US/THEM National Theatre

In September 2004 armed Chechian terrorists took 1,100 children, teachers and parents hostage. Carly Wijs’s Us/Them tells the story of the Beslan siege entirely from the perspective of two primary school children, a boy and a girl. Her 60-minute production is in no way a documentary. It’s a highly physical and highly theatrical piece and includes some hearty, raucous (tongue-in-cheek) singing of Russian songs. Gytha Parmentier and Roman Van Houtven, two Flemish actors in their twenties, act in fluent English. Verbally and physically, they are touchingly childlike.