Wapens
Raya and Iris meet during a Clean-Up Day, garbage bags in hand. They strike up a conversation about Finnish grammatical cases and Cleopatra. They fall in love. They start a family and build a life together. As the world outside their home grows increasingly grim, questions about safety, threat, and responsibility suddenly intrude upon their relationship, now that Raya has been offered a job in the defense sector. What seems abstract on the world stage takes increasingly concrete forms in their lives. What if the pursuit of safety actually puts pressure on what you want to protect most?
The Netherlands invests billions in defense, further expands its own arms industry, and sells weapons all over the world. At the same time, we are confronted daily with war, genocide, and rising geopolitical tensions. The question of what security costs is more urgent than ever.
In Wapens, the major geopolitical reality literally enters the living room: a compelling and intimate story, propelled by an unpredictable musical presence. A sensitive performance about love, safety, and the price of protection.
Firma Mes and Nic Bruckman Projecten delved into the Dutch defense industry and the international arms trade for this production. The creators visited, among other places, the largest arms fair in Europe and spoke with people working in and around the arms industry.
With Theo d’Or nominee Nadia Amin and Roos Eijmers, a new play by Nic Bruckman, directed by Thomas Schoots.
Firma Mes is known for their eye-opening, in-depth theatre documentaries in which they open closed worlds and expose power systems. Previously, they delved into diplomacy ( De Onaantastbaren ), the civil service ( De Vierde Macht ), and Big Pharma ( Medicijn ). Theatre maker Nic Bruckman is an expert in transforming in-depth research into emotional theatre.
