Pleasant Island

Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere, two young creators of documentary theatre, have already earned acclaim on major European stages. Exclusively focused on environmental themes, their work is characterized by long and meticulous preparation. Rooted in extensive artistic, scientific, and journalistic research, the process begins with conversations with experts in the field and people who have found themselves in the midst of the action, culminating into documentary performances that address universally important themes. This year, the Sirenos Festival will present two performances from their environmental trilogy.

Pleasant Island is the second work by these artists about one of the smallest nations in the world. With an area of only 21 square kilometers, one can cross the island in less than 20 minutes by car on its only road. This is the Republic of Nauru, once called “Pleasant Island” by European explorers, but now one of the least visited places by tourists in the world.

The island’s landscape, maimed by European mining corporations and destroyed ecosystems, resembles that of an unknown planet. It unfolds as a metaphor for the broken fates of the island’s residents. At the same time, the creators see Nauru as a post-apocalyptic parable for the future of our planet. Once the richest nation in the world for a short while, today the island of Nauru has been left in economic and ecological ruins, impacted by the effects of colonization, capitalism, migration, and ecological distress, the consequences of which still linger today.

Today, Nauru is most known for hosting Australian refugee detention centers in return for a large amount of Australian money. This arrangement led the government of Nauru to ban most journalists and researchers from entering the island in an attempt to suppress negative news from reaching the outside world. Meanwhile, the island faces the imminent threat of being swallowed by the ocean due to rising sea levels.

Silke and Hannes were granted exceptional permission to enter the island for a couple of weeks in the summer of 2018. In this post-apocalyptic setting, they sought to capture the historical, ecological, and humanitarian exhaustion of the island, and by extension, of our entire planet. How do we confront the limitations of a world fixated on endless growth? What idea of the future remains for Nauru and the rest of the world?

Silke Huysmans & Hannes Dereere

Silke Huysmans (Brazil, 1989) studied drama at KASK School of Arts in Ghent and Hannes Dereere (Belgium, 1990) theatre science at Ghent University. With their work, the two Brussels-based artists investigate the use of journalistic and documentary elements within theatre. At the heart of their artistic practice is extensive field research. From 2016 to 2022, they worked on long-term research on mining, which resulted in a trilogy.

The first part, Mining Stories, premiered in the Beursschouwburg in Brussels (2016). For this performance, Silke & Hannes returned to the place where Silke grew up in Brazil. In 2015, a dam burst flooded this place with toxic mining waste, causing one of the biggest ecological mining disasters in recent history. Mining Stories was selected for Het TheaterFestival 2017 (Belgium) and received the main prize at the Zürcher Theaterspektakel 2018 (Switzerland).

In 2019, the second part, Pleasant Island, premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels.

Out of the Blue concludes the trilogy. In this final piece Silke & Hannes look at the future of mining from the perspective of a Belgian deep-sea mining company. Through interviews and conversations, they sketch an in-depth portrait of an emerging industry. The piece premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in 2022.

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coproduction Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Spring Festival Utrecht, Beursschouwburg, Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek, Veem House For Performance, Spielart & De Brakke Grond residencies Beursschouwburg, De Grote Post, KAAP, Kunstencentrum Buda, Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek, STUK & Veem House for Performance, LOD with the support of Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie & KAAP many thanks to all collocutors in Nauru