'The funeral' causes commotion around Willibrordus Church, but breaks ground for Catholic Church and its rituals

Nobody had foreseen, let alone wanted, the commotion caused by the performance series 'The Funeral' in the St Willibrordus Church in Utrecht. The apostolate of St Willibrordus Church feels that the church has been 'desecrated' and no longer wants to hold Masses there, now that Dries Verhoeven is performing 'The Funeral' there for ten evenings with the help of Sens Uitvaarten. These are theatrical funeral masses, with which he has buried the welfare state and social support for art, among other things. But hurting someone with this was never his intention: ''If I seek provocation at all in the project, it is the one with the spectator.''

It is all solemn. At the door, a man stands hugging some people as he lets them in. They enter a candle-lit room. This is where the deceased is laid out. Most visitors are dressed in black. When everyone is seated, the coffin is carried in, preceded by the pastor and followed by the family. These walk with a walker, a blind cane or sit in a wheelchair. A choir sings tuneful music. And then the funeral service begins.

Giggles

You involuntarily wonder who comes here for fun. Out for a nice evening and then to the church for a funeral? But however moody and bedraggled the gravediggers keep looking, when the pastor starts talking, it turns out that something very different is going on here. In this beautiful church, farewells are being said and a last honour paid. To the welfare state. The word and communion service commemorates what the welfare state has meant to loved ones. ''On a day like today, we realise that we are souls in a mortal shell,'' declares the pastor. ''Our thoughts are with those who cannot cope on their own. For them, the welfare state was always there. If you knocked on its door, it always gave home. We must now hope for a future together, as future brothers or sisters.'' And then there are giggles here and there. Not a tear falls, at most a shoulder shakes from a restrained weak laugh.

[Tweet "On Earth, the welfare state was not so often adulated. Here we do"]

So there have been more funerals in recent days, of social support for the arts, post-colonial guilt and multiculturalism. And more will follow. All with a confession of guilt, prayers, and even table prayers and communion. The accompanying booklet looks like it was printed for a Catholic mass. The pastor says: 'Here on earth, the welfare state was not so often bewailed. Here we do'. And he waves the censer above the coffin.

 

Lost

Theatre maker Dries Verhoeven does so so that people realise what social achievements of recent years have all been lost and what that means for those involved. The form he has chosen for this is a Catholic funeral service, including the liturgy and accompanying rituals. Precisely because many people increasingly miss rituals at funerals, he wants to emphasise the value of the Catholic Church and the institute at the time: 'I hope that visitors experience the meaning of rituals like this when they say goodbye to the concept in question together,' he writes on www.deuitvaart.nl in response to the outcry. 'By having the ten evenings take place in the context of a Catholic church, I also hope to show the value of that place and institution. I hope that visitors will experience the significance of this kind of ritual when they say goodbye to the conception in question in unison. (...) I dare to defend that with the project I am championing the positive aspects of the Catholic funeral mass and its rituals.'

The realisation that rituals and design are important in a farewell was also one of the reasons Simone Scholts and Meta Stevens contacted Dries Verhoeven. What a coincidence that he was working on a performance called 'De uitvaart'. Scholts and Stevens had just wanted to leave the theatre world to work as funeral directors. Scholts was a production manager at 't Barre Land and the Lab Utrecht; Stevens was a drama teacher and developed into a choir director. But they both wanted to become funeral directors. Next month, their funeral company SENS will start in Utrecht. And exactly at this crossroads, they are running their 'try-out' with 'De uitvaart'.

'We helped Dries with the liturgy, we arranged the coffin and gave him tips. Among other things, also to use real pallbearers. Because with their bows, nods and their knowledge of when to take off the hat, they really add a lot. And we have a lot of fun with those men.'

[Tweet "We arrange the next customer for the funeral home, we always say."]]

A porter joins in and says he enjoys participating in this theatrical funeral mass: 'We mimic the funeral and help create the atmosphere. Even though we are dead serious, we are always actors. People take porters also for the ceremony. When it comes to our work, everything has to be right. Because you cannot fix the farewell of a deceased person. You always have to be sharp. And stay tight. We arrange the next customer for the funeral home, we always say.'

 

Mourning process

Simone Scholts and Meta Stevens also see the value of a memorable farewell.

'If the farewell is a good memory, it is an important step in the grieving process. You can make a farewell meaningful.' A funeral can also be much more than the obligatory talk-talk-talk, Meta Stevens believes: 'I myself have experienced a few disappointing funerals, after which I got the idea that it should be possible to do things differently. Dramaturgy can play a role in this. You can design and organise a farewell differently. But of course always according to the wishes of the family.'

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Funeral directors do not see a funeral as a play. But this play does affect them: 'A number of aspects of society come along and you realise: this is how it used to be and we are losing that. It is a reassessment of the values of this society. By being confronted with that, it does affect me.'

Of course, they would have preferred it under all the fuss. 'This doesn't help,' says Meta Stevens. 'Now it seems we could be associated with a performance that scolds the Catholic Church. But this play is not about faith or religion at all. There is no scolding. The rituals from the church are used for a different statement. On the contrary, Dries Verhoeven thinks there is an impoverishment taking place because there are fewer rituals. We look for richness in a service without using the church touch. On the contrary, the church serves as a source of inspiration.'

At least they had a good practice for the real thing, which will start in a few weeks.

 

10 theatrical funeral masses by Dries Verhoeven at St Willibrord Church | SPRING Festival 15-24 May, daily at 7.30pm

'The funeral' by Dries Verhoeven. SPRING Festival. Tm 24 May, daily at 19.30 at St Willibrorduskerk, Minnebroederstraat 21, Utrecht.

Theatre producer Dries Verhoeven's reaction to the commotion can be read at: www.deuitvaart.nl

www.sensuitvaarten.nl