Heroes are not always the smartest people. Indeed, most acts that have gone down in history as heroes have been thoughtless actions. That happened to succeed. Pure luck. So against every heroic act there is an unknown but not negligible number of senseless deaths of would-be heroes.
The main character of the play The Heroes, that I on 4 August in Den Bosch saw, had almost been one of them. Flemish master actor Josse de Pauw tries to make us part of this loser's struggle in an extremely artfully crafted story. Because that is the man who dared not be a hero for the rest of his miserable life.
Technical gadgets
We had already lost sight of it a little here in Dutch theatre: theatre with extremely many subtle technical gadgets that is an extraordinary adventure, especially for the ear. Guy Cassiers introduced that here when he was artistic director of Rotterdam's now forgotten city company for a few years. His worldwide success generated a lot of nachwuchs, especially in Flanders.
The show De Helden was created by the Brussels KVS and LOD music theatre, and it is a wonderful combination. Composer Dominique Pauwels wrote a score for a lot of voices, instruments and a trumpeting robot. On stage, all that is sampled and remixed by amanuensis Brecht Beuselinck, while the rather brief lyrics are spoken by Josse De Pauw.
Sensible
In terms of content and design, it is downright beautiful. De Pauw makes the despair of the man who was partly to blame for the drowning of a little girl palpable. Lacking a swimming certificate, he did not jump after her in the fast-flowing canal with apparently high quay walls. He saw her drowning and could not forget that image.
Yet it didn't hit. Perhaps that was because of all that ingenuity, and all those visible actions that were needed to put that ingenuity into action. Maybe it was also because of the slightly unimaginable character of the story, because in the Netherlands something like this is less conceivable. Here, every four-year-old already has three swimming diplomas in their pocket by the time they enter primary school, right? Or is that just something I remember from the golden days before education cuts?
Southern Neighbours
The fact remains that I had too much opportunity to let my mind wander to that kind of sidepath. That's a shame. However stunningly beautiful and artfully crafted everything was.
I am glad, though, that Theatre Festival Boulevard still devotes a large part of its programme to the theatre of our southern neighbours. We don't get to see each other that often anymore. And that's a real shame. Fortunately, during this edition there is a lot more to taste of Flemish theatre, which is always a bit more worldly, burgundy and folksy than ours anyway.
Offer!
I look forward to seeing you between 3 and 13 August, on holiday in Den Bosch. And if you can't be there, subscribe to our special, daily updated Festival Boulevard newsletter!
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