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FRANK

Cherish Menzo | GRIP & Theater Utrecht i.s.m. Dance on Ensemble
Thu 2 Apr 20:00
Thu 2 Apr 2026
20:00
  • Thu 2 Apr 2026
    20:00
    Theater aan het Spui, Den Haag
    Hall 1
    Tickets

Following the acclaimed performances JEZEBEL and DARKMATTER, choreographer, dancer, and 2023 Regieprijs winner Cherish Menzo returns with FRANK — the third part of this compelling trilogy. Featuring performers Omagbitse Omagbemi, Mulunesh, and Malick Cissé.

Somewhere between the ritual, the apocalypse, and the carnival, where the flesh can deviate and corrupt to challenge narrated identity until it bursts and becomes unbearable.

Short for Frankenstein

FRANK, as in open, honest, direct, and short for Frankenstein, observes that which the speaking being has placed not "in here" but "out there" on the other side of the border.

As the quest to distort the familiar continues, Cherish Menzo examines the monster's figure, its various relations to the idea of humanhood, and the horrors these relations entail. More so than (re)producing a physical or visual portrayal of the monster, Cherish Menzo is interested in how the monstrous is a reification and metaphoric embodiment of the beliefs and narratives that terrify, horrify, and yet also attract us. 

Bringing the Black body to the center 

In continuation of JEZEBEL and DARKMATTER, in FRANK, distortion will once again be one of the main ingredients to generate material. In addition, Cherish will look into the action of decay and how something gradually breaking down and getting less or worse can be another attempt to distort a form or information. FRANK, will be the closing of a trilogy. A trilogy that does not consist of chronological storytelling or a series of events, but maybe more a trifold of spaces, universes, fictions, and conversations that regard Blackness, bringing the Black body to the center and attempting to explore the African Diaspora's multi-intersections in recognizable, metaphorical, and abstract ways. 

Good to know

  • This performance contains strobe lighting effects and uses a smoke machine.
  • English and French text is projected.
Part of

We are in an alien world. Only awkward movement is possible.

Bayo Akomolafe

Recensies

DE VOLKSKRANT ★★★
"Frank is een krachtige performance over de stereotypering van het zwarte lichaam"

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About Cherish Menzo

Cherish Menzo (1988, The Netherlands) is a choreographer and dancer based in Brussels and Amsterdam. In her work, Cherish explores how the body can transform on stage and how various ideas are physically “embodied.” Through distortion, decay, and dissonance, she aims to detach bodies from imposed perceptions and their everyday physical reality, highlighting the complexity and contradictions of seemingly familiar images.

She has been creating her own work since 2016, including EFES (2016, with Nicole Geertruida), JEZEBEL (2019), and DARKMATTER (2022).

With JEZEBEL, Cherish received the Amsterdam FRINGE Award and the FRINGE International Bursary Award in 2019. The piece was selected for both the Dutch and the Flemish Theater Festivals in 2020. In 2022, she was awarded the prestigious Charlotte Köhler Prize by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds (Amsterdam). DARKMATTER was also selected for both the Dutch and Belgian Theater Festivals in 2023, earning her the BNG Bank Theater Prize and the Best Direction Award. Cherish's work is structurally supported and produced by GRIP, where she is part of the artistic core.

About the Performers

FRANK is a creation for three performers of different backgrounds and ages: Malick Cissé, Mulunesh, and Omagbitse Omagbemi.

Malick Cissé

Malick Cissé is a powerful and distinctive performer and dancer, known for his broad range of movement practices. His personal research focuses on the hybridization of styles such as hip-hop, contemporary dance, krump, and breakdance.

Mulunesh

Mulunesh trained in dance in Aurillac and later in Toulouse. Her encounter with Anne Marie Van, aka Nach, introduced her to KRUMP culture. As she immersed herself in the KRUMP scene, she met Julien Adjovi, aka Wrestler, and worked under the name Wrestler X to refine her technique and movement language.
She participated in the creation of Elles disent with Nach Van Van Dance Company and has also performed with Betty Tchomanga, the FAIRE collective, and Saïdo Lehlouh.

Omagbitse Omagbemi

Omagbitse Omagbemi holds a BFA in Dance from Montclair State University. In 2012, she received a Bessie Award for Sustained Achievement in Performance. She has performed with Punchdrunk International in Sleep No More and The Burnt City, and with Dance On Ensemble in works by Lucinda Childs, Daniel Linehan, and Meg Stuart.

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Danskijkserie

Danskijkserie | Koninklijke Schouwburg en Theater aan het Spui

Italian food at Theater aan het Spui

Enjoy delicious Italian food at Theater aan het Spui, in collaboration with our friends from Pazze e Pizze.

No Dutch Required

Welcome to all our internationals and Anglophiles! Our No Dutch Required selection lists performances that are either English spoken, have English surtitles or that are without spoken text altogether.

Credits

concept en regie Cherish Menzo | creatie en performance Malick Cissé, Mulunesh, Omagbitse Omagbemi | geluidsontwerp Maria Muehombo aka M I M I | video design Andrea Casetti | geluids- en videotechniek Arthur De Vuyst | decorontwerp Morgana Machado Marques | lichtontwerp Ryoya Fudetani | dramaturgie Johanne Affricot, Renée Copraij | make-up design Johanna Cool | tekst Khadija El Kharraz Alami, Cherish Menzo | technici op tournee Ryoya Fudetani, Hadrien Jeangette, Arthur De Vuyst | grafisch ontwerp Nick Mattan | internationale verspreiding A propic - Line Rousseau, Marion Gauvent

productie GRIP & Theater Utrecht (Dorothy Blokland, Dagmar Bokma, Anne Breure, Owen Cicilia, Kelly de Haan, Hanne Doms, Seline Gosling, Anneleen Hermans, Tom Hemmer, Myrthe Ligtenberg, Rudi Meulemans, Lize Meynaerts, Klaartje Oerlemans, Jennifer Piasecki, Florien Smits, Sylvie Svanberg, Ad van Mierlo, Vincent Wijlhuizen, Nele Verreyken)

in samenwerking met Dance On Ensemble | coproductie Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Carreau du Temple  - Etablissement culturel et sportif de la Ville de Paris, Productiehuis Theater Rotterdam, Julidans Amsterdam, PACT Zollverein | funded by the Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Festival Montpellier Danse 2025, Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans  – Direction Maud Le Pladec, Tanzquartier Wien, DDD - Festival Dias da Dança, Festival d’Automne à Paris, One Dance Festival, Perpodium

met de steun van de Vlaamse Overheid, de Tax Shelter van de Belgische Federale Overheid via Cronos Invest, BNG Bank Theaterprijs, Charlotte Köhler Prijs van het Cultuurfonds en Culture Moves Europe, een project gefinancierd door de Europese Unie en het Goethe-Institut

dit werk is tot stand gekomen met financiële steun van de Europese Unie. De standpunten in dit werk kunnen op geen enkele wijze worden opgevat als de officiële mening van de Europese Unie.

met dank aan het Centre nationale de la danse à Pantin, BRONKS, GC Pianofabriek, l’Atelier de Paris - Centre de développement chorégraphique national

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