KIDNAPPED: A Training Ground for the Brutality that is Coming

Hello, I am Shelley Duvall. Welcome to tonight’s tale show. Imagine, if you will, a theater in the heart of Europe. And inside this theater, there are two clowns, Terror and Compassion, who arrive from far, far, far away… They do not bring balloons or candy. Instead, they kidnap a bunch of children to teach them that our world is in captivity. Because in this tale, the planet has been stolen, the territories are systematically robbed, the language is kidnapped, and even bodies and desires are looted and bottled. But hey, don’t give up hope! Because the clowns laugh, they weep, they are haunted by déjà-vus, conjuring ghosts of history, dictators, bankers, philosophers, who march across the stage showing us how the fuck we got here. They whisper about fascism, about climate change, about our lives turned into a casino. And the children… oh, the children! They grow too fast in this captivity. Some escape, some vanish, some fall silent forever. Until, at last, the survivors sit among the ruins, listening to the final planetary journal: an Earth where the dead outnumber the living, a stage designed not for us, but for them, the corpses who inherit the Planet. So, sit close and welcome to tonight’s tale show. It’s called: KIDNAPPED: A Training Ground for the Brutality that is Coming.

Trigger Warning: this performance kidnaps you. The scene contains climate anxiety, fascism, contemporary corpses, critical speech, colonial and capitalist ruins, and ongoing violence. The audience may be exposed to participation, loud sounds, strong imagery, and political discomfort.

Read the riveting review by journalist Wouter Hillaert for PZAZZ about the Belgian premiere in Brussels https://www.pzazz.theater/nl/recensies/performance/de-eigen-parochie-terug-naar-school

If you want to know more about the process of making this performance: https://e-tcetera.be/kidnapped-rodrigo-batista-mariana-senne/

Playlist 2025

> More dates to be confirmed

ABOUT RODRIGO BATISTA

Rodrigo Batista is a Brazilian theater director and teacher based in Belgium, known for politically charged performances composed of intense physical research practices, geopolitical commentary, and acidic criticism. With 15 years of foundation in studies about biopolitics, tragedy, economic crises, propaganda, and anti-colonial themes, his recent work explores theater as an unapologetic aesthetic response to the crises of contemporary capitalism and colonial ruins. The last work was made in the frame of Rodrigo’s Master’s Degree at DAS Theater Amsterdam. “The Furious Rodrigo Batista (Side A) + The B-side + Bonus Track” is a theater piece divided into three parts and presented at several venues and festivals across Europe and Brazil.

ABOUT MARIANA SENNE

Mariana Senne, born in São Paulo, Brazil, is a Berlin-based theatre maker and performer whose current work explores intercultural theatrical practices and develops new forms of staging, with a focus on feminist topics. As a performer, she works with collectives and directors, especially from the independent scene, including Claudia Bosse/Theater Combinat (Berlin/Vienna), Andcompany&Co (Berlin), Swoosh Lieu (Frankfurt), Luise Meier/Chistian Filips (Berlin), SchmiM/Adamczak (Berlin), Joachim Robbrecht & De Warme Winkel Groupe (Amsterdam), Jan Brokof (Berlin), Friendly Fire (Leipzig) and Karin Beier (Hamburg). She graduated from the Master’s Program Das Theatre Amsterdam, where she developed her last project “I love you but I need to kill you now”, in June 2021. She was awarded by the Recherche Stipendium – Fonds Darstellende Künste, and was able to develop further her punk&carnival aesthetics. She likes to work with connections between personal experiences and larger socio-political structures, using the body as the first engine.

You’ll find the images in high resolution here