Actors make audience laugh and gawk with intrigue in theatrical jam session 'Night Guests' #tf2010

"I am fifty-eight." Plumply, Saskia Lemming (Oda Spelbos) reveals her biggest secret to husband and jaded folk singer René Lemming (Peter Bolhuis). He married her 12 years ago, thinking she was a young blonde. In turn, he reveals that he actually wrote 'You are the cream of my crop', his number one hit, for another woman. The bomb bursts on reality show 'The Lemmings'. Or rather: on stage at De Balie, where Hadewich Minis, Peter Bolhuis, Oda Spelbos and Yorick Zwart compete in Night guests. A three-hour improvisational 'jam session'.

"You are an ex-GTST actress and just voted most irritating TV personality of the year," Niels Croiset, one of the writers of 'The Lemmings', tells Spelbos. "You never had children with René because you were already too old. He thinks you never wanted children." One by one, the actors get to describe their characters and their secrets. The audience feasts, because they know more than the actors. Even during the explanation, there is hearty laughter at all the soap opera-like intrigue. The weak seed of escalator expert Marco Matsier (Black) does well.

The laughter persists for two and a half hours. Interspersed with poignancy and the occasional yawn when the play slumps a little. Moments when the actors search for tension - and fortunately find it again. The inevitable result of such a long improvisation. Yet the founders of Nachtgasten, Yorick Zwart, Koen Wouterse, Jef Hoogmartens and Niels Croiset, chose this deliberately. Wouterse: "Otherwise, actors will start performing their tricks. We don't want that. Taking our time really creates a story." Since January, the four friends have been creating improvisational performances twice a month at the Rose Theatre. They write stories, invite actors and take turns playing themselves. "We now have a list of about seven hundred actors who are thrilled to participate. Why? They can try out in complete freedom and play with actors they have never played with before. We want to jam with each other, just like musicians. From that idea, we founded Night Guests," explains Zwart. "Improvising is not only great fun, but also educational. You have no idea what you're getting into. You can't prepare for it. That's what makes it so interesting."

For seasoned actor Bolhuis, it had been twenty-five years since he last participated in improv. "I immediately said 'yes' when they asked me for this, but moments later I thought: what have I done now? It's very exciting. You just have to see what emerges. It can fail miserably if there is no chemistry on stage. Fortunately, we definitely had a click tonight. We got through the slump moments well. Then we consulted secretly in between or someone spontaneously put in something new."

Seen: De Balie Amsterdam, Sunday 5 September.

(Photo: Katiche van der Knoop)