La Isla Bonita

La Isla Bonita consists of the performers Luit Bakker, Milou van Duijnhoven, Mirthe Labree, Aukje Schaafsma and Lisa Schamlé. The collective make physical theatre full of imagery, with a focus on social criticism. Their work is energetic and associative, rhythmic, disruptive and witty. Clichés are shamelessly exaggerated to absurd dimensions: as a viewer, you will recognise the news, Facebook, the woman next door and yourself. For each performance, the performers link a concrete theme to a physical acting style. In this way, a combination of text and mime emerges that creates space for a fresh view of themes that concern us all.

Biography

The members of La Isla Bonita graduated together in Theatrical Performance at Toneelacademie Maastricht in 2015 with La Isla Bonita, in which five women focus attention on the problems of refugees fleeing in boats by means of a rhythmic gymnastics show. The production was an instant hit and was followed by an extensive tour. They then created Dogs of War (Parade, 2016); a performance inspired by the SM sub-genre Puppy Play, for which they delved into the fact that the Netherlands is the biggest supplier of trained fighting dogs to the occupied Palestinian territories.

In 2017, as part of Frascati’s test stage Fraslab La Isla Bonita created La Lucha Libre. In cooperation with Over het IJ Festival, then went on to elaborate this test into a complete location-specific production (2017), scoring an instant festival hit. This time, the company was inspired by the glamourous world of Mexican and American wrestling shows. They grappled with one another, physically and verbally, mercilessly, inescapably and at times hilariously and right in the audience’s faces. With complete commitment, they carried on a personal, psychological struggle against one another and against all the clichés about men, women and sex.

In 2018, the performance collective plunged into the depths with the Frascati Productie Atlantis, a production all about the shelf life of fish, women and the world in general. Five hydro-feminist mermaids with big fins expose their underwater world; a world in which everything flows and is linked together. Through their ‘watery thinking’ they challenge the audience to look again closely at their own way of thinking. An invitation to let go of doom scenarios, judgements, principles and recriminations and swim together; to look more closely and re-remember. An invitation to curiosity. As their scales slowly dry out under the stage lights, they long for open nature, pure beauty and the eternal harmony of the elements, man and the world. How long before they start to stink? 

For Atlantis, La Isla Bonita worked with Paul van der Laan as director and with Simon/e van Saarloos providing greater depth to the contextual programming. In 2019, La Isla Bonita (Frascati Producties in co-production with Over het IJ Festival) present De Managers, directed by Suze Milius. This production will have its première at Over Het IJ Festival 2019 and can be seen in theatres in the Netherlands in April, May and June 2020.

Press

"Atlantis is een fantasierijke uitnodiging om waterig te denken en te beseffen dat alles met alles verbonden is. [...] Met vijf zeemeerminnen in vol ornaat valt er genoeg te lachen in Atlantis, en daar maken de performers van La Isla Bonita gretig gebruik van. [...] Waterig denken klinkt wat vaag, maar La Isla Bonita laat zien dat het helemaal niet zo’n gek idee is."
De Theaterkrant over Atlantis

"Het vijfkoppige vrouwelijke performancecollectief La Isla Bonita is een van de interessantste jonge toneelgroepen van nu. De leuke, expressieve spelers weten lichamelijkheid en présence creatief te paren aan maatschappelijk engagement."
de Volkskrant over Atlantis

"Sterk, stoer en schaamteloos zijn ze, en ronduit hilarisch"
★★★★ de Volkskrant over La Lucha Libre

"Onvermoeibaar beuken ze er op los in een bizarre vechtshow. Worstelroutines volgen elkaar in hoog tempo op, afgewisseld met kleurrijke sketches. Zonder piñata, maar met Madonna. Viva, La Isla Bonita!"
★★★★ NRC over La Lucha Libre

"Het contrast tussen de Barbie-achige vrouwtjes en de angstaanjagende vechtwijven is op een afschuwwekkende manier fascinerend en de scène waarin de kampioene ten overstaan van een volle arena intens wordt vernederd, doet je maag bijna omkeren. (...) Zo zijn die mooie jonge actrices verfrissend lelijk, hard en bot."
Trouw over La Lucha Libre

"Actueel, grillig en onweerstaanbaar"
★★★★ Theaterkrant over La Isla Bonita

"Verwarrend, veelzijdig, verontrustend én geestig"
NRC over La Isla Bonita

Productions