No life without theatre, no theatre without life!
“No life without theatre, no theatre without life” is the motto of my company. I gave it the name: The Guests Are Coming. It is a reference to Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf, the evergreen by Edward Albee. It is a warning that to be a guest – a spectator – can be a risky business.
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It is also an invitation for the spectator to receive the actor as a guest. In other words: the company and the audience share an equal responsibilty. An ability to respond. “Havin’ fun ain’t doin’ nothing”, as Dr. John pointed out. Hamlet knew that already when he staged his little play for his uncle’s benefit. “Lights! All lights!” And the rest is clear.
There’s not much more to be said about the essence of theatre in my case (yes i plead guilty) or in general, than uh: it’s not a matter of practice, it’s a matter of “be”-ing, completely, without a “or” knot. Because to celebrate life is theatre. And theatre without life must be dead.I made my debut in a French comedy (Croque Monsieur) as butler, and my first fans were grannies ! My first leading role was the idealist Kalyajev in The Just by Albert Camus. I still like extremes. This was with amateur groups here in Rotterdam. I had the luck of not being excepted by an academy. Fate even blessed me with a personal theacher, the late Piet Eelvelt, who trained me with the Stanislavski-method. Hence the motto.In 1982 I staged my first interpretation (solo) of the Hamletmachine by Heiner Müller, the East German dissident. For me the Hamletmachine is a kind ideological requiem. Vive la revolution! Non, la revolution est mort! That feeling. It became the backbone of my theatrical career. In 2006 i staged my 13th interpretation with Eastern German youngsters in Jena.As freelancer i slowly infiltrated Dutch theatre and became it’s “Enfant Terrible”. I was even called ‘the poet’s poet” of Dutch theatre. In the end i forced (with political action, see De Bom) the Ministry for culture and public heath to have the dubious honour of financially supporting The Guests Are Coming between 1996 till 2000.
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