On the edge of the fear with 'Phobia'

In duet the dancers Angela Herenda de Kroo and Camilo Chapela

I was waiting in the hall of the Schouwburg  Theatre of Arnhem and I knew that something mysterious was hidden behind the doors. I had the same sensation when I was in row to enter the house of horrors in an entertainment park.
Then the doors were finally open wide. I peeked a bit like a curious child. There were people among the seats but they were not just ‘people’, they were not part of the audience. They were actually the performers of ‘Phobia’. “They should be on the stage” I thought. Then I just went in and took my seat in the first row and knew that I didn’t have to wait for anything to start: the new Club Guy and Roni’s performance had already started. The company settled in Groningen knows how to surprise: this time the company collaborated with the Slovenian company EnKnapGroup and the result was a composition which was not made to deal with the stage only, but there was a lot of interaction with the audience. The stage was even not a stage anymore, it actually turned into an arena where strange people communicated by dancing and playing. Musicians of the Slagwerk Deen Hag were playing making original sounds with instruments in the form of skulls and other specific bones. The performers were spread through the whole space, and they were dressed differently from each other. 

A girl was slowly coming downstage when suddenly somebody put hands on her eyes. Unexpectedly the lights went off. Screams, laments, thunders. Everything collected in one word: fear. Through the text written by Bas Heijne and Martijn Rijk, the duo Club Guy and Roni chose to challenge the audience and lead it on the edge of the fear. In fact this was not only the theme of the performance, but it was also what the audience started to feel.
All the performers were fearing something. Indeed, an egg was the all performer’s fears container. They exchanged it carefully because they didn’t want it to break. Some of them even wore gloves while touching this egg. I found it really concrete: sometimes you go on preventing further impediments because you generally fear them, and you’re also scared to touch your own fears because they could overflow rapidly and trap you up.
The way of dancing was furious, intense, and the communication with the audience was constantly active.
The focus was based on the egg. The performer’s chance was thrown upon a table like dice, nobody could imagine what it would’ve happened if the egg had broken. It was like the forbidden fruit, and sometimes it can tempt you. Suddenly one of the girls threw the egg on the floor. The ‘Phobia’ spread in the theatre while the actress Veerle van Overloop started her monologue, and later she put gasoline on her body and asked for a lighter. Somebody from the audience gave her a lighter: the fire was on, the audience was on the edge of the fear, it was so quite in the theatre but I could hear my heartbeat. Then the lights switched off.
A  journey into the core of the fears, a path without any way out. Club Guy and Roni tried to make people seat in front of their own feares.
Did the company make it? Do you really want to know? Then just book your ticket and watch ‘Phobia’.

Choreography: Guy Weizman en Roni Haver
Composition: Hugo Morales en Pepe Garcia
Chef Music: Fedor Teunisse
Text / drammaturgy: Martijn de Rijk en Bas Heijne
Performers: Camilo Chapela, Angela Herenda de Kroo, Dunja Jocic, Veerle van Overloop, Adam Peterson, Luke Thomas Dunne, Ana Štefanec, Tamás Tuza, Ida Hellsten, Bence Mezei, Nik Rajšek
Musicians: Pepe Garcia, Niels Meliefste, Enric Monfort
Light: Wil Frikken
Sound: Martin J.A. Lambeek
Set design: Ascon de Nijs
Costume: Slavna Martinovic
Co production: Club Guy & Roni i.s.m. EN-KNAP en Slagwerk Den Haag.