Us/Them

Download the programme for Us/Them here.

In 2004 a group of terrorists stormed a school in Beslan, Russia, taking hundreds of children hostage. Three days later, many were left dead. By capturing this terrible event from the unfiltered point of view of children, playwright and director Carly Wijs has created something unexpected and revelatory: a wryly humorous, poignantly matter-of-fact piece of theatre about how the young deal with trauma, and what leads people to do the unthinkable.

Strikingly physical in their performance, actors Gytha Parmentier and Roman Van Houtven bring a sense of innocence and levity to harrowing circumstances. Extreme situations are explained using expressive movement and absurd comic observation; choreography and conversation work exhilaratingly in tandem; and they cope with the unspeakable by constructing a world with its own creative logic, defined on a starkly minimalist set using only chalk lines, string and balloons.

Nothing short of remarkable, Us/Them is a disarming, profoundly provocative piece of theatre.

Recommended for ages 12+. The show is about a hostage situation although no actual violence is shown.

Read Theatreview's review of Us/Them in Wellington here

"an amazing piece of theatre that encapsulates perfectly the appalling events that happened over three days of terror" Dominion Post (Stuff)

Read the full review here 

 The 13th Floor talks to Us/Them writer and director Carly Wijs here