Agenda & tickets

Lebensraum (2012)

International touring Lebensraum

  • Le spectacle Lebensraum a fait l’effet d’une bombe
    Libération (FR)
  • Excellent! Hundertmark is extraordinary
    Observer (UK)
  • Lebensraum challenges and inspires audience
    Boston Globe (USA)
  • Lebensraum: Pure physical comedy, pure fuckin’ fun
    Dig Boston (USA)
  • Pantomima genial
    El Pais (SP)
  • Lebensraum is surreal physical theatre with a hint of magic
    De Telegraaf (NL)

Downloads

International touring

The show premiered in Amsterdam in 2012. Since then we are performing the piece around the globe. Please contact us for touring possibilities. We are also open for requests concerning co-productions, licensing, educational programs and masterclasses.

Planning:

  • One full day of load in / set up
  • One performance per day
  • Travelling with 3 performers, 2 musicians, 3 techs, 1 tourmanager = 9 pax (optional director +1)

Technical Requirements:

  • Proscenium opening: 10m (minimum)
  • Stage width: 12m (minimum)
  • Stage depth: 8m (minimum)
  • Grid height: 6m (minimum)
  • 12 fly bars

If your venue has smaller dimensions, please let us know, solutions can be found in some cases.

Venue will provide lighting & sound equipment.

Misc:

  • 1 Trailer, 12m long, 2,55m wide, 4m high
  • Special effects a.o. flash paper (fire and smoke)
  • Duration: 65 minutes (no intermission)

 Marketing & Publicity:

  • Full international press kit available.
  • Online introduction available.
  • Also suitable for schools (14+).
  • Interviews, Q&A, meet&greets with cast & crew possible.
  • Educational program available for high schools (optional).

Contact:

Feel free to contact Marc Pil for more information.

Trailer Lebensraum

Two men are living together in a single tiny room. They have ingenuously solved the problem of lack of space. All the furniture has multiple functions: the bed doubles as a piano and the bookcase serves as a fridge. And to compensate for the absence of a woman, the pair create a mechanical cleaning lady. But it soon becomes clear that she has no intention of quietly going about her chores. This doll has opinions of her own. Tensions mount, and the room starts getting smaller and smaller. The men’s latest invention may be their downfall.

Jakop Ahlbom brings the magic of silent movies to the stage, with the help of the band Alamo Race Track. Ahlbom’s play Lebensraum is inspired by the work of actor and filmmaker Buster Keaton, a pioneer of slapstick and physical comedy. Back in the 1920s, live classical piano music accompanied silent movies such as Keaton’s, but in Lebensraum it is Alamo Race Track who provide the musical accompaniment. The band and Jakop Ahlbom have created a contemporary backdrop recalling 20s’ conventions.

Director and concept: Jakop Ahlbom
Cast: Reinier Schimmel, Jakop Ahlbom/Yannick Greweldinger, Silke Hundertmark/Jagoda Bobrowska, Leonard Lucieer, Empee Holwerda/Ralph Mulder
Music: Alamo Race Track
Set design: Douwe Hibma and Jakop Ahlbom
Dramaturge: Judith Wendel
Special props: Rob Hillenbrink
Make-up: Anabel Urquijo Claveria
Lighting design: Yuri Schreuders
Technicians: Allard Vonk, Michel van der Weijden, Arend van Gog, Hessel Hilgersom

About our company

Jakop Ahlbom Company developed a trademark theatrical form that unites theatre, mime, dance, music and the world of illusion. The company has an unique talent for combining powerful visual language with equally powerful content. Based in Amsterdam but we share our stories all over the world.

Jakop Ahlbom (1971) was born in Sweden. In the early 1990s he moved to the Netherlands where he studied Mime at the Amsterdam School of the Arts. Upon his graduation in 1998 he was presented with the Top Naeff Award for the most promising student. His gift for choreography had been noticed – and so had his poeticism and his ability to get his cast to unleash their energy, bravado and physicality. The award jury described him as an eager, outstanding and exuberant talent. After graduating he worked with a variety of theatre makers as a performer, choreographer and director.

In 2000 he started working on his own, idiosyncratic oeuvre, which includes Stella Maris (2000), Nur zur Erinnerung (2002), Lost (2004), Vielfalt (2006), De Architect (2008), Innenschau (2010), Lebensraum (2012), Het Leven een Gebruiksaanwijzing (2013), Bug (2014), Horror (2014), Swan Lake (2016), Innenschau Revisited (2018), Le Bal (2019), Syzygy (2020), Knock-Out (2021), and Unseen (2022).