Branden Toneelschuur Producties / Theater Oostpool / Abdel Daoudi

What follows is a journey of discovery through a family history torn by civil war and through the life of their own mother. The twins discover how much their lives are marked by violence, cruelty and secrets. What does this mean for who they are?

As a young girl, Nawal became pregnant by refugee Wahab, but had to give up the child. After learning to read and write later in life, she started looking for her child, but became embroiled in a terrible cycle of war, violence and counter-violence. A generation later, Jeanne and Simon also look for their brother and their father. In Branden we see two intertwined quests, which results in an intriguing drama about the violent nature of man, ineradicable zest for life, and hatred and love that are sometimes so similar that you no longer see the difference.

Burning is about anger that cannot be bottled up, violence that cannot be put down, revenge that always rears its ugly head. About discovering that your family history is in pieces, about intergenerational trauma and the moral choices your ancestors face. Branden shows that your existence can be shaken to its foundations and you can still find the courage to continue.

“The only way to break the cycle of violence is to really see the people behind that violence, victims and perpetrators. I want to challenge my audience to empathize with all those unknown perspectives, based on radical empathy. Burning is a thought exercise that ignores good and evil.” -Abdel Daoudi

With Branden , director Abdel Daoudi (History of Violence) takes the next step in the complex relationship we humans have with violence and violent systems. With Branden, Daoudi wants to show how contagious violence is – and how we can escape it.