journey through different age phases

NO VAARWEL offers a broader perspective on lethal violence. To this end, Naomi interweaves four stages from her life in her performance. She looks back at herself as a little girl, sitting behind the piano. She talks about who she was as a young twenty-something, during her mother's disappearance. As a young mother, talking to her daughter who asks questions about her grandmother's death. And you see her as a woman in the present, after reading the police file 27 years later in Hasselt. The ending is for the hopeful words from her book Farewell Picasso, inspired by her mother's last written message to her daughter: "To my daughter Ploempje, No goodbye."

Afterword

This solo is raw, tender and urgent. With penetrating musical theatre, Naomi shows how art can heal and how it can help you transform silence into words, music and meaning. After the performance, we will organise an aftertalk led by criminologist Gert Jan Slump, where there will also be room to ask questions and exchange thoughts.

Credits

Script, acting, song and music: Naomi Inez Wielinga
Performance and music: Lucie de Saint Vincent Piano
Aftertalk: Gert Jan Slump
Dramaturgy and stage direction: Annemiek Nienhuis, Anke Boerstra
Lighting and sound: Sylvia de Pinth (Soundhill studio)
Video tribute to slain women: Beeldentemmers

Music

Naomi Inez Wielinga, Lucie de Saint Vincent, Nico Philipp Hovius, Gert Jan Slump and music by Vaya Con Dios and J.S. Bach

Naomi Inez GEEN VAARWEL