Productions

Concept and direction Duda Paiva
Final direction Neville Tranter
Direction assistant Josje Eijkenboom
Dramaturgy Kim Kooiman
Songwriter/compositions Flip Noorman
Sound design Wilco Alkema
Light design Mark Verhoef
Scenery and costume Tessa Verbei
Technique Daniel Patijn
Production Marijana Mikolcic

“You can’t go back and you can’t stand still,
if the thunder won’t get you, the lightning will.”
(The Wheel, Grateful Dead)

What if a chip existed that allows people to transcend all physical limitations of the body? Then you have to be lucky enough to get it. In front of the laboratory where everything happens the mass is crowding to belong to the 0,00000001 percent that is first in line. Inside the building is Bruce, a split personality, a drag queen of age, a man with a body that doesn’t want anymore, but: somewhat closer to the chip than the rest. In the lab, there is also Muffin, a monkey that has been extensively experimented on and that already has a chip. It hurts her, but the scientists have ensured her that eventually she will be able to sing in a band. And there is Dioginis, a cynical dog that only seems to be able to live in a digital 3D-world. The laboratory is a delicate balance, that Bruce irrevocably disrupts with his presence. 

What if you could dispose yourself of all your bodily limitations with a small digital procedure? Would you still be human? In his solo, Duda Paiva dives into transhumanism, which does not strive for an eternal life, but for an unrestricted life. Bruce Marie is based on an unstoppable reality. A performance about deterioration and vulnerability in times that everything seems influenceable, if you have enough means. In this comedy with sharp dialogues, great songs and bold choreographies between performer and puppets, Paiva shows all facets of his unparalleled talent. 

Duda Paiva knows how to make his foam sculptures come to life with his unique manipulation technique the Object Score. His multidisciplinary puppetry is virtuoso and humorous, but also critical. With his dance partners, cut from flexible foam, Paiva builds elusive and magical worlds.  

Duda Paiva Company creates performances with dance and puppets. Associative, narrative performances – usually without text – that are performed in theaters, at festivals, indoor and outdoor locations, in the Netherlands and internationally. Performances in which people of different backgrounds, ages and preferences can identify themselves.