[picture: Rene den Engelsman en Moon Saris - Theaterinbeeld.nl]
The Promised Feast:
The Promised Feast is a series of six performances by the dutch/Israeli theatre maker Ilay den Boer. In this series Ilay takes a close look at himself, his family and with that the state of Israel and the Jewish history. By researching this he attempts to name the unnameable of a war, the incredible complexity of the Jewish history, and to expose and unravel the Jewish identity. The sense of responsibility in this world of the human race and therefore of the audience will be questioned.
Performances:
In the first performance Bon Appetit the public take a seat at the Bar mitzvah meal by Ilay den Boer and his mother. Attempt to find the meaning of being Jewish in the here and the now together with his mother, himself, twenty other guests and a vast history. The performance premiered in 2008 and got selected by the Belgium jury of Het Theaterfestival 2009, a festival that portrays the ten best performances of the Dutch and Belgium past theatre season. And in 2010 Ilay den Boer took the performance abroad. The performance got excellent reviews in The Netherlands and abroad. Click here for pictures, movies and music .
In the second performance Whining and Shooting Ilay together with his audience steps in the bus where his grandmother fled with, from Lithuanian to Israel during The Second World War. By looking at the historical context together with the audience, Ilay attempts to say something sensible about Israel’s nonsensical war. A performance that shows how the Holocaust became the justification for the Jewish war. This performance premiered in 2009 and will tour during the summer of 2010. It can be seen at several summer festivals in The Netherlands and Belgium. The performance got excellent reviews in The Netherlands. Click here for pictures, movies and music.
In the third performance This is my dad Ilay performces together with his father. Ilay questions his father about the choices he made in his life. Especially the choices Ilay never understood. The performance premiered in 2010 and got selected for Het Theaterfestival Nederland 2010 a festival that portrays the ten best performances of the Dutch and Belgium past theatre season. This is my dad also got selected for Blind Date – nieuwe theatermakers on tour, a prize for Dutch young directors / theatre makers and will tour in 2011 in several theatres in The Netherlands and Belgium. This is my dad will also perform abroad in 2010 and 2011. The performance got excellent reviews in The Netherlands and abroad. Click here for pictures, movies and music.
Part IV will premier in May 2011, part V in 2012 and part VI in 2013
Each part has his own specific character. Bon Appetit is a dish with the public, Whining and Shooting is a trip on location in a bus with the public, in This is my dad the public sits ‘just normal’ in a theatre. Part IV will be a performance for children, part V a big location project and part VI will be a installation performance.
Bio Ilay den Boer:
The Dutch/Israeli theatre maker Ilay den Boer (1986) was born in Jerusalem. When he was three years old he and his parents moved toHolland. Ilay den Boer studied at the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. In the season 2008/2009 he started with the series performances The Promised Feast. A series of six personal performances about the meaning of his homeland Israel through the eyes of himself and his family. The series is produced by Het Huis van Bourgondie (Maastricht, NL). With co-producers as detheatermaker (Antwerpen, B), Over het IJ Festival (Amsterdam, NL) and Het Lab (Utrecht, NL). In the meanwhile the work of Ilay den Boer was received very well in The Netherlands and abroad by press and public.
Furthermore Ilay den Boer is closely concerned by the theatre company Stichting Nieuwe Helden.
Awards:
This is my dad got selected for Het Theaterfestival Nederland 2010 a festival that portrays the ten best performances of the Dutch and Belgium past theatre season. This is my dad also got selected for Blind Date – nieuwe theatermakers on tour, a prize for Dutch young directors / theatre makers.
Bon Appetit got selected by the Belgium jury of Het Theaterfestival 2009, a festival that portrays the ten best performances of the Dutch and Belgium past theatre season.
Team of The Promised Feast: Ilay den Boer, Maya van den Heuvel-Arad, Edo Sutherland, Piet Menu, Elsemieke Scholte, Femke Belmer, Jacobien Elffers, Gert den Boer, Eric de Vroedt, Willibrord Keesen, Lucas De Man, Anan den Boer, Melle Kromhout, Karin van Leeuwen, Arjen Barel, Jose Schuringa, Siri Klein Robbenhaar, Erma van Maris, Robert Richter, Tim van ‘t Hof, Joost Giesken, Dave Staring, Merel Schreurs, Nava Benyamini
