The directing duo Heidi and Rolf Abderhalden, half Swiss and half Colombian, and their company Mapa Teatro, are our guests for the first time. In the compelling 'Los Santos Inocentes' this brother and sister use a very direct visual idiom that immerses you in contemporary Colombia, one of the most violent countries in the world. On 28 December 2009 Heidi Abderhalden visited the town of Guapí in Southern Colombia, where the ancestors are commemorated in a wild carnivalesque ritual every year on Holy Innocents' Day. 'Los Santos Inocentes' is a reference to the biblical Massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem that was ordered by King Herod.
Here in Colombia, an extremely macho society, burly men dress up as women and go out into the streets armed with whips. For one day the town becomes an inhospitable place, where the slaves of yesteryear are permitted to let fly at their masters with impunity. Biblical myths and an eventful history of slavery are combined in present-day Colombia, which now also has to contend incessantly with rebels, drug-smugglers and trigger-happy criminals.
In this piece, music, documentary and performance combine to create a kaleidoscopic all-embracing experience. You can experience theatre as an erotically-tinted, hyper-physical ritual. Theatre as a haven for fiction that comes unpleasantly close to the violent reality. The music has a soothing effect, but from behind the beauty we hear the cries of undying revolt.