- Theatre
- SPRING coproduction
- NL premiere
Magic Maids
Accessibility
A mixture of salt, turmeric and chili powder will be spread over the stage and swept around with brooms. Because of this, we don’t recommend to bring an assistance dog.
With the symbolic presence of a broom centrally on stage, this performance, filled with dance and spells, unexpectedly interconnects the figures of the witch and the maid, reflecting on (and inviting the audience to reflect on) the everlasting chain of migrant labour, the exploitation of labour, and bodies. A new production by Eisa Jocson, who concluded SPRING last year with The Filipiono Superwoman Band.
Magic Maids interweaves ritual performance, pageantry, and possession. A primal incantation that demystifies the connection between the history of European witch hunts and the ongoing extraction and exploitation of women’s labor in today’s global migrant care work. Both female figures—the witch and the maid—are part of the same matrix: powerful and powerless, feared and revered, used, accused, and discarded. These are not mere hearsay and history but deeply rooted in today’s psyche.
Artists Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera have absorbed the horror stories of migrant domestic workers from the so-called Global South, stories that now echo through their bodies. In their performance, the broom, the domestic cleaning tool, and the vehicle of the witch—become extensions of their bodies, an pivot point where oppression transforms into monstrous, feminist resistance. The brooming duo dances to rewild the domesticated feminine, performing a ritual of disobedience that dismantles the dominant narrative we live in.
"Awash with ideas and fascinating imagery and movement, Magic Maids is both warning and tribute, a reminder that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, inciting both pity and fear in us for the domestic workers around us."
Topic Talk
Venuri Perera takes part in the Topic Talk: The (de) Colonised Body on Stage, on May 24th starting 17:00 at Stadsschouwburg Utrecht.
SlowTV
Venuri Perera made a film for SlowTV Cinema. It plays on May 17th starting 21:00 at LE:EN.
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Eisa Jocson
Venuri Perera
Credits
Concept, Creation, Dramaturgy, Performance: Eisa Jocson, Venuri Perera
Light Design: Ariana Battaglia
Sound Design: Soraya Bonaventure
Artistic Advice: Rasa Alksnyte, Tang Fu Kuen
Text Advice: Ruhanie Perera
Spiritual Advice: Nenet Ocson Babaylan-Vaigaland
Creative Presence: Arco Renz
In – House dramaturgical support: Anna Wagner, Alexandra Hennig
Production Advice: Sandro Lunin
Technical Production: Seok Hui Yap
Producer: Katja Armknecht, Anne Kleiner
Production Management: Greta Katharina Klein, Paula Elena Noack
“Magic Maids” by Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera is a production of Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm in co-production with Frascati Producties (supported by Ammodo), Tanzquartier Wien, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, SPRING Performing Arts Festival, Festival Theaterformen, DDD – Festival Dias da Dança, Kampnagel, Arsenic – Centre d’art scénique contemporain, La briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne, Points Communs – nouvelle scène nationale Cergy-Pontoise / Val d’Oise, Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène européenne and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. Funded as part of the Alliance of International Production Houses by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media and the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture. This project was supported with residences by Kaserne Basel, Puón Institute Philippines, Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka, Dance Nucleus in collaboration with Studio Plesungan as part of ARTEFACT Creative Residency and Colomboscope Contemporary Art Festival 2024.
With gratitude to the wonderful wise working women who generously shared their knowledge and stories with us.
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