Clothes can get torn.

Pulling is allowed.

Pushing too.

And hitting.

Spitting.

Scratching.

And tickling.

Biting is permitted.

You are not allowed to cross the line.

You must leave the field without clothing.

The last person remaining wins.

“What seems to start as child’s play gradually transforms into a gladiator battle; when it’s really a matter of life and death, mercy is hard to find.” (Theaterkrant.nl)

With this production, Schwalbe seeks to reveal the dark side of mankind – the side you hope, or maybe believe, is not present in you. They play a game in which the boundary between illusion and reality slowly dissolves.

“The veneer of civilisation once again turns out to be shocking thin in the beautiful production ‘Schwalbe speelt vals’.” (Robbert van Heuven, theatre critic for newspaper Trouw)

Schwalbe’s work balances somewhere between theatre and performance art. Their productions are physical – in fact, physicality is taken to the extreme; this results in energetic, raw, visually expressive theatre. The collective, consisting of seven young actors and makers, graduated together from the Mime course at Amsterdam’s theatre school. Together with Lotte van den Berg, they made Spaar ze and Schwalbe speelt op eigen kracht. Schwalbe speelt vals was directed by Tim Etchells (co-founder of Forced Entertainment). This production was created at productiehuis Rotterdam and coming season will be touring the Netherlands and internationally.