Dear Beloved Friend… questioning future, presence on stage

When Dries Verhoeven came to Nigeria, he had one question running through his mind, why do Nigerians consider Europe, as the most viable place to live?
To him, Europe is no longer what it used to be; hence, Dear Beloved Friend: A live performance filmed.

Kininso Koncepts performers enact European nightmares via a live Internet connection and address the audience in their comfortable theatre seats.

He recalled: “About a few years ago, I was reading some articles that were describing this exodus to Europe from Africa. And in Europe, we talk about it in an apocalyptic way, like something we should be fearful of. I read about how migration is connected to climate change and that is a lot written about the explosion of population, which explains why many people want to go to Europe. That is what I came to Nigeria to dive into the material. Not to look from the sides. I like to surround myself with the topic that I would like to research.

“It is hilarious to me to find out that many people who do not have a background in migration are talking about it. Many times, people don’t tell us about what it is or how it is to live in a country. This leads to the theoretical way of looking at the topic.

“My visit to Nigeria is a very open visit. I was very happy to be introduced to Kininso and meet the people who are so full of creative ideas, so professional about curating events and setting up theatre productions here and internationally.

“I ask two questions- have we reached the place where Africans are going massively to Europe and should we be afraid of that? I found myself talking about myself by talking about Europe. I think in the end, it is more of what we can call the European mid-life crisis. The fact that Europe is looking back instead of forward. It is nostalgic yet I was depressed.

“It is a work about the different ways that we see the future. It is not free from challenges. The average person is 44 in Europe. I call Europe wealthy but missing the sparkle of the resilience that is made by the Nigerians.”

On the play, he said: “Dear Beloved Friend is a 75-minute production, performed here in Nigeria, but shown in theatres in the Netherlands and European cities. The performers played here at the Seaside Cottage and the Netherland audience would have an empty stage, but the screen would project the performance.

“They see the screen and see people that may be there in future. We are looking at the potential or the possibility that they would be on stage one day. The performers question their future presence on that stage. In those 75 minutes, we try to scrutinise the feelings of nervousness of the Dutch. Instead of being behind our walls, thinking about others without opening the doors to have a conversation on issues such as climate change. This is what the piece does.”