1On 6 September 2018, Chokri Ben Chika left his sense of humour behind in Belgium. He trekked to the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg with a filled jerry can and committed a criminal offence. He threatened a Rabo Hall filled to the brim with an indistinguishable fake weapon. He said he admired the anonymous Tunisian who had heralded the start of the Arab Spring with his self-immolation. This evening, NOS News would also finally open with theatre again, he assured the deathly quiet room.
Listen to the speech and dramatic conclusion after 30 minutes here:
He stepped forward, poured the jerry can over himself. The confusion turned into mild panic. Only the resolute action of veteran theatre director Jan Joris Lamers prevented real panic from breaking out and resulting in injuries. Speaking to the speaker, he strode to the stage from row 16, grabbed the somewhat surprised but not yet surprised Chokri Ben Chika by his lugs and carried him off the stage. Until he was three metres away from the threatener, he, like the rest of the audience, will not have known that it was water, not petrol, with which the Belgian had doused himself. That - without being pathetic - makes Jan Joris Lamers a hero.
Farewell speech
The programme continued after a short break. An award had yet to be presented. Jury chairman Ferry Mingelen's farewell speech had yet to be heard. That opened the annual Dutch Theatre Festival. For many hours afterwards, I spoke to people seriously traumatised by the action.
Those who were not traumatised were at least shocked, and otherwise outraged. There were also some critics and dramatists who applauded the action. According to them, the Belgian dramatist had shown that political theatre was alive and well. Other attendees, on the contrary, declared it dead.
End of 'State of the Theatre'?
Marc van Warmerdam, leader of Orkater, condemned the action as 'totally tasteless'. Eric de Vroedt of the National Theatre called the act 'inappropriate'. Simon van den Berg, editor-in-chief of trade magazine Theatermaker, felt that this speech had shown that the 'State of the Theatre', the annual speech by an Important Person, with which the Theatre Festival opens, had had its day. 'The sector should just come up with something new,' he said, when asked about possible alternatives.
If the Theatre Festival follows that suggestion, then Chokri Ben Chika has proved his point. He stated at the beginning of his campaign that in theatre, everything had been said, but not everything had been done. He would change that. With a weapon that - as it turned out afterwards - was fake. Whoever wants to get over that in this race will have to come up with something real next time.
Whether that is then still theatre is for the experts to decide among themselves.
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