Samuel Baidoo
Plum Road Tea Dream
The Performance
Plum Road Tea Dream (The Performance) is a theatrical performance in which two performers immerse themselves in a video game before your eyes. This virtual world was designed by Samuel Baidoo as a space for new mourning rituals, to store memories and reflect from their identity as a person of colour and queer artist.
On stage, something unfolds that millions of gamers recognise online: someone discovering a game for the first time, guided by a companion. But here it happens live, on stage, with a large screen and two performers whose encounter is both authentic and performative. The guide navigates the virtual journey and from there opens up a personal and societal conversation with the guest. The audience watches, is drawn in and witnesses something that feels at once intimate and grand.
Plum Road Tea Dream combines theatre, gaming and ritual into an immersive, cinematic experience. After the performance, you can discover the actual models, sketches and objects that came to life virtually in the game. Online meets offline. A space emerges to talk, to feel and to reflect.
• Samuel Baidoo is a dancer, choreographer, maker, performer and mentor. Within their individual trajectory, they link autobiographical experiences to a wide range of working methods. Samuel’s work invariably begins with the intuitive creation of a new archive filled with images, fragments of text, film stills, documentaries, pieces of music or excerpts from series, films, games or manga. Samuel works from their own practice but also creates commissioned performances and is one of the artistic leaders of the artists’ collective Hanafubuki.
Concept Samuel Baidoo | Co-auteur François Vincent | Gidsen Zindzi Tillot Owusu / Sara Lâm en een gast | Muziek Dimitra Sofroniou, Maria Muehombo (MIMI), Ciska Vanhoyland, Tsubasa Hori | Dramaturgie Stine Sampers | Outside Eye Marie Umuhoza | Licht Ellie Bryce | Technische ondersteuning Jurgen Fonteijn | Creatie videogame Hussein Shikha, Dani Santander, Pepijn Willekens e.a. | Productieleiding Myrthe Bokelmann | Productie Hanafubuki | Productie videogame Reveal Game Studio | Coproductie Per Podium, C-TAKT, de Brakke Grond, De Singel, workspacebrussels | Spreiding GOOD COMPANY | Met de steun van de Vlaamse overheid, Tax Shelter van de Belgische federale overheid, Creative Europe project Digital on Stage e.a.
Good to know
This performance includes discussions of discrimination and racism, and a character is threatened with death. However, there is no visually shocking content.
