In Bonobo Flip Noorman enters the theatre with a provocative and musical answer to a time in which bravado, war and power thinking loudly demand attention again. While alpha males beat their chests and the law of the strongest appears everywhere, Noorman looks instead at the bonobo: the great ape that approaches conflicts differently. With more cooperation and a very different view of living together.

Together with the Noormannen and -vrouw, Flip turns Bonobo into a theatrical concert that chafes, challenges and moves. He dissects the myth of the tough victor and builds, with songs, humour and sharp observations, another story about human nature.

At the same time Bonobo is also personal. In this performance Noorman weaves an ode to Frans de Waal, to Jane Goodall and to his recently deceased mother, the linchpin of a family full of men. This gives this musical search extra weight. After the success of Animal Farm, which was selected for the Cabaret Collection of the Nederlands Theaterfestival and received a nomination for the Poelifinario Kleinkunst, Flip Noorman once again shows how powerfully he brings together music and social criticism.

• band De Noormannen