theatre among the audience

Mr.Image Theatre was born when Iva & Petar, continually exploring new dimensions in mask theatre, have decided to explore the impact of their realistic masks in direct /face-to-face interaction with the audience.

What started as an experiment evolved over the years into a new form of contemporary interactive mask-theatre marked by the masterly use of totally unique lifelike masks, and by its own unique style of humor that appeals to a broad audience.

Over the years, Mr.Image troupe, consisting of professional actors, dancers and performers with most various backgrounds have performed at hundreds of public and corporate events, festivals and charity events and become a widely appreciated act in the field of interactive theatre in the Netherlands and abroad.

Mr.Image troupe

Soon after a particularly successful launch in 1995, Mr.Image became increasingly popular and sought after. People were fascinated by the lifelike characters, popularly called ‘living puppets’. At the time, such a thing did not exist. Realistic masks and appliances were only seen on film and TV, but not in the live-face-to-face performance. Word-of-mouth spread quickly and soon it was impossible to imagine a public or business event in the Netherlands without Mr.Image.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have interacted with Mr.Image characters.

Mr.Image troupe, which Iva & Petar started with a couple of colleagues-actors evolved into a company in which more than 150 actors, dancers and performers have taken part. Each individual performer has added some of his own imagination and sensibility to the characters.

The art of interaction

The founding of Mr.Image group marks a new phase of Iva & Petar’s work. Although they were still using the same visual means (the mask), and they still featured as complete authors, Mr.Image Theater was much different from everything that Iva and Petar had been pursuing so far:
Spoken word (speech) was introduced; The movement became more of a ‘realistic’ gesture than a stylised dance movement; Strict choreography was substituted with Improvisation; Performances were not on the stage anymore, but literally among the audience; Other performers took part in the performance.

A highly recognisable Mr.Image style was emerging, marked by character-based acts/shows that radiate absurdist humor; masterful use of lifelike masks with the actors being completely transformed into the characters they present; a certain authentic style of improvisation – and interaction-based acting – among the audience.