Naomi Velissariou's Fierce Return to the Stage with HARDKOOR
July 20, 2024
“I am not being burned out at home. I am at home burning out my doubts. And once my doubts are burned out, I will come out and I will play with you.”
Naomi Velissariou
After a year-long burnout that halted her artistic pursuits, Greek-Belgian director, writer, actress and performance artist Naomi Velissariou comes back with a vengeance, screaming at her excessive self-awareness and imposed social images with her stand-up tragedy show HARDKOOR. Blending narrative, trip-hop, choir, and techno music, the show questions the systems and power structures within which identity and selfhood exist, advocating for the normalization of the complex and conflicting emotions that come with motherhood.
On the 13th, 14th, and 15th of June 2024, the Holland Festival showcased Naomi Velissariou’s latest performance piece, HARDKOOR. This co-production between Theater Utrecht, Holland Festival, and the Nederlands Kamerkoor delves into Velissariou’s bitter exploration of her burnout experience, standing out as this year’s festival highlight on mental health. “My therapist said that everyone makes a performance about what’s going on in their lives,” she says, makes herself a cup of tea, and lets the show begin. The kettle and her mug accompany her on stage throughout this 1-hour-long attempt to comfort her discomfort. Together with her electronic guitar, Jens Bouttery on drums, the mesmerizing Nederlands Kamerkoor choir, and Boris Acket’s captivating lighting design, Velissariou performs a series of original songs that narrate instances of her life as a person with burnout, an artist on pause, a divorced single parent, a woman reconciliating with her new identity post-motherhood, Naomi and the world. The show climaxes with her goddess-like presence, wearing a white cloth around her face, sunglasses, shiny jewels in hand, and arms open like a contemporary female Jesus Christ. “Look at me. I made it. I am here. Ready to play with my doubts now,” her physicality declares, evoking collective awe and liberation before the voice of her 6-year-old son closes the performance.
Velissariou, Naomi. HARDKOOR, Het Sieraad, Amsterdam, 2024, photos by Ben Houdijk, Holland Festival, Theatre Utrecht
In HARDKOOR, motherhood is not merely a theme; it forms the basis of a deconstruction regime. Social expectations, co-parenting, patriarchy, body shaming, mental welfare, artistic presence and development, come to accumulate and give way to prolonged stress and, ultimately, to burnout: a phase of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion during which one consumes energy they do not have, as Velissariou reminds us. The pressure to meet all the demands, to be a good single mother, an innovative artist, a pleasant companion. The expectation to navigate all these roles seamlessly and naturally: feel grateful for motherhood, privileged to make art, quickly overcome divorce, and be a good friend. And, all these, when the reality is far more complex and multidimensional: an exhausted and overwhelmed mother, an athlete competing against losing herself, who does not always feel the supposed motherly bond, whose child reminds her of her ex and the love that united them once, who struggles to balance motherhood with a healthy social life, who sometimes just wants to be. Nothing more. And, at the same time, an endless struggle to escape these externally imposed, and eventually internalized fears of not doing enough, doubts about one’s worth, shame for experiencing life as is: complex and conflicting, uneven and turbulent, black and white and grey at the same time. An acknowledgment of their catastrophic potential. And the generous act of burning them out.
HARDKOOR is a stream of self-consciousness. A scream for visibility. A rupture of the self-criticism loop. How is motherhood experienced versus how is it socially constructed? What are the opposing emotions that come with it and how can one juggle them all? What is this thing called endless pursuit of validation and how harmful can it get? And, last, how can one’s confrontation with all these manipulative systems and norms become a breakthrough moment for release and re-appropriation? HARDKOOR is not theatre; it is an anti-theatrical exposure of the affective machineries of motherhood. While it is not solely about motherhood: it is about human life. About choice-making. Racing and stillness. Selfhood. Being and not being. About having to be. About burnout as a radical means to self-care and self-love. As an embrace to yourself and a middle finger to the world.
HARDKOOR is going on tour. If you find yourselves in Belgium or the Netherlands, don’t miss out!
25/02/2025 Utrecht
26/02/2025 Tilburg
27/02/2025 Arnhem
05/03/2025 Genk
12/03/2025 Den Haag
14/03/2025 Den Bosch
18/03/2025 Eindhoven
20/03/2025 Leeuwarden
21/03/2025 Rotterdam
27/03/2025 Groningen
01/04/2025 Amsterdam
02/04/2025 Amsterdam
04/04/2025 Brugge
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