Nothing is what it seems in this absurd youth performance by Artemis and Bambie

The shoe is a pepper mill, the seat is a nail and the bicycle tire is a hammer

In youth performance Anders is a very normal Swedish first name (6+) is nothing as it seems. But then literally. Theater Artemis and mime theater group Bambie are working together for the first time, with Jetse Batelaan as director. Both groups have a penchant for absurdism and an unashamedly physical playstyle. No wonder this combination works so well.

After a visibly grueling journey, three explorers end up in an old, abandoned house. Different rules apply here. When they pick something up off the floor, a voice announces what it is through an intercom. The joke is: it’s never what you think it is. If one of the three picks up a glove, the voice says: toothbrush. Then he tries to brush his teeth with the glove. These figures would like to integrate. Peanut butter turns out to be a face cream, with all the nasty consequences that entails.

Players Paul van der Laan, Jochem Stavenuiter and Tessa Jonge Poerink carefully move through this strange universe and try everything out, much to the amusement of the (young) audience. But then, if the rules are a little clear, one of the three gets it on the hips. He decides not to play the game anymore and violates all newly made agreements. He just uses the chair (a nail!) to sit on.

‘What is the deeper meaning of this?’ shouts a voice from a biscuit tin (long story) several times during the performance. Of course, that’s the biggest joke of all: there isn’t one. haha.