
What do we lose when we keep trying to be liked?
What do we gain when we stop?
Pleaser is a solo physical performance by Cristian Boscheri about how people-pleasing is born, how it takes hold of the body, and how hard it is to loosen its grip.Through (break)dance, clowning, and an intimate stage setup, Cristian traces the desire to be good, helpful, and approved of as it reshapes behavior.
Funny, uncomfortable, and sharply observed, Pleaser asks what happens when care turns into a strategy, approval into a negotiation, and what might shift when the disease to please loosens its grip.
Writer, director, performer: Cristian Boscheri
Outside eyes: Goos Meeuwsen, Aurélia Brailowsky, Shailesh Bahoran, Harvey Cobb, Pepijn Ronaldo, Daneile Romano
Composition and Music Production: Carlo Dini
Credits for the poster photo: Anahí Clemens
Co-production: Circusstad Festival (through Circunstruction)
Support: Gemeente Rotterdam, Cultuurfonds, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunsten, Fonds Podiumkunsten, CircusBende, Panama Pictures
Duration: different versions 10min/30min/45min



Cristian is an Italian interdisciplinary maker, dancer, and comedian based in Rotterdam. He previously worked as an engineer at TU Eindhoven and co-founded Stichting Wedowe before fully committing to the arts in 2024. His artistic journey began in Italy with breaking in 2005, winning his first national championship in 2009. In 2023, he won Open Your Mind, an international competition for experimental dance. Since 2022, he has also been active as a stand-up comedian and was a finalist in the 2025 Comedy Talent Award at Tivoli Vredenburg. His solo work blends dance, mime, clowning, and humor, with space for vulnerability and playfulness.
Cristian’s artistic research explores how perception is shaped by emotional and psychological states, and how shifts in those states affect how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world. He is fascinated by comedy as a language, whether purely physical, purely verbal, or a mix of both, and how it interacts with movement, dance, and audience participation.