"Unparalleled tour de force of the queer body" - Annette Embrechts; critic's choice in the Theaterkrant
"Batty Bwoy”, literally “butt boy”, is Jamaican slang for a queer person. In this performance, Harald Beharie explores how blackness and queerness are perceived. He attacks and embraces sedimented narratives around the fear of the queer body as a perverse and deviant figure. He does this by using his own nude body in an expressive way.
The work twists and turns cruel myths to unfold vulnerable possibilities in an interplay of consciousness and naivety. Both the horror and joy of Batty Bwoy are unmasked. Batty Bwoy focuses on bodies and languages, on how we take in and reject the fictions projected onto our skin.
Batty Bwoy is an extremely intensive theatrical experience, in which Beharie collects topics of his current research - the fear of the queer body in public space, his non-white personal heritage in a predominantly white society, the borders of proximity between performer and audience, the limits of performer body exhaustion, but also the liberated power and joy coming through and by the body. With the original music of the Norwegian rock band Ring van Möbius it is a manifestation of pride and power over the oppression of “normativity”.
The work has found inspiration in mythologies, disgusting stereotypes, feelings and fantasies of the queer body and identities, homophobic dancehall lyrics and 70s Giallo films from Italy. Furthermore, it is inspired by resilient “gully queens” and voices of the Jamaican and Norwegian queer community who have contributed to the process of this solo creation. The performance is an endless celebration of freedom of the queer body, as well as a provocation to the audience – an invitation to be confronted with prejudices with a manifestation of sensuality and sexuality. In the Topic Talk black body - white gaze, Harald will further discuss the use of the black body on stage.
Batty Bwoy earned Harald a nomination for the Norwegian Critics Association prize.
Biography
Harald Beharie (NOR/JAM) is a performer and choreographer based in Oslo. His practice applies various formats and contexts to look into alternative modes of being, dancing and existing together while questioning notions of normativity. Harald holds an interest for the unpolished, the DIY and the vulnerability of being in the unknown. Harald has also received a nomination for the Norwegian Critics Association prize for the performance Shine Utopians (2020) with Louis Schou.
Choreography/performer: Harald Beharie
Scenography/sculpture: Karoline Bakken Lund and Veronica Bruce
Music: Ring van Möbius
Sound designer:Jassem Hindi
Outside eye:Ines Belli and Hooman Sharifi
Co-producers: Dansens Hus and RAS
Supported by: Norwegian Art council, Fond for lyd og bilde,FFUK, Sandnes Kommune and Tou Scene.
Photo: Julie Hrncirova
Thanks to Tobias Leira and Ingeborg Staxrud Olerud
Dates
26/05/2023 21:00
tickets
sold out
cancelled
Waiting list
27/05/2023 21:30
tickets
sold out
cancelled
Waiting list
Price
€17,50 / €14,50
Location
Het Huis Utrecht Theaterzaal
Edition
SPRING 2023
Info
Duration: 80 minutes
Language: language no problem
Accessibility:
Besides single tickets, SPRING also offers passe-partouts for the whole festival and daypasses for Fri 19, Sat 20, Sun 21, Fri 26, and Sat 27 May.