In Moeder, directed by Gabriela Carrizo, Peeping Tom explores the memory and the central figure of the mother, with the same tender and sardonic eye that runs through all of its productions. At once funny and eerie, Moeder is disturbing, yet strangely familiar. We recognise in it the same fascination with the sense that the world is too much for us, the same amused gaze at our faltering attempts to make it fit our notions.
Following the seclusion of a senile mind in a retirement home in Vader, choreographer Gabriela Carrizo shows in Moeder the body as a storehouse, in which a multitude of conscious and unconscious recollections merge, collide, and define who we are. The work creates unexpected connections that thread the boundary between suffering, mourning, and celebrating, between holding on or letting go, structure and madness. Here, life and death can be art, showcased for all to see. Out of the flux of the individual memories of the director and performers – the matrix of the piece – a universal and collective memory shines through. And this memory triggers disturbing reflections on the meaning and responsibilities of being a woman, a mother, a parent.
Moeder is not about a mother, but about several mothers. We talk about motherhood, absence, lack. The play searches the memory and the subconscious to reveal what the mother carries as desires, fears, sufferings or violence. For this piece, I wanted a set design that could represent several spaces, like the multiplicity of mothers. The action takes place in a museum, but can also be seen as a private exhibit space, where family pictures and photos are displayed.
Gabriela Carrizo
Moeder (Mother) is the second volume of Peeping Tom’s family trilogy that opened with Vader (Father) in 2014, directed by Franck Chartier, and ended in 2019 with Kind (Child). The world première took place on 29 September 2016 at our partner Theater im Pfalzbau (Ludwigshafen, DE). Since then, Moeder has been touring extensively throughout Europe.