Tweet16-01-2011 om 01:09 by Sueli Brodin

Benoît Vanraes, marketing manager at Theatre Production company Huis van Bourgondië in Maastricht, approached me in early December last year with an attractive suggestion: how would I feel about being a VIP for one night and be given the possibility to invite 15 people of my choice for a special evening at the theatre?



Benoît explained that this was a new concept launched at Huis van Bourgondië aiming at introducing their organisation to a new public not yet acquainted with their work and activities.

Two years ago the theatre company started offering a monthly performance especially targeting the international community in the Maastricht region but felt that too few people knew about their initiative.

By allowing me to give away 15 free tickets for the next “Language No Problem” show, they were hoping to tap into my own network of international colleagues and acquaintances. “It’s a concept that makes everybody happy: your friends get to go to the theatre for free and we get to reach a new audience.”



I was enthusiastic about the idea and the response from the friends I contacted to join me was so overwhelmingly positive that 24 of us turned up at Huis van Bourgondië on Friday night. My eight additional guests were allowed to benefit from a discount rate.



Our group consisted of a mixture of friends I have made through the International Women’s Club of South Limburg and my work for the European Journalism Centre and the Maastricht Region foundation.



After some drinks at the bar, we gathered in the attic with two staff members, Merel Schreurs and Karin van Leeuwen, who led us through an entertaining introduction quiz into the work of Huis van Bourgondië and its activities.



For example, the first question they asked was: “Who is the artistic director of Huis van Bourgondië?”
A: Piet Menu,
B: Guido Wevers,
C: Sueli Brodin,
or D: Maarten Verhoef?

My friends laughed out loud when they saw my picture and no one said C, but the correct answer actually proved tricky to guess.

Most of my guests were not familiar with the theatre company and were surprised to find out about its existence only now. “I have often walked past this building but never knew what it was and what happened in it,” a few of them said.

The quiz struck me as a pleasant and informative instrument to acquaint us with the work of Huis of Bourgondië and its mission, which is to provide a place for young and upcoming theatre makers to do research, produce new projects and develop their artistic talent in the process.



The show of the evening was the English language performance Good Cop Bad Cop by the Amsterdam based Dutch theatre group Kassys. The event was sold out and the atmosphere was warm and informal in the packed room.



The subject of the play appealed to me: it dealt with the contrast between seemingly trivial and meaningless actions, performed by three actors  on stage in front of us and the disproportionate significance these actions were given by the same actors in short reality television-like commentaries projected on a screen in the back.



The dramatic contrast was made even more obvious and powerful by the fact that the actors on stage were actually behaving like pets - a dog and two cats – and didn’t not betray any emotions on their faces almost until the end of the play. They neither laughed nor cried. On screen however, they were very expressive human beings, who analysed every single action that took place on stage and let themselves get carried away by their feelings.



The effect was often hilarious and the play was meant to be a critical reflection on the absurdity of reality television shows, which feed our unhealthy hunger for attention and give exaggerated importance to ordinary actions.



The Maastricht audience was visibly pleased and congratulated Kassys with a loud round of applause at the end of the performance.



As part of the VIP evening, my guests and I were given the privilege to meet and discuss the play in English with the two actresses, Liesbeth Gritter and Esther Snelder. It was interesting to find out for example that not everyone in our group had immediately understood that the actors on stage were supposed to be pets. Also, some of us had seen three dogs or three cats, instead of a dog and two cats.

We told the actresses what we had particularly liked – the scene with the plastic bag – or wondered about: "Did you eat a real fly Liesbeth and how did you make yourself cry at the end?"

"And why the happy ending? Or was it perhaps a farcical ending?"



My guests and I complimented the staff of Huis van Bourgondië on their work and promised to spread the word about their monthly "Language No Problem" shows. Many said that they used to go to the theatre often in their home country and had missed not being able to do so in the Netherlands because of the language barrier.

Just before leaving, one of my friends gave Benoît a tip about a possible way to use theatre as a means for the benefit of the international community.
Benoit’s eyes started shining at the idea: “I like it!”



"Just do it!"

Now it’s just a question of implementing my friend’s idea. Unsurprisingly, the sign outside the building clearly indicates that this won’t be a problem for Huis van Bourgondië. We’ll be back there soon.

Comments

Leave a reply