JOE 5 - Duda Paiva Company - dance and puppet

JOE 5 – Duets about humanity and its absence

Welcome to JOE 5, where the uncanny liveliness of Duda Paiva Company’s foam puppets meets the finest dance talents to create visual poetry at its best.

In this new solo, the setting of a post-apocalyptic world is explored and humanity is put to question. Instead of being born, man is designed by an extraterrestrial system which creates a perfect neo-human: eternally young, infinitely modified. But are perfection and immortality worthwile, knowing we have to give up on everything that makes us human, over and over again?

The dystopian world of JOE 5 is built in creative dialogue with STMSND Theatre Collective, by flirting with ideas of cyberpunk and futuristic visions of Michel Houellebecq’s ‘The Possibility of an Island’.

CREDITS

Concept and direction: Duda Paiva
Dramaturgy: Kim Kooiman
Performance: Ilija Surla or Josse Vessies
Puppets: Duda Paiva and Andre Mello
Scenography: STMSND
Music and video: Wilco Alkema
Light: Mark Verhoef
Decor: Daniel Patijn
Costume: Aziz Bekkaoui
Decor and costume studio: Atty Kingma
Outside eye: Preben Faye-Schjøll

JOE 5 is a coproduction with Nordland Visual Theatre (NO). Made possible by the Dutch Performing Arts Fund and by the Municipality of Amersfoort (NL).

In the media

La Platea

"The dancer is alone on the stage with his soft torturers. He gives the audience a wonderful work, both in dance and in manipulation and interaction with puppets. A solo of extraordinary visual poetry, which is particularly successful thanks to the stunning video mapping and admirable lighting design."

Toute La Culture

"Many times, Duda Paiva has shown his talent for creating new manipulation positions, and for the finesse with which he makes his puppet come to life. JOE 5 is no exception to this rule: this is first-class manipulation."

Toute La Culture

"Paradoxically, the most disturbing alien is the one that seems most likeable at first: a tiny humanoid covered in glitter, with a broad smile and large expressive eyes. But she turns out to be manipulative and dangerous. It's done so well that the entire audience is willing to be manipulated by her."