Wunderbaum

Wunderbaum

Serious emotional lines with lightheartedness

Wunderbaum is an actors’ collective comprising five permanent actors and a designer. They mainly create theatre on location with a social message. Never moralising, simply raising issues with the audience and themselves. They shun cynicism, but fuel their work with the love they feel for the characters representing their themes. Serious emotional lines run through their work, driven by lightheartedness and humour. They write their own scripts on the basis of improvisation. And they work with various dramaturgists, but without a director.

This actors’ collective opts for theatre on location because they want their work to be seen within a social framework. Wunderbaum confronts the public with reality, generating a feeling of alienation when people come together in a place that has no theatrical context. This also attracts people who are curious about what is going on in their neighbourhood and would not normally visit a theatre.

Once a year, the actors’ group Wunderbaum puts on one production in Rotterdam (Productiehuis Rotterdam) and one in Gent (at NTGent). Themes of the ten productions and the film from the last six years include: xenophobia, religion, issues surrounding asylum-seekers, urbanization and poverty.