October 25, 2022
The critically acclaimed play THE WETSUITMAN by Flemish playwright Freek Mariën will have its first UK production at Rose Lipmab Building from 2nd to 13th November 2022.
2015. On the coast of Norway, an architect walks his dog. What looks like an oil slick by the cliffs turns out to be a wetsuit, a human bone protruding from the leg-hole. The Wetsuitman begins as a Scandinavian crime thriller, and unpeels like an onion, switching between perspectives and genres to become a profound and interlayered meditation on identity, expectation, race, and migration. Ultimately the play becomes a search for the truth— not only for the nature of the Wetsuitman but for the nature of a world in which he could wash up on a cold Norwegian beach.
Freek Mariën (Ghent, 1988) is a Belgian author and a theater maker. He studied drama at KASK in Ghent. He and Carl von Winckelmann are the artistic leaders of the theater ensemble Het Kwartier, mounting productions for young people and adults that emphasize powerful writing, socially relevant topics, and unexpected forms and themes. He has written for ensembles including ARSENAAL/LAZARUS, Circus Ronaldo, Tuning People, and Laika. He also teaches writing as a guest instructor at LUCA Drama. Freek has won awards such as the Dutch-German Kinder- und Jugenddramatiker*innenpreises 2012 and 2020 for plays for young people,the East Flanders Literary Prize 2014, and the Toneelschrijfprijs for the best Dutch-language play (winner in 2015, nominated in 2017 and 2019). His writings have been translated into German, French, Finnish and English and performed in various European countries and the United States.
Profile: theatretextsfromthelowlands.kunsten.be/freek-marien/
For more information on the production and to book tickets click here