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on smoke and airconditioning

Gerben Vaillant, Fleur van den Berg, Frascati Producties
Wed 8 Oct 20:30
Wed 8 Oct 2025
20:30
  • Wed 8 Oct 2025
    20:30
    Zaal 3, Den Haag
    De Constant Rebecqueplein 20-A
    Tickets

"Contrary to my usual way of working, I want to tell a story with a beginning, a middle and a ‘grande finale’. Followed by silence; rain and wind gradually picking up."

"I would like to come to love my characters; their things, their little details and the way they talk. Finally, I want to miss them when they’re gone.

All things considered, the big picture: one day, ultimately, I want to be someone who says ‘yes!’ to life.”
– the author

on smoke and airconditioning is a frail story that trembles in the telling, and is always on the verge of collapse. A production where the makers relate to what it means to bring fiction to life, seen from that melancholy universe of people and characters for whom life cannot be taken for granted. Through text, image, and movement, on smoke and airconditioning is a study for ‘a sense of life’.

In the media

Pers over eerder werk

"Ik wil dat het publiek niks meer hoeft, gewoon kijkt en dingen voelt"  Gerben Vaillant in NRC over  A sense of an ending

"Het einde van de wereld als gedeconstrueerde rampenfilm" Theaterkrant

"Het beste in de theaters van 2024." Het Parool

"Een performance die fascineert tot en met de laatste scène.'' Theaterkrant

"On almost every page, over de eindeloze inwisselbaarheid van mensen en dingen, tilt je op en voert je mee. Performancemaker Gerben Vaillant is er eentje om te onthouden."  Het Parool

About Gerben Vaillant

Gerben Vaillant (1994) is an interdisciplinary performance-maker. During his studies on the AHK’s mime course he developed a fascination for making productions centred around the distance between people and reality: where people do not manage to become (part of) a whole. He works, sensitively yet radically, with different forms: text, dance, visuals, philosophy, trash – it can always go in any direction, but usually it’s atmospheric, and sometimes confusing.

Gerben regularly works with composer and sound designer Timon Persoon. Their intensive collaboration ensures that music and image elevate one another. Together, they build an almost cinematographic universe, which expands further with every production. They also link together the productions and pieces of music they create individually.

Credits

concept and performance Gerben Vaillant, Fleur van den Berg | music Timon Persoon | light design Paulina Prokop | coaching Loes van de Pligt | coaching performers Maarten Lok | production Frascati Producties | with support of AFK, Ministerie van OCW, Ammodo