Kidnapped – Frames of a Contemporary Landscape interrogates an assumed political hallucination — meticulously shaped by neoliberal logic, colonial legacies, and a capitalist realism that proclaims “there is no alternative". The piece uses the metaphor of kidnapping to reveal how our cultural, political, and personal choices are confined by market imperatives and identity struggles that rarely disrupt power structures. In the performance, two characters, Terror and Compassion, treat (and threaten) the audience as “kidnapped children”, transitioning from a childlike theater format to sinister political revelations through a spiral dramaturgy that disrupts linear time. By channeling historical “guests/ghosts” — from figures like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to icons such as Michael Jackson and Pier Paolo Pasolini — the piece exposes the roots of our systemic captivity while inviting spectators to reclaim their agency.

about

Rodrigo Batista is a Brazilian theater director and teacher based in Belgium, known for politically charged performances composed of intense physical research practices, geopolitical commentary, and acidic criticism. With 15 years of foundation in studies about biopolitics, tragedy, economic crises, propaganda, and anti-colonial themes, his recent work explores theater as an unapologetic aesthetic response to the crises of contemporary capitalism. Rodrigo has presented works in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, most recently in the frame of his Master a DAS Theatre.
https://www.instagram.com/rodrigo_batista_/

Mariana Senne, born in São Paulo, is a Berlin-based theatre maker and performer whose work explores intercultural practices, feminist themes, and new forms of staging. She collaborates widely in the independent scene with artists such as Claudia Bosse/Theater Combinat, Andcompany&Co, Swoosh Lieu, Luise Meier/Christian Filips, SchmiM/Adamczak, Joachim Robbrecht & De Warme Winkel Groupe, Jan Brokof, Friendly Fire, and Karin Beier. Mariana holds a Master’s from DAS Theatre Amsterdam, where she created I love you but I need to kill you now (2021). As a recipient of the Recherche Stipendium – Fonds Darstellende Künste, she develops her punk & carnival aesthetics while connecting personal experience with broader socio-political structures, using the body as a driving force.
https://www.instagram.com/marianasenne/