The sharpest theatre of 2017 comes from The Hague: Rishi of Firma Mes

If theatre can do anything, it is to put us outside reality. Not even to make you dream away, but to stop that reality for a moment and look at it in a different way. Call it the Ti-Ta-Wizard moment. To stop the action at the dramatic climax, to pull the sting out of the wasp, or the fuse out of the powder keg.

Firma Mes did just that in April this year, and the result was stunning. The small theatre group put to rest a recent event: the shooting dead, by a police officer, of an unarmed dark-skinned boy at Hollands Spoor station in 2012. That incident caused considerable unrest, and drew even stronger attention to integration problems in The Hague, the city where our government sits and the far-right PVV is in the city council. The city, too, where the policeman has a reputation as a raucous bully and serious media are on the lookout for whether or not existing 'sharia triangles'.

Doubt

Just a little earlier than The National Theatre, which this year with The Nation devotes an entire theatre series to the explosive situation in the residency, did Kees Roorda as a writer, did something special with the Hollands Spoor incident. He wrote a text for each person involved that fully reflects their point of view. The text does not assign blame, but sows doubt. Not doubt about what happened, but doubt about what we should think about it. That is a very exciting thing to do, and also quite unique.

The performance, brought as an occasional project, was picked up by the media and received rave reviews. 'The structure of the text, the tragic source material and the fantastic actors make RISHI a fierce and inescapable drama, in which sensationalism is given no room,' wrote De Volkskrant. De Groene Amsterdammer read: 'RISHI (...) is undemanding. And it deserves to be seen by many more people. It is, after all, interesting documentary theatre.'

The chance to go see the show now is there, thanks to the Theatre Festival. A small tour will follow. Be quick.

Playlist:

• 9 Sep Theater Bellevue Amsterdam Nederlands Theater Festival
• 10 Sep Theater Bellevue Amsterdam Nederlands Theater Festival
• 11 Sep Theater Bellevue Amsterdam Nederlands Theater Festival
• 12 Sep Theater Bellevue Amsterdam Nederlands Theater Festival
• 14 Sep Theater aan het Spui The Hague
• 15 Sep Theater aan het Spui The Hague
• 20 Sep De Snorfabriek Utrecht tickets via Stadsschouwburg Utrecht
• 22 Sep Theater De Lieve Vrouw Amersfoort
• 23 Sep Rotterdamse Schouwburg Rotterdam
• 26 Sep Theater Dakota The Hague