The Ozard or Wiz (9+) celebrates the advantage of being different

On Saturday 17 December 2022, The Ozard of Wiz will have its premiere at the Maaspodium in Rotterdam. This moving and quirky theatre production with an all-queer cast & crew presents vogue, pop music and melancholy in a seventies sauce. For this production, Maas theatre and dance enthusiastically join forces with ROSE stories, with dance by Kiki House of Angels and costumes by MAISON the FAUX. After its premiere in Rotterdam, the show will tour the Netherlands until the beginning of March.

What if you do not belong anywhere because you are not the person everyone had hoped for? In René Geerlings' new show, seven extraordinary people go back to their childhood, a time before shame. All hope to eventually get at The Ozard or Wiz what they have been looking for all their lives: a home, courage, brains and a heart.

The performance highlights the strong contrast between the exuberance and extravaganza of the ballroom scene and the vulnerability of people who are different. There is plenty of room for gentleness and the inner struggles that every human being goes through from time to time, with which the performance gives extra attention to precisely the difficult moments of existence.

Dance in the show is choreographed by none other than Guilliano Pinas, father of Kiki House of Angels, the well-known Ballroom House from Rotterdam. A central figure in the TV documentary Father Figure, he is the known as the booster of Rotterdam's voguing and ballroom scene. Now, for the first time, he is choreographing for the theatre with the help of well-known dancers from Kiki House of Angels.

The costumes in The Ozard of Wiz are designed by Gieskes-Strijbis Podium Prize winners 2021 and Culture Fund Mode Stipendium 2022 winners, MAISON the FAUX. Joris Suk on the costumes: "Within the costume image, we searched for a distillation or essence of the well-known Wizz characters. We translated all these characters into archetypal garments, materials, colours and prints. This created an Ozard wardrobe that gives the performers space to relate to all the characters."

René Geerlings on being different

"When I was a kid, I used to watch The Wiz from 1978 all over the place. I used to run around my room in a dress and sing the songs phonetically. I didn't know what it meant but felt it! Until my father came into my room and caught me playing. With him unintentionally came the world with all its judgements about boys in dresses. For the first time, I felt shame. I have actually been searching all my life for the freedom I felt then, first through playing and now through making. For The Ozard of Wiz, I surrounded myself with brave people who have also lived this story to a greater or lesser extent and who all deal with it in their own way. With this prop lling, I want to show children that it is actually an advantage to deviate and that there are people like you. I am now standing at the gates of that colourful world and feel like rattling it hard. "

Concept, direction: René Geerlings
Performers: Ayrton Fraenk, Romy Rockx, Reinier van Harten, Art Srisayam, Danijel Petrovic, Marie -Léa Morales, Laurien Riha
Choreography: Guilliano Pinas
Compositions: Reinier van Harten
Set: Calle de Hoog
Costumes: MAISON the FAUX (Joris Suk)
Light: Remko van Wely
Dramaturgy: Merel Heering
Directing assistant: Sara Giampaolo
Production: Bobby van Liempd
Engineering: Klim Nelissen and Peter Swikker
Co-production: Maas theatre and dance & ROSE stories
Courtesy of: Friends Lottery Fund