The press presentation of the open-air opera Orfeo ed Eurydice at Soestdijk at the time attracted just under a hundred people press and sponsors. At the presentation of the performance 'Much ado about nothing', The Utrecht Games attracted only a handful: someone from weblog culturepodium.co.uk, two people from the Stadsblad Utrecht and an indeterminate camera crew that had come exclusively for Suzan Visser.
Then it does feel a bit catty, standing there with some very good and well-known actors, a rather revolutionary performance idea and The New Cool Collective. If only that doesn't foreshadow the attention this spectacle performance is going to attract in August.
So we were there too, and shot some images. Below. You may cut and paste yourself, provided you leave our very expensive logo in place.
The set is striking. There will be a floor that goes all the way into the auditorium, laid across the first rows of the main auditorium of Utrecht's Stadsschouwburg, with an additional grandstand, which will connect to the balcony. Toneelgroep Amsterdam pulled something like this off a few years ago, but instead of The New Cool Collective, they had Joop Admiraal in a fancy dress. Surely that's different.
Director Jos Thie is guided in his choice of performance by company dramaturge Corien Baart. And Corien chose this play, without even first the original text reading. She saw the film, and that won her over. There will natives of dramaturgy land who think this is a capital offence, we actually think it's fair. And how an idea originates is one thing, how it is then executed is two, And director Jos Thie is familiar with that.
That The New Cool Collective participating is more special than you think. The club floods with gigs and international tours, and then two months of rehearsing and two months of performing: that's quite a sacrifice. Although rehearsing with DUS seems to be a breath of fresh air for The NCC. Because of the discipline.
Greg Nottrot is the big newcomer at DUS. With his own group New Utrecht Theatre in recent years, he has developed methods for audiences to actively participate in performances. This often involved thinking deeply about complex issues, or joining in with The Order of the Day, now we have to make sure that everyone dances along and meanwhile stays away from the protagonists. An extraordinary task.
Famous Dutchman 1 is Arthur Japin, the man who can present QI better than Stephen Fry. The dreamed-of JR for Dutch Dallas also plays a bad guy here. We expect a lot from it.
Famous Dutchman 2 had Sabri Saad el Hamus should be, but so that became Dennis Koenen, Dennis who?! Dennis Koenen. He filled in for the Egyptian who had something else to do at the end anyway, and he can do quite a bit. One of the stars of Alum. Drama group from Utrecht. Also keep an eye out, so.
Let's face it, of course, we all actually come for Famous Dutchman 3: Suzan Visser. Simply. Because she's good. And fun. Even more fun than in Gooise Vrouwen, a character she will have to pass for on TV for a very long time. To kick off: go watch Much ado about nothing, then.
Because it's going to swing.
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