“Ik zeg toch sorry” (I did say I’m sorry)- Theatergroep Aluin & Raymi Sambo maakt

Abolition of slavery

In “Ik zeg toch sorry,” six actors come together to reenact the celebration of the abolition of slavery in 1863. What empathizing with these historical characters does to the actors themselves, how they relate to the subject matter in this day and age, and whether it affects their relationships with one another becomes slowly and painfully clear. What does it mean to say sorry anno 2023 for something that seems so long ago?

Photo: Sanne Peper, Benno Barends

From sunny Oerol to inside a theater hall

Benno Barends was commissioned to provide the lighting design for the hit show “Ik zeg toch sorry” This performance was performed outdoors at theater festival Oerol on Terschelling. The beauty there was that occasionally clouds moved across the playing field, so that someone delivering a monologue was suddenly in shadow and a beholding actor was still fully in sunlight.

The play is not just about what one player proclaims, but mainly about how this reaches the other player. To make the audience feel like listening party (not the one who is screaming the loudest), Benno Barends has developed the concept of sun and shadow into an organic light display. Above the stage, he created a “sun” with 42 lights that could be individually controlled. In doing so, Barends created a random and dynamic pattern of light. The Terschelling sunlight with the passing clouds was brought into the theater in this way.

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Cast & Creatives