Cherish Menzo (NL) / GRIP & Theater Utrecht i.c.w. Dance on Ensemble
FRANK
In a fragile world full of unimaginable, horrifying, and violent events, FRANK evokes the atmosphere of early horror films. In her ongoing exploration of how we look and move, acclaimed performer and choreographer Cherish Menzo turns our gaze toward fear and fascination with the monstrous.
Programme section Julidans On Stage
Dutch premiere
Location Theater Bellevue
Venue Grote zaal
Run time nnb
Language Language no problem
Frank
As in the first two parts of Menzo’s trilogy, JEZEBEL and D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER, the third and final part, FRANK, the monstrous and horror, the 3rd part of a speculative fabulated trilogy abounds with distortion and transformation as style elements.
Menzo does not tell chronological stories; she creates spaces and worlds centred around the Black body and exploring stories of the African diaspora. In the solo performance JEZEBEL, she deconstructed the image of women in hip-hop culture. In D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER, she sought ways to sing the body free from reality as far as possible, drawing inspiration from dark matter and colliding black holes.
In FRANK - which refers both to the English word for 'honest, sincere' and to Frankenstein's monster - Menzo explores and seeks to confront the monster in all possible guises, but mainly as a shared fantasy: the inhuman, a deviation from what is normal, the other.
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Zombies, demons, ghosts, dangerous animals: they reflect the fear of the unknown. FRANK is a performance bordering on a ritual, the apocalypse and carnival.
The three dancers, performers of different generations, interpret their place in that shaky world with disjointed, broken-down movements as the set collapses around them.
Cherish Menzo is a choreographer and dancer. For JEZEBEL, she received the Amsterdam Fringe Award and the 2019 Fringe International Bursary Award. In 2022, she received the prestigious Charlotte Köhler Prize from the Prince Bernhard Fund. For D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER, Menzo received the BNG Bank Theater Prize (2023) and the prize for best director (2023) from the Nederland’s Toneeljury.
Reviews
Theaterkrant
“D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER is a punky performance, a trip full of mystery and symbolism. Dark in its conviction, light at the end of the tunnel.”
Credits
concept Cherish Menzo
direction Cherish Menzo
creation Malick Cissé, Mulunesh, Omagbitse Omagbemi
performance Malick Cissé, Mulunesh, Omagbitse Omagbemi
sounds design Maria Muehombo, ailias M I M I
video design Andrea Casetti
sound technician Arthur De Vuyst
video technician Arthur De Vuyst
stage deisgn Morgana Machado Marques
light design Ryoya Fudetani
dramaturgy Johanne Affricot, Renée Copraij
make-up design Johanna Cool
text Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Cherish Menzo
tour technician Ryoya Fudetani, Hadrien Jeangette, Arthur De Vuyst
graphic design Nick Mattan
production GRIP & Theater Utrecht (Dorothy Blokland, Dagmar Bokma, Anne Breure, Owen Cicilia, Kelly de Haan, Hanne Doms, Seline Gosling, Anneleen Hermans, Tom Hemmer, Myrthe Ligtenberg, Rudi Meulemans, Lize Meynaerts, Klaartje Oerlemans, Jennifer Piasecki, Florien Smits, Sylvie Svanberg, Ad van Mierlo, Nele Verreyken, Vincent Wijlhuizen)
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in collaboration with Dance On Ensemble
international spreading A propic - Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent
co production Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Carreau du Temple - Etablissement culturel et sportif de la Ville de Paris, Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam, Julidans Amsterdam, PACT Zollverein funded by the Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Festival Montpellier Danse 2025, le Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans – Direction Maud Le Pladec, Tanzquartier Wien, DDD – Festival Dias da Dança, festival d’Automne à Paris, One Dance Festival, Perpodium
with support of Centre nationale de la danse à Pantin, BRONKS, GC Pianofabriek, l’Atelier de Paris / Centre de développement chorégraphique national
with the financial support of de Vlaamse Overheid, de Taxshelter van de Belgische Federale overheid via Cronos Invest, BNG Bank Theaterprijs, Charlotte Köhler Prijs van het Cultuurfonds, Culture Moves Europe, een project gefinancierd door de Europese Unie en het Goethe-Institut
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