Trouble Score
Luanda Casella / Pablo Casella / ntgent (Belgium/Brazil)
Presented with
Magic Realism // Myth // Ritual
Part ritual, part pop concert, Trouble Score is a hallucinatory portrait of family myth refracted through the lens of magic realism.
Weaving multi-layered text, vocals, sound samples, and live music within an otherworldly lighting composition that turns each scene into a luminous portal, this one-night-only performance is a storytelling séance that’s as witty as it is disruptive.
Trouble Score revisits an old family scandal—a web of fragmented criminal stories that unravels into an impossible plot, where childhood innocence collides with the distorted reality of trauma, set against the backdrop of racial segregation and a military dictatorship.
Blending humour and complicity, Trouble Score captures the fantastic, mysterious, and often surreal nature of family dynamics. Luanda Casella, known for her incisive deconstruction of language and fascination with the unreliable narrator, crafts text that is both razor-sharp and darkly funny. Pablo Casella composes intricate landscapes of melodic intimacy and rhythmic resonance. Nick Verstand, whose work explores the edges of light, space, and human perception, sculpts immersive architectures that breathe with the performers.
Together, they turn family legend into a ritual of reinvention—a storytelling alchemy of music, language, and light.
This show is part of Encuentro: programming at the 2026 Festival centering Latin American artistic impression. Visit the Encuentro page for a talk with artist Luanda Casella, related performances, workshops, and more.
Artist Luanda Casella will also be instructing a free writing masterclass, “The Unreliable Narrator: Writing in the Digital Age” from February 4-7. Applications are now closed.
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Artist Bio
Luanda Casella / Pablo Casella / ntgent
Belgium/Brazil
Luanda Casella is a writer, performing artist, and theatre director from São Paulo, based in Ghent, Belgium. A resident artist at NTGent, her work is internationally acclaimed and known for its ingenious storytelling and incisive deconstruction of language. She is currently a teacher at the drama department at the KASK Conservatory, Ghent, and a PhD candidate examining “deceptive discourse” in communication processes and “unreliable narrators” in classic and contemporary works of fiction. Casella has also been a guest lecturer at leading institutions, including DAS Graduate School (Amsterdam), KABK (The Hague), P.A.R.T.S, School for Contemporary Dance (Brussels), Toneelacademie Maastricht Institute of Performative Arts, Universität der Künste Berlin, Cité Universitaire de Paris, and Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.
Pablo Casella is a composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His ear for harmonies is unique in contemporary music. With his skills and virtuosity, he knows how to paint landscapes with sound, emotions with melody and power with rhythm. In the theatre world, he is active as a composer of soundtracks, producer and live musician; he has collaborated on Antigone in the Amazon (Milo Rau/NTGent/MST), Ferox Tempus, KillJoy Quiz and Elektra Unbound (Luanda Casella & NTGent), and BAM!, Saperlipopette and LOS (Ultima Thule). Casella is currently touring internationally with Antigone in the Amazon and has already performed the show in ten different countries and at renowned performing arts festivals such as Wiener Festwochen and Festival D’Avignon. Casella has has played at prestigious festivals such as Dour, Les Ardentes, Dranouter, Gent Jazz and Jazz Middelheim. With his own band, Little Dots, he has released two albums on V2 Records (2014 and 2018), for which he was responsible for the compositions, arrangements and co-production. Little Dots was artist in residence at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. The band toured as the opening act for Gabriel Rios and Hooverphonic in venues such as AB (Brussels), De Roma (Antwerp) and Paradiso (Amsterdam), and at festivals such as Gent Jazz and Eurosonic.
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Venue
600 Hamilton Street, Vancouver
Content Advisory
Haze, strobing lights
Showtimes & Tickets
$39-$69
Please note: higher tiered ticket types are subject to top-up charges when redeeming a PuSh Pass.
Credits
Concept, Direction, & Performance Luanda Casella & Pablo Casella Direction Assistant & Choreography Lucius Romeo- Fromm Dramaturgy Joline Vermeulen Music Composition Pablo Casella Lighting Design Nick Verstand Graphic Design Wouter Van Nes Voiceover Quincy Gario, Abigail Gypens, Nástio Mosquito, Manizja Kouhestani, Emma Verstraete, Robin Van Cleemput, Jan Mergaert & Rinus Martha Chaerle Intern Rinus Martha Chaerle Production NTGent Co-production DE SINGEL
Supported by the Flemish Government, Belgian Tax Shelter, and the British Columbia Arts Council. Made possible by PROSPERO NEW Platform, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union