
SmallWaR
Valentijn Dhaenens conveys the traumatic fate of front-line victims and those they leave behind.
Overview
In the flesh, he plays a hardened First World War nurse keeping dutiful watch over a critically injured soldier. Through life-sized video projections, he rises as incarnations of the wounded and dying too, his flowing monologue capturing the emotional and physical fallouts of large-scale conflict.
As a companion piece to BigMouth, which provides a platform for statesmen and commanders, SmallWaR shifts the focus to the myriad men and women who have heeded the call to battle. Inspired by real-life testimonies and accounts from the Crimea to Afghanistan, the play features seamless digital imagery and an unnerving solo performance by Dhaenens who has become a compelling voice in European theatre.
See BigMouth, also presented as part of our autumn season.
Critic reviews
Unbearably poignant … as effective in demonstrating what war does with the minds and hearts of those involved, as it is at showing us the devastating physical consequences
Seldom has so much horror been made so tangible through such intimacy