Shelter (Jaszak)

A physical performance with live music (3+) |

Simone de Jong Company (Netherlands) |

Sunday, October 11th, 5 pm; Monday, October 12th, 10 am and Tuesday, October 13th, 9:30 am & 11 am – Theater Strahl, Probebühne (Berlin Schöneberg) |

About the production

“Jaszak” is a funny, heartwarming performance about a person without a roof, in a changing world. Or is he changing himself? Inspired by a Sheltersuit, a suit for homeless people, Simone de Jong Company brings a physical and musical trip-like performance for young audiences.

About the artist(s) / group

Simone de Jong Company (Amsterdam, 2015) creates work based on movement, music and imagination. Original, funny, sensitive. Their performances are mostly non-verbal, since for a young child the spoken word is only one of hundreds of languages. They like to connect with children and challenge them at the same time. Their shows are for everyone from 2–7 years old and for everyone who wants to be that big again, for a while. They start from the physical and aim for the philosophical. Artistic director Simone de Jong is educated in modern mime and music theatre. She teaches professionals and children. She is the author of two novels for children. She strongly believes in the interaction between teaching, directing and writing. Meeting children is the fuel for creating.

Jury Statement

With "Shelter", the Simone de Jong Company presents a touching and nuanced exploration of a theme rarely addressed for very young audiences: houselessness or life without a fixed home—and the question of how we protect ourselves and find our place in a changing world.

At its center is a figure who, with simple means and strong physical presence, unfolds a tension between vulnerability and resilience. Inspired by the idea of the so-called 'Sheltersuit', a physical and musical performance emerges in which inner and outer worlds, protection and openness, withdrawal and encounter continuously shift and reconfigure.

The performance addresses its young audience not through explanatory narrative, but through movement, rhythm and sound, and through a clear, sensuous performance style. It develops into a work that is both poetically dense and surprisingly humorous: through subtle physical comedy and playful twists, existential themes are made accessible without being simplified. This creates a space of experience in which questions of shelter, belonging and transformation become tangible through the senses – and in which every child can find their own way to engage.

Performer: Toon Kuijpers
Live musician: Niels Vermeulen
Director / concept: Simone de Jong
Costume: Sheltersuit
Set design: Erik Begemann & Elian Smits
Photography: Kamerich en Budwilowitz

World premiere: November 9th, 2024

Duration: 40 minutes + 15 minutes post-performance play

Language: No spoken language

Access: For Deaf audiences

“Shelter (Jaszak)” is a production by Simone de Jong Company.

Photo ©Kamerich & Budwilowitz