post-mortem. During the removal of the girl, the media misrepresents a woman who sneezes as a woman who is crying. Claire Allfree of The Daily Telegraph stated that despite the knowledge that negative events will occur later, "this often very funny piece consistently and cleverly frustrates that expectation" since the characters "deflect the enormity of what is happening with curiosity and laughter." Production The play first opened in 2014. As of 2017 all productions in all languages used Wijs as the director and Flemish Belgian actors Roman van Houtven and Gytha Parmentier. In Belgium it was performed in Dutch and French. In addition to Belgium, the play was performed in France and the United Kingdom. In the UK it debuted at the Edinburgh Festival and was later performed at the Royal National Theatre in London. Reception In Dutch-speaking Belgium there were, compared to the United Kingdom, more relaxed ideas regarding content for children's theatre; despite this, initially there were concerns at some theatres that families would be turned off by the subject matter. The summer 2016 performance at the Edinburgh Festival sold out. Susannah Clapp of The Observer ranked the play three of five stars. Lyn Gardner of The Guardian ranked the 2016 Edinburgh performance five of five stars. Allfree gave the 2017 London performance four of five stars. David Pollock of The Scotsman ranked the 2016 Edinburgh performance four of five stars, as did Allan Radcliffe of The Times. Paul Taylor of The Independent wrote that the play is "a remarkable feat of theatre" until the ending, which he says "goes astray". References Further reading External links "WIJ/ZIJ (US/THEM - NOUS/EUX)" - Us/Them - Royal National Theatre Belgian plays Plays set in Russia 2014 plays Beslan school siege