Rodrigo Batista & Mariana Senne

In our imaginary world of neoliberal “freedom,” we are all held captive to some degree. But who or what is causing this?

Our society is held hostage to ideologies, identities, technologies, political systems, predatory relationships, competition, the legacy of colonialism, capital and structural inequalities. We are caught between the everyday absurdity of globalized macro-politics and the ambiguous, abstract – and often elitist – desire for solutions in the micro-political realm. Rodrigo Batista dives into these contemporary issues and challenges, aiming to incorporate them into a mixtape: an emotionally layered compilation of different scenes, tracks and topics. “KIDNAPPED” is a form of variety theater: a unique blend of theater, video, music, propaganda and tragedy, revealing fragments of political reality and the resulting realism. The sense of urgency evoked by the performance encourages the audience to “wake up” from secularized and contemporary hypnosis. How can we create through theater an educational and collective movement that rescues us from the colonial-capitalist subconscious?

Rodrigo Batista is a Brazilian theater director, actor and teacher who lives and works in the Netherlands and Belgium. He holds two master’s degrees, one in Theater Directing at the University of São Paulo (2015) and one at DAS Theater Amsterdam (2019), and a bachelor’s degree as Theater Director at the University of São Paulo (2009). Since 2007, Rodrigo has been doing theater research in conjunction with philosophy, politics, film and dance. He won several awards and funds in Brazil and was supported by institutions in the Netherlands and Belgium. Most recently, he worked as a guest lecturer for the Drama Department of the Antwerp Conservatory and at KASK. Rodrigo has presented work in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Central to his work is the importance of performing political statements, direct and explicit messages addressed to current world politics; in other words, Rodrigo has dedicated his practice to trying to read the “here” and “now,” and translate it into theater.

Mariana Senne, born in São Paulo, Brazil, is a theater maker and performer based in Berlin. Her current work explores cross-cultural theater practices and develops new forms of staging, with a focus on feminist issues. As a performer, she collaborates with collectives and directors, mostly from the independent scene, including Claudia Bosse/Theater Combinat, Joachim Robbrecht & De Warme Winkel Groupe, Karin Beier… She graduated from the master’s program “Das Theatre” at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Amsterdam, where she developed her final project “I love you but I need to kill you now” in June 2021.In 2022, she was awarded the Recherche Stipendium (Fonds Darstellende Künste #takeheart) and was able to further develop her punk&carnival aesthetic. She likes to work with connections between personal experiences and larger socio-political structures, using the body as the primary engine. Since 2022, she has been working with director Rodrigo Batista where together they have been able to revive a way of creating, similar to the way of collective theater making in São Paulo.

Concept: Rodrigo Batista – Performers: Mariana Senne & Rodrigo Batista – Outside eye: Joachim Robbrecht – Residencies: Studio Alta, wp Zimmer, workspacebrussels, With the support of Mestizo Arts Platform/WIPCOOP.