The confusion that The Truth Commission creates is particularly productive: where does art end and activism begin? By ultimately asking the audience to actually resist the dehumanisation of “the other”, the performance underlines everyone's own responsibility towards the toxic legacy of the human zoos.

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The information that you, as the audience, hear and see is alternately harrowing, shocking, painful, and provokes anger and shame. Fortunately, humour is also used to make the whole thing more palatable. (...) The performance holds up a mirror and often feels uncomfortable. Applause for director Chokri Ben Chikha [Action Zoo Humain­], because that is sorely needed.

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All of us, audience and actors, white and coloured, have been guilty of staging an entertaining piece of theatre (...) This Truth Commission primarily exposes the truth about the practice of setting up commissions themselves, as a purifying body that is supposed to clear our conscience without having much impact on everyday practice.

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People exhibited as exotic attractions in a zoo; it wasn't that long ago (...) That painful chapter in our history has faded, but the influence of human zoos on our society can still be felt.

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In the theatre production The Truth Commission Netherlands, a Flemish theatre company brings the Dutch history of exhibitions of “exotic people” into the present day. 'On social media, there is still a human zoo going on for people of colour.'

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“In search of traces of Dutch “human zoos” (...) It's about bringing different truths and perspectives into collision with each other.” - Chokri Ben Chikha, director The Truth Commission Netherlands

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