Theater Utrecht | Floor Houwink ten Cate - Battlefield of Dreams

Battlefield of Dreams is a new transdisciplinary work by Floor Houwink ten Cate and deals with one of the biggest existential questions of our time: to reproduce or not to reproduce? The performance will premiere in spring 2025 and then tour theaters around the country.

Our uteruses are the most political organs we have. Although the uterus is hidden deep in our stomach, it also seems to be common property. Power is exercised over it, rights are claimed over it, and most importantly, everyone has an opinion on whether and how we use it. This is especially true when it comes to abortions and fertility procedures such as IVF. But unless you experience them up close, you can never imagine how impactful these experiences are both psychologically and physically. The pain, shame or perhaps joy they cause.

Therefore, Battlefield of Dreams transforms the theater into a fertility and abortion clinic where fiction and reality intersect. Battlefield of Dreams shows the invisible and unheard stories about the "to be or not to be's" we carry with us. Both ends of the spectrum, abortion and IVF, are shown together on stage from different starting points.

Battlefield of Dreams ...
... is the story of women who may or may not have the right to choose and undergo all medical procedures.
... is the story of men who are undeniably part of the reproductive issue, both in the private and public spheres; as victims of the system and as perpetrators of that same system.
... is the story of the (gender) queers who introduce important and new perspectives on this issue and sharpen our interpretations of parenthood.

Battlefield of Dreams is a (music) theater performance, documentary and opera all in one. With both female, male and non-binary artists of different ages and cultural backgrounds, we create an ongoing "circle of life.

About the creators

Director and writer Floor Houwink ten Cate creates performances at the intersection of
musical theater, opera and film. As a director and writer, she made her debut in 2019 with Nineties Productions and Orkater with the electro-opera Merkel, and after that, under the wings of Frascati Productions and Theater Utrecht, she made The Standard Life of a Standard Woman, One Man Show and Sea of Silence. In 2022, in collaboration with Katie Mitchell, she made the climate-neutral opera A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction for the Holland Festival and her first large venue performance Atropa, a tragedy on techno and trap co-directed with Naomi Velissariou. Since 2022-2023, Floor has been a permanent artistic core member of Theater Utrecht. In the spring of 2024, her her large hall performance Panic Room with Abke Haring and Jacob Derwig will premiere.

Theater Utrecht is the city company of Utrecht and makes explicitly engaged theater, focusing on existential themes. Always in a new narrative, and in new forms. We draw on every possible source: from personal stories, literature and music to fashion houses, pop culture and clubs. Our creators experiment uninhibitedly with new techniques, narrative forms and audience relationships, and in doing so, we deliberately explore the outer reaches of theater.