Sadettin Kırmızıyüz creates theatre series 'Metropolis'. 'If you think, this can't be true, assume: this is true.'

It all starts at Orange College, of course. A fictional school with very real problems. For Sadettin Kırmızıyüz, the place where he commissions the opening part of Metropolis, a series that should eventually count four episodes. It is one of Het Nationale Theater's biggest projects over the next four years, in close cooperation with Kırmızıyüz's own company Trouble Man.

The story and structure of the series is loosely based on the legendary HBO series The Wire. This is a slight nuance of the very first announcements, a few years ago, when it briefly looked like he was going to bring the Dutch version of The Wire to - then - Rotterdam. Kırmızıyüz now nuances that ambitious announcement of the time: 'It was inspired by the dramaturgy of The Wire. Of course it was very sexy to say that, and to quote certain well-known scenes, but that's not going to happen.'

Fuck-scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdfwFDZGnUk

So not the famous/infamous scene, at a crime scene, in which 'Fuck' is said slightly more often than in an average Dutch conversation. Kırmızıyüz does follow the idea behind the series: 'The dramaturgy of The Wire, besides the theme per season, is also: how everything is related. There is no distinction between right and wrong. There is a grey area where good guys can make bad choices and bad guys can make good choices. I think it's also a bit how it goes in real life, right? In The Wire, the most noble character is a criminal who robs criminals. HIS is the only one who really has a code that he sticks to.'

According to the Zutphen-born theatre-maker, the theme is universal: 'To me, it's about how that system works, that there is a government, that there are rules, that decisions are made on the basis of those rules, that it translates into residential areas and personal lives.'

Polderland

'On The Wire's Wikipedia, it says: "using a city as a basis, author David Simon paints a picture of an entire society." That's where that connection to The Wire comes from much more than a thought of making the Dutch version of The Wire. Of course, you can try to make a Dutch version, but the Netherlands is a kind of polder country after all. If you talk about street dealers here, you also have them in the Netherlands, but in a different way. I was recently approached by someone on the street again, I almost fell off my chair. I really thought, "wow that's been a long time, does that still happen? Wow, seriously, you want to sell me cocaine?!" He said, "Yeah seriously", and I: "No man, I'm going home, I live there." He: "Okay, okay, good night." In The Wire, of course, that's a big part of that whole show. On that street corner, everything happens.'

The Hague is indeed not Baltimore, acknowledges Kırmızıyüz, although he believes there are more similarities between big cities worldwide, than, say, between a city and the countryside in its immediate vicinity: 'What I did recognise myself in was, for example, the fourth season of The Wire. In it, it's about education. Idealistic teachers running up against regulations, the promises and the lack of money. The role money plays! What schools have to do to qualify for budgets and grants! Well, that is something that also plays a role in the Netherlands!'

True stories

This is also why Metropolis begins with an episode on education.

'Our imaginary school is called Orange College and has a turbulent history. It is based on true stories. We did a number of interviews with people from the education field, as well as with Ingrid van Engelshoven when she was an alderman in The Hague.'

According to Kırmızıyüz, the problem is mainly the introduction of market forces in education: 'Nowadays, you can go to a website and it lists the best five secondary schools for your neighbourhood. Then you can just click and you see tables with the average final grade the average number of people who stay on. And now there are schools, and it's not completely forbidden apparently, whose students are placed to a lower level shortly before the final exam because the teaching team is afraid they won't make it. At least then they can keep their average pass rate high. And a high pass rate means say 50, 100 extra pupils.'

New music teacher

'An apprentice earns about €8000 a year from the state. That's income again, after all. What can they do with that? Well, fantastic things they can do with that. Then they can renovate their library, then they can hire a new music teacher. For me, it's much more about that interaction than about a Dutch-language version of a very successful television series. That's not necessary at all.'

For this piece, Kırmızıyüz took a thorough documentary approach. Almost journalistic. How do you like it?

'A lot of the players have done their own research. Not all of them. It has also been a question of agendas. I went out a lot with a dramaturge in preparation. But you also just sit at a table for weeks, watching documentaries. Then the personal experiences and stories come naturally. That's all material. Sometimes it works on the floor another time it doesn't.'

Exam fraud

'When we were working on this show in Rotterdam, we very often thought, "This is a bit exaggerated, maybe", but then we came across stories where you thought, "This can't be true." So that was also the first thing I said to the actors here: "If you think: this can't be true, assume: this is true."

'Because the examples that are used, of large-scale exam fraud involving teachers and students, you can think: that can't be true, while just now before the summer holidays, at a Rotterdam MBO, so many students still walked out of the door with a diploma when that absolutely shouldn't be possible. Only because a number of teachers say: 'It's better that they get their diploma, because then at least they have a diploma, and we don't have to worry about whether it will ever work out with those lads.'

Money

'There was also large-scale absenteeism fraud the other day, where for six months more than 70 students just systematically stayed away from school under the watchful eye of about three teachers and a team leader. All from the idea that if they started recording that, everyone would have to deal with the truancy officer and they would have the inspectorate on their roof. That may be an altruistic motive, but then the DUO then comes along and finds that these guys did have study financing every month for six months while not going to school. Who is going to pay for that? What is this? That's so many hundred per student per month times 6 months times 70. Surely that's several tens of thousands of euros.'

'It's cool that the same thing is said in The Wire: Follow The Money. If you follow the drugs, you just end up with a street dealer or some drug boss. But if you follow the money, you never know where you'll end up. So that's interesting because it's not just about systems, but more importantly about vulnerable students. And without anyone at all rubbing their hands in pleasure in a corner. It's not indifference either, but comes from a kind of well-meaning conviction that could have disastrous consequences.'

Organised crime

Dutch society's focus on preventing radicalisation gives organised crime the very space it needs. That is the big idea behind at least the first episode of Metropolis.

The remaining parts have yet to be written. First, let's make sure Part 1 gets it right. This conversation takes place two weeks before the premiere in The Hague. 'Yes, where does that end? We're working on the end now and for now it's, "No, I think he should die!", "No he shouldn't die, he should kill someone!", "No that's not good!". So we haven't figured that out yet. Well the end always comes last.

Really Happened is No Excuse, or: How playwright Sadettin Kırmızıyüz gets passed left and right by De Luizenmoeder