NOTHING HAPPENING HERE is a raw, physical performance about destructiveness within a dead-end environment.
Sam Verhaeren
Location: Blokloods NDSM
- GENRE: Mime, Performance Art, Theatre
- THEME: Speaking Bodies, Systems under pressure
- LANGUAGE: Dutch
- ACCESSIBILITY: Assistance dogs welcome, Genderneutral toilets, Toilet for wheelchair users, Wheelchair accessible
info
What do you do when the monotony of life suffocates you? In the physical, raw preliminary research HIER GEBEURT NIETS (NOTHING HAPPENING HERE), Sam Verhaeren investigates how boredom turns into destructiveness.
Sam grew up in a small village. Every now and then, a strange outburst of violence would occur there. For instance, a boy filmed himself running over dozens of chickens, and someone rammed their car into the village pub. Sam himself was not immune to this behavior either. Looking back now, he increasingly sees the connection between boredom and outbursts of violence.
A performance for those who get behind the wheel with nitrous oxide balloons, for those who drink themselves into a coma, and for those who simply don’t know what to do with their lives. In this wordless performance, The One & The Other battle the hopelessness by seeking out danger.
Biography
Sam Verhaeren (1998) is a physical performer and theatre maker working at the intersection of theatre, performance, and circus. Since graduating from the Amsterdam Academy of Theatre and Dance (ATKA) in 2022, he has moved fluidly between different disciplines. His work includes performing in the circus production Knock Knock Who’s There by Boost Producties, taking the stage at De Parade with Ik ga niet voor je liegen (I’m not going to lie to you), and participating in the improvisation performance Fuzzy Logic (created by Jantien Fick) at Oerol 2025.
As a maker, he has further developed his practice during two in-depth residencies. At the Verkadefabriek, he explored the ongoing movement of life inside a container filled with cornstarch, and at Podium Bloos, he partnered with Jantien Fick to research the impact of danger. In his work, he uses physical risk to throw the senses wide open and make the unpredictability of life tangible.