Peter de Graef is not only a wonderful actor, he can also tell compelling stories. He also brings that talent with him as a writer. So in Boiling Frog, the show now on tour in the Netherlands, there are six Peter de Graefs on stage, and that is no punishment. Especially not because those six Peter de Graefs also include Maria Kraakman or Sanne den Hartog. Or are called Bianca van der Schoot.
Then you might think that things are so bad in the banking world that they even make a play about it, but in the tile business things are so much worse. So while the Nationale Toneel adapted the bestseller De Prooi about the fall of ABN-AMRO top man Rijkman Groenink for stage, Peter de Graef set to work on the story of the illustrious tile family Berkema. Which fortunately only exists in the imagination.
The Berkemas have been in tiles for so long that even in 2017, their interiors look much as they did in the years of their founding, countless generations ago. They will not change, the matron familias guaranteed. Bianca van der Schoot, best known as one half of the duo Bogaert & Van der Schoot, beautifully portrays that steep intransigence with a beautifully shapeless dragon body.
The story doesn't really even matter that much in Boiling Frog. At least, it is pointless to summarise the many plot twists, difficult relationships and bizarre solutions here. What remains is that Peter de Graef mainly wants to make it clear that some things will never change, although with him you can never be entirely sure.
So what makes the performance really enjoyable is the way the actors tell the story. They are, of course, just playing theatre, but they also regularly check whether we in the audience still understand it all, very casually. This is a friendly style of play that Peter de Graef, as soloist himself, has mastered to perfection.
It is nice that director Eric Whien has managed to convey that open manner of play to the actors of Toneelroep Oostpool. Thus, even the most complicated philosophical theories become manageable, making it an equally instructive and enjoyable pastime, the full three hours the play lasts including intermission.
Seen: 14 March at Theatre Kikker, Utrecht. More information and playlist: www.toneelgroepoostpool.nl
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