'KUT TONEEL' has been spray-painted over BOT's poster. Another features penises and a clown's nose. Does Firma MES' new show arouse so much aggression? In any case, the young theatre company from The Hague promises us a play about "unkind people". But that doesn't quite come true.
On the flat floor of Theater aan het Spui, three bodies sway up and down, clad in beige stretch suits and with equal wigs on their heads. Around them strange growths. A forest, an aquarium? The three actors, just playing themselves, get talking to each other. Daan van Dijsseldonk tells about a collision with a girl on the train and how a very unkind bald man interfered. And then the fence is drawn, as fellow player Lindertje Mans explains that Daan was actually very unkind himself. Daan thinks not, and Roos Eijmers comes in as a moving judge (on a segway without handlebars) to pass judgment.
Comical and philosophical
But then it becomes difficult. Because when is someone actually unlikable? Or nice? Is something, which is not especially nice, by definition unkind? Can someone be nice and still do something unkind? As the trial proceeds, a delightful whirlwind of light-philosophical discussions and comic scenes unfolds. Firma MES takes the audience past candy-addicted couples, altruistic amoebas, guilt-ridden conductresses, depressed scientists and Peter Jan Rens. It is wonderful when Eijmers and Van Dijsseldonk re-enact the scene in the train, but from the perspective of the bald hunk. What if the latter is just sad about the blurring of norms in society and has finally found the courage to say something about it? An occasional scene comes a little out of the blue, without really bothering, by the way. Gradually, the significance of the setting and the swaying bodies also becomes clear, but I won't give it away here.
As in previous performances as TROEP Firma MES navigates between play and debate, addressing the audience without scaring you in the front row. In the denouement, the actors leave the story to argue about what kind of ending the audience actually wants or deserves - Brechtian alienation.
Mimics
With their delightful facial expressions and the unconventional incursions of lyricist Daan Windhorst, Mans, Eijmers and Van Dijsseldonk have both the laughers and the thinkers on their hands, which is clever. Despite the predicate 'young company', we find on the website of all involved already impressive curricula. All three actors, as well as director Thomas Schoots, come from the Toneelacademie Maastricht and have performed with Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Het Nationale Toneel, Oostpool, Orkater and NTGent, among others. However, Firma MES has its own signature that makes you leave the room with a broad smile - and secretly wonder: how nice am I myself?
Seen: 11 December, Theater aan het Spui, The Hague
Tour until 1 April 2016
www.firmames.nl/projecten/bot
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