She has just returned from a long holiday in her native Norway and, although many Norwegians find Ibsen boring these days, she herself loves his work. Maren Bjorseth is a third-year directing student at the AHK. Her Dutch is flawless; it is hard to believe she has only lived here for two years. Maren is one of four directing students chosen to take a master class from German director Thomas Ostermeier, artistic director of Schaubühne Berlin. Last year, the Stadschouwburg showed his Hamlet (starring a nasty, rather fat Hamlet) and in December, Ostermeier will direct Ibsen's Spoken at Toneelgroep Amsterdam.
The master class is a collaborative project of TF with the AHK and actors from ACT. It is the first day of school for the students and, as Maren says, they were immediately thrown into the deep end: 'It was very short and intensive, we worked from ten to three and Thomas Ostermeier came to watch twice. So it really is a work in progress.'
The four groups each chose a scene, three times Spoken and once Hamlet, and then set to work in various spaces in the City Theatre. Taking turns, Ostermeier sought out the groups, accompanied by dramaturge Eve Hopkins, who also led the discussion afterwards. Although the directing students and ACT actors have rehearsed the text beforehand, they only get to know each other on the day itself. "For us, that's normal," says Karlijn Kistemaker, also one of the directing students, "we're constantly working with people we've never seen before. The comments by the German director, who has become known for his updating of classics without too many fashionable interventions, are strikingly psychologising. He talks about Oedipus and Freud and repeatedly tries to point out conflict and drama to the would-be directors. Essential, says Ostermeier, is to start with very simple data: What kind of day is it? How does the light fall in? Is it summer or winter? What is the location like? What do the characters look like?
There is no time at all for scenery, props or other theatrical decoration; Ostermeier tries to penetrate the psyche of the characters. He finds the students and actors remarkably quick in their analysis: 'In Germany, it is often the case that the actors ask banal questions and the directors, on the contrary, think very complexly. I don't see German actors appropriating such a role in so little time anyway.' We have now landed at the Krakeling, where at four o'clock there will be a presentation of the four scenes for a small audience, explained by the students, actors and Ostermeier.
It is indeed amazing how much further along the scenes are already. It is thrilling to follow the emotional line that runs through the play. His plea for 'dramatic non-dramatic' theatre, by which Ostermeier means: not too bold, too much and too exaggerated, has worked out well with all the groups. For Karlijn, it turned out to be a special experience: 'The simpler, the better. You think most people are normal, but everyone has a story behind them, something secret or forbidden. Like Ostermeier, I always look for the edge of illusion.'
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