BURNING CITY
Performance / Hetpaleis / Theater Arsenaal
Conceived and directed by Junior Mthombeni
For some people, life unfolds with ease.
For others, however, it is a constant struggle to survive.
Burning City is born of that tension.
Thirteen performers share the stage, each with their own unique neurological profile and personal history: ADHD, autism, trauma, epilepsy and hypersensitivity. These are not seen as limitations, but as intensified forms of perception.
The reptilian brain remains alert. Protective. Ready.
How can we move beyond the state of survival?
How can we transform unrest into a collective force?
Through resistance, rhythm emerges.
Through fragmentation, composition takes shape.
This is not a performance about struggle.
It is a journey through struggle towards regulation, connection
and shared presence.
“If Burning City burns for anything, it burns with emotion, driven by continuous mood swings. (…) Burning City suggests a possible way out of theatre — toward a far more intuitive and musical ritual of collectively making meaning of both our inner and outer worlds.”