Since 2008 we have been regularly co-producing new work by international companies and artists, often together with our partner Grand Theatre Groningen. Here you will find an overview of our co-productions through the years: BERLIN (Belgium), LOD (Belgium), THEATREclub (Ireland), Phantom Limb Company (VS), Brokentalkers (Ireland), Gob Squad & CAMPO (Germany & Belgium) , Quarantine (UK), Maria Jerez (Spain), chelfitsch (Japan), Claudio Stellato (Italy), MaisonDahlBonnema (Belgium), Stalker Theatre (Australia), Lola Arias (Argentinia), Zachary Oberzan (VS), Aphids (Australia), Nature Theater of Oklahoma (VS) en Radiohole (VS).

BERLIN – Land’s End
Year of production: 2012
Coproducing partners | Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen
NEXT Festival Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Doornik + Valencienes, BE), STUK kunstencentrum (Leuven, BE), Le CENTQUATRE (Paris, FR), Pronomade(s) en Haute Garonne /Centre National des Arts de la Rue (FR), Le Manège de Reims – Scène Nationale (FR), La Maison de la Culture d’Amiens (FR), Szene Salzburg (AUT), Internationales Sommerfestival Hamburg (DE), La Bâtie – Festival de Genève (CH), Korjaamo Theatre / Stage – Helsinki Theatre Festival (FI), Brighton Festival (UK)

Land's End by the renowned Belgian theatre company BERLIN, premiered in The Netherlands at a unique location in the city during Noorderzon 2012. In the Suikerunie they reconstructed the confrontation between two people suspected of committing the notorious ‘pancake murder’. In the middle of the former Suikerunie yard, universally recognizable problems are exposed in a very candid way. Land's End is touring through Europe until June 2013.


BERLIN - Land's End (c) Pierre Borasci

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LOD – Long Grass
Year of production: 2012
Production: LOD | muziektheater
Coproducing partners | Kunstenfestivaldesarts, WERKTANK & Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival Groningen

Atrocity and child-like innocence are recurring themes in the work of Inne Goris, who has been associated for a number of years with LOD, a leading production house for opera and music in Ghent. She has previously taken Greek tragedies, or the horror expressed in fairytales, to examine the ruthlessness of human nature. For this latest creation, Goris zooms in on present-day stories from child soldiers. Long Grass is a co-production of Noorderzon and many other international partners.

LOD - Hoog Gras (c) Pierre Borasci

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THEATREclub – HEROIN
Production | THEATREclub
Coproducing partners | Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen

THEATREclub stayed in residency in Groningen to create an updated version of HEROIN. The multiple award-winning performance entitled HEROIN tells the social history of this destructive drug in Ireland over the past forty years. It is an ambitious project that is, as art director Grace Dyas states, ‘everything that has ever happened to us, and says everything that has not yet been said’. Two years of intensive and passionate research preceded the genesis of the performance. This updated version of HEROIN is co-produced by Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen.

THEATREclub - HEROIN (c) Pierre Borasci

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Phantom Limb Company - 69º S.
Year of production: 2011
(Co)-producing partners: ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann in Association with Beth Morrison Projects, Co-production | Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen en NNT in co-opdracht van Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College; Arts Centre of Melbourne and The Victoria College of the Arts; ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage, Boston, MA and EMPAC / Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The New York puppet theatre company Phantom Limb resided in Groningen in juli and august of 2011 to work on their brand new performance 69º S. about the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. The world premiere was to be seen at Noorderzon on the 18th of august. After that 69º S. was also shown at the Next Wave festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music - among other places.


Phantom Limb Company - 69º S. (c) Pierre Borasci

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Brokentalkers - The Blue Boy
Year of production: 2011
(Co)-production partners: Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen, LÓKAL Theatre Festival Reykjavík, Korjaamo Theatre/ Stage Festival, Norfolk & Norwich festival en Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival

The Irish company Brokentalkers creates controversial, topical theatre. The company’s production, The Blue Boy, is about a seriously damaged relationship … about the experiences of men and women who, in their youth, were entrusted to Roman Catholic care institutions in Ireland. In the past few years, much clarity and outrage has emerged about the abuse and the mistreatment in such institutions. At the beginning of august 2011 Brokentalkers were our guest in Groningen to work on this performance. A European preview was shown at Noorderzon and the world premiere was scheduled a couple of weeks later at the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival.


Brokentalkers - The Blue Boy (c) Pierre Borasci

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Gob Squad & CAMPO - Before Your Very Eyes
Year of production: 2011
(Co)-production partners: Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen, Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin; Forum Freies Theater, Düsseldorf;  NEXT Festival, Eurometropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai+Valenciennes; Künsterlhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt

A new performance by the exciting Britisch/German collective Gob Squad together with the Belgian CAMPO, played by children from Ghent. The public watches these children as they move within a safe space with four glass walls, like insects in a jar. From this space, they envisage their own future as adult, and look back on their short past for the first time. Whereas adults often stubbornly attempt to hang on to their youth, these kids dream of leaving their childhood behind them forever. This performance was a big success as the opening performance of Noorderzon 2011.


Gob Squad & CAMPO - Before Your Very Eyes (c) Pierre Borasci

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Quarantine - Entitled
Year of production: 2011
(Co)-production partners: Commissioned by | Royal Exchange Theatre, Sadler’s Wells and Curve Theatre, Leicester 
Co-production | Quarantine and Royal Exchange Theatre
Further development with support of | Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen

In their latest work, Entitled, various performers talk about hope, privileges, disappointment and commonplace affairs. They mention how you can shine onstage, and also sometimes have to be contented with a role in the wings. You can take this literally, as Entitled is the quest of three technicians, three dancers and one writer to find a complete life in the framework of setting up and dismantling a show. This performance was further developed in Groningen in august 2011 and was presented at Noorderzon as an European preview. This wonderful show went to Edinburgh and London among other places. The tour continues in 2012.


Quarantine - Entitled (c) Pierre Borasci

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Maria Jerez - The Perfect Alibi
Year of production: 2011
(Co)-production partners:
Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen en Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt.

Promising Spanish talent Maria Jerez instinctively links humour to an exploration of the limits of theatre. In 2010, anyone who saw The Movie will know how she can astonish the spectator with a minimum of resources but with sophisticated theatrical experience. In 2011, Jerez was in residency in Groningen to work on The Perfect Alibi, which premiered during Noorderzon in August.


Maria Jerez - The Perfect Alibi (c) Maria Jerez

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chelfitsch - We Are the Undamaged Others (Tokyo, Japan)
Year of production: 2010
Co-producing partners: Aichi Triennale (Nagoya), Festival d’Automne à Paris, Théâtre de Gennevilliers, Centre Dramatique National de Création Contemporaine (Paris), Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen

chelfitsch, one of Japan's most interesting companies enjoyed a residency in the Grand Theatre in august 2010 to work on their new piece We Are the Undamaged Others. During Noorderzon they presented a European previes of this performance that has been shown on many international stages en festivals like Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels.


chelfitsch - We Are the Undamaged Others (c) Pierre Borasci

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Claudio Stellato - L'Autre (Milan/Italy and Brussels/Belgium)
Year of production: 2010
Co-producing partners: Les Brigittines-Centre d'Art Contemporain du Mouvement et de la Voix de la ville de Bruxelles, Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen, De Pianofabriek Kunstenwerkplaats, TAKT Dommelhof, le manege.mons/CECN, TechnocITé, l'échangeur - scène conventionnée de Fère-en-Tardenois

This performance marks the end of a long quest. Claudio Stellato, born in Italy and now living in Brussels, investigated the relationship between the body and the object. The result of this quest is the creation of his alter ego L’Autre (the other),an unusual character with a personal dance language. In 2010 Claudio visited Groningen to work on further developing L'Autre. He presented four performances during Noorderzon 2010 and afterward went to play on many European stages.


Claudio Stellato - L'Autre (c) Pierre Borasci

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MaisonDahlBonnema & Needcompany - Ricky and Ronny and Hundred Stars - A Sado Country Opera (Brussels/Belgium)
Year of production: 2010
Co-producing partners: Theater aan het Vrijthof, Euregionaal Opera- en Muziektheaterfestival, Bit Teatergarasjen en Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen

Ricky and Ronny have fallen out of the window. And it is as if they have gone into a permanent fall. They have lost all grip and footing. During their fall they encounter the beautiful Hundred Stars, the eternal spoilsport and salvationist, who, in turn, has been sent to protect them against even more moral degeneration. Along with Hundred Stars, Ricky and Ronny go looking for rebirth, a different continuation of their existence on earth. Together with Grand Theatre Groningen we co-produced this performance.


MaisonDahlBonnema (c) Maarten Vandenabeele

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Stalker Theatre - MirrorMirror (Sydney, Australia)
Year of production: 2009
Co-producing partners: Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen, Parramatta Riverside Theatres and Western Sydney Dance Action, Australia

During our opening night we presented the new production by the acclaimed Australian company Stalker Theatre. MirrorMirror explores the way that personal information and ideas are held within the body – in our genetics, in the way we move, in the memories we carry, and of course within our ancestry, where we are from. Personal identity is not fixed but rather spread over time, place and space. MirrorMirror was a work in progress, the final version did premiere in october 2009 in Sydney. The performance is co-produced by Noorderzon and Grand Theatre Groningen, in association with Parramatta Riverside Theatres and Western Sydney Dance Action, Australia.


Stalker Theatre - MirrorMirror (c) Pierre Borasci

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Lola Arias - Mi Vida Después/My Life After (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Year of production: 2009
Co-producing partners: Steirischer Herbst Festival, Theater Spektakel Zurich, International Summer Festival Kampnagel Hamburg, Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen

Have you ever had the desire to look into your parents’ past? To see who they were before you were born or were too young to remember it? This question forms the basis of the latest performance by the Argentinean writer and director Lola Arias. In Mi Vida Después, six actors, all born in the 1970s and 80s, reconstruct the lives of their (real life) parents and, at the same time, of their country, Argentina. In a moving way, by making use of film, photos and music, Arias shows how the lives of those parents all inter-connect via that troubled past in one way or another, and how the quest for the truth about their parents’ past merges with the uneasy present-day processing of this difficult period in Argentinean history. Lola Arias is one of Argentina's biggest talents.


Lola Arias - My Life After (c) Pierre Borasci

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Zachary Oberzan - Your Brother. Remember? (New York, VS)
Productiejaar: 2009
Co-productie partners: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen en Brut Wien

In 2009 we presented the first preview of Your Brother. Remember?, the new work by Nature Theater of Oklahoma-actor Zachary Oberzan. Growing up in Maine, Zachary and his older brother Gator used to delight in making their own home versions of famous movies, such as Van Damme’s Kickboxer and the cult classic Faces of Death. Now, twenty years later, having in the meantime become distant from his family, he returns to the places of his childhood to re-make these home-made films as precisely as he can. But twenty years have passed and have taken their toll, especially in the life of his brother who has seen drugs, depression and prison. With the help of Van Damme, Dr. Francis Gross and others, the two brothers attempt to re-discover each other. Zachary spend augusts 2009 in Groningen to work on this production that was featured on many international festivals and stages.


Zachary Oberzan - Your Brother. Remember? (c) Pierre Borasci

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Aphids - System Building (Melbourne, Australia)
Year of production: 2009
Co-producing partners: Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen, CarriageWorks, Radialsystem V, the Melbourne Recital Centre

Experience an intimate concert at one of the most extraordinary locations in Groningen: the splendid old Water Tower on the south side of the Noorderplantsoen. System Building is a miniature performance in which Aphids manage to blend the unusual location and architecture with the sound of percussion instruments, instruments that Rosemary Joy develops especially for this kind of exciting locations.


Aphids - System Building (c) Karel Zwaneveld

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Nature Theater of Oklahoma - Romeo and Juliet & Rambo Solo (New York, VS)
Year of production: 2008
Co-producing-partners: Productie: International Summerfestival/Kampnagel Hamburg, Salzburger Festspiele in co-production met Kaaitheater Brussels, Workspace Brussels, Buda Kunstcentrum, Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen en the Wexner Center for the Arts van de Ohio State University

In 2006 Noorderzon hosted the first ever European performance by a young and interesting company Nature Theater of Oklahoma. The wonderful performance was called Poetics: A Ballet Brut. In 2008 this - now very well-known company - returned to Noorderzon to present two new performances that we co-produced together with the Grand Theatre. Romeo and Juliet and Rambo Solo both became huge international hits and were played all over the world. In 2009 Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen also co-produced the first official solo work by Nature Theater-actor Zachary Oberzan.


Nature Theater - Romeo and Juliet (c) Peter Nigrini

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Radiohole - Anger/Nation (New York, VS)
Year of production: 2008
Co-producing partners: Donaufestival, The Kitchen, Noorderzon/Grand Theatre

“This is the true underground. New York, and all that. None of that flabby, secretive but run-of-the-mill gobbledygook, oh no...! Dear old Radiohole, those charismatic and autonomous creators of 21st century hardcore, have broken away from all that pretentious trash, yes, sir!!! Yes, indeedy...”
Cult-theatre group Radiohole produce free-spirited subversive theatre. With infectious pleasure, a light hand on the tiller, and arguably more layers than your average Bavarian tart... Punkrocktheatre for both initiated and un-initiated alike. If you happen to be someone who always wants to understand everything, don’t go here. Making dramatic use of Peek-a-Boo™ technology and a Sonic Secret Weapon to create a post-modern baroque world, the main characters of this epic drama are Carry A. Nation, the 19th-century crusader (co-incidentally no hero with the battle axe) and Mel Lyman, the self-declared saviour and LSD cult hero of the seventies.
‘ANGER/NATION’ ferrets about in the deepest cavities of the American psyche and exposes the badly tangled red-white-and-blue interests of a great nation. Radiohole was our guest in august 2008 to work on this performance.


Radiohole - Anger/Nation (c) Pierre Borasci

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