Last season, Johan Simons asked Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe to guest direct Give Up, Old Ghosts! at Schauspielhaus Bochum. In the spring of 2026 at Toneelhuis, Meirhaeghe is doing a remake that will also go on tour.
In Give Up, Old Ghosts! Meirhaeghe takes us behind the curtains of memory. Our ability to remember and pass on collective knowledge comprises the dramatic arc of the production. Give Up, Old Ghosts! is an encounter between performers from different generations and artistic backgrounds, the centrepiece being Mozart’s unfinished Requiem. Two pianists, at one time teacher and student, play it live on stage. How do we remember, learn and pass something on
Quoting from her dance repertoire, Fumiyo Ikeda depicts what a body remembers. Inspired by Ursula Le Guin’s ‘queer resistance’ writings, the performers explore how to pave the way to a future where there is no violence and oppression, but magic instead. Scenographer Jozef Wouters – who was inspired by a haunted house – transforms the stage into an echo chamber of sounds and images from the past and present.
The show is a ‘memory palace’ with the atmosphere of a spiritual séance. What would it be like to talk with the stars? When will the past haunt us? Should we get rid of the old ghosts so that the future can finally begin?
Give up, Old Ghosts! by Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe is a play about the power of memories. Seemingly provisionally, even chaotically constructed, the show touches the heart….The evening is about the social power of memories in themselves, and also about the disappearance of magic in social life
"Subtle social criticism wrapped in hypnotising, comic imagery: Give up, Old Ghosts! calls up the good old ghosts from the political and private spheres and finds ways to escape them…. There is a subtle reckoning with the horrible ghosts of neoliberalism…. The production breaks out of the vicious circle of negotiating with the old white ghosts from the political and private spheres. It rebels against reality and finds new, abstract ways to invite the audience to confront the political and private ghosts that still are whirling around us to this day."
"Give up, Old Ghosts! makes us aware of practices and insights that tap into a different kind of energy than what is needed for competition and struggle. Kudos to this step-by-step training of the senses, free of missionary zeal."
concept, direction
- Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe
with
- Fumiyo Ikeda
- Katrijn Friant
- Maya Dhondt
- Nathan Felix-Rivot
- Rosie Sommers
- Simon Van Schuylenbergh
set
- Jozef Wouters
light design
- Nicolaas de Rooij
- Ruben de Snoo
choreography
- Fumiyo Ikeda
dramaturgy
- Leonie Ute Maria Adam
production
- Toneelhuis
coproduction
- Schauspielhaus Bochum
![[meeuw]](https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/ths-sdn/a13Tl00000OIShbIAH_420x275.jpg)
