The school party is in full swing. Suddenly chaos breaks out: a fight, a scream… and a knife. What happened? In Time Machine you end up at a secondary school where time can be frozen and rewound. Who was stabbed and who did it?
Who's telling the truth?
The audience sits on platforms facing each other, with the scene of the crime in between. You witness flashbacks of students and teachers who were at the school party. Can the perpetrator be tracked down? Time Machine is a sci-fi theatre production about peer pressure with serious consequences.
Rising knife violence
Director Noël Fischer: "Time Machine is about the rising violence among young people. They sometimes feel forced to defend themselves, but underestimate the consequences. An act like that can never be undone -even if the victim survives."
Big feelings and big secrets
Writer Casper Vandeputte: "The characters in Time Machine have big desires and big secrets. They are completely different, but share one feeling: life is something that can succeed or fail. Life or death. You or me. In a world like that, it's no wonder that more and more people feel the need to defend themselves with a deadly weapon."
About Casper Vandeputte
Casper Vandeputte (1985) is a writer, director, and one of the resident makers at Theater Utrecht. He graduated from the Directing programme at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts in 2008 and has since developed into one of the leading voices in Dutch theatre.
Casper creates vibrant, socially engaged performances in which he continually seeks out intense emotion, humour, and compassion. Through his transparent theatrical style and open perspective, he makes large and often challenging themes—such as identity, love, trauma, inheritance, and power—accessible and deeply human. His work moves effortlessly between different contexts and audiences. He is equally at home creating a production such as Woyzeck: in de TBS in collaboration with the Van der Hoeven Clinic, as he is developing projects with the young, multi-voiced generation of performers at DOX, Utrecht’s production house for young artists from diverse subcultures. This broad practice makes his work both socially grounded and artistically distinctive.
Combining directing, writing, and dramaturgy, Casper creates performances for both young audiences and adults. He has previously worked with companies including The National Theatre of the Netherlands, Toneelschuur Producties, Theater Oostpool, and DOX. His productions are regularly selected for festivals, widely acclaimed by critics, and recognised with major theatre awards.
Through his work, Casper continually explores what connects people, especially at moments of friction and tension. In doing so, he has developed a distinctive artistic and social signature that is both recognisable and impactful.
Text: Casper Vandeputte
Direction: Noël Fischer
Cast: Piet Kooij, Patsy Kroonenberg, Arthur Harshagen, Zenzi Alwart, Aron Schaap, Shanaya Dap, Roy Kanezar
Set and lighting design: Julian Maiwald
Sound design: Daniel Ortgiess
Costume design: Lotte Goos