Try Not To Know What You Know

Merel Severs received a contribution to develop the physical theater performance Try Not To Know What You Know in collaboration with Milou van Duijnhoven.

In the performance, Merel Severs and Milou van Duijnhoven step into a self-built arena, in which they explore both desire and aversion to heroism. They let go of what they think they know and make a new proposition; in constant motion, transformative, fluid and ambiguous. Playing with martial arts, destruction, creation and everything in between, they attempt to free themselves from the conditioned body where violence seems to win out over connection. In a constant alternation between being and not being in contact with themselves and the other, they scan a universe where they turn the limited image inside out with unheard voices. What do they want to move in today's world?

Playwright and performer Merel Severs tilts the mainstream gender roles narrative and seeks radical shamelessness and the celebration of vulnerability in her work. With Try Not To Know What You Know she has been nominated for the BNG Bank Theater Prize 2023. She previously created the successful solo Let Me Tell You Something You Already Know, with which she won Best of Fringe 2020 and was also nominated for the BNG Bank Theater Prize 2022. In the critics' survey of the Theaterjaarboek of Theatererkrant, she was listed by Nuno Blijboom as best actress/dancer/singer.