Eisa Jocson - Venuri Perera (PH/LK/NL): Magic Maids (Varázscselédek)

They shed light on the plight of today’s domestic workers—household employees from the Global South—while their performance becomes a cleansing ritual that subverts oppressive power structures.

🇬🇧 The visually arresting performance, Magic Maids interconnects the figures of the witch and the maid, transforming the broom from a cleaning tool into a symbol of resistance. Filled with dances and spells, it amplifies the untold stories of migrant domestic workers and invites the audience to reflect on the everlasting chain of migrant labor, the exploitation of women’s work, and the female body.

More information: https://trafo.hu/en/programs/magic_maids_2

Dancers and choreographers Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera both come from countries that export labor worldwide. In their duet, they examine the situation of migrant women working as domestic workers, who are rendered invisible and vulnerable by the fact that they work in foreign homes, often cut off from the outside world. Magic Maids amplifies their stories while also highlighting the long history of women’s exploitation: from witch hunts to unpaid domestic labor to the current global care crisis.

A magical duet that unfolds in a unique space adorned with brooms.

The broom is the central symbol of the performance, becoming an extension of the dancers’ bodies. It is both a cleaning tool and the witches’ vehicle, symbolizing two female archetypes—the witch and the maid. It may seem that these archetypes are less present today, but these prejudices still haunt us in policies that confine women to the kitchen and the hearth, and in violence against women.

During the performance, the broom becomes a ritual tool of resistance. Jocson and Perera confront oppression in this way: they liberate the maid and transform her into a witch.

Through the power of female solidarity and interviews with those involved, they explore the complex impact of historical injustices—such as colonization—on current labor practices.

Although few people in Hungary employ domestic workers from countries in the Global South, the question of who performs what work, under what circumstances, and under what conditions remains a pressing issue. Estimates suggest that modern-day slavery may affect as many as 63,000 people in the country.

Concept, creation, dramaturgy, performance: Eisa Jocson, Venuri Perera

Sound design: Soraya Bonaventure

Lighting design: Ariana Battaglia

Artistic consultation: Rasa Alksnyte, Tang Fu Kuen

Text consultation: Ruhanie Perera

Spiritual consultation: Nenet Ocson Babaylan-Vaigaland

Creative presence: Arco Renz

Dramaturgical support: Anna Wagner, Alexandra Hennig

Production Consultant: Sandro Lunin

Producers: Katja Armknecht, Anne Kleiner

Production Manager: Greta Katharina Klein

Technical Production and Tour Manager: Yap Seok Hui

Supported by: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Hungary