Ko van den Bosch once founded the ruthless theatre company Alex d'Electrique and theatre would change permanently because of him. They made punk theatre, and because there was little video anyway, the myths about trays of shit and actors attacking each other with chainsaws are more numerous than it actually occurred.
I have long thought that in another life Ko van den Bosch might have been a Dutch Rammstein, but van den Bosch - in my opinion - does not like to write hits, and Rammstein does. Van den Bosch stayed grunge because he can just cherish his principles there too.
Tredmolen
So it is only great that he has now written a grunge performance with the Rosa Ensemble, composer Daniel Cross' club. The band that Rosa has put down is outwardly close to Rammstein, although it lacks the treadmill for the pianist, who in that great German example sets the iron rhythm of all the songs. In terms of content, the performance is more along the lines of Nirvana.
It could be a recipe for peerless musical theatre, yet something gnaws at it. That's not Rosa's music, which at times still can't quite get away from virtuosic playing with 17/8th bars on the left, and 5/4th bars on the right. This is - with a little good will - punk enough, even if it doesn't quite headbang.
Matia Bazar
The story Ko van den Bosch wrote is about a singer who has less and less room in his head for his ideals, and so derails. Typical Ko van den Bosch material and the singer sings well, supported by a singer who effortlessly masters all the registers between Nina Hagen and Matia Bazar.
The only problem is that they are too preoccupied with the audience. They want to tell something all the time and that doesn't really fit the image of a grunge band at all. Then I want to sense hunched over anger, a singer who doesn't give the audience a glance, a singer who is only angry at all those sucking types. Now it all starts far too cheerfully and that actually takes all the danger out of the performance. Which is quite a shame, because the stakes are ok, the band strong, and the acting quality adequate.
Next time, just don't see the audience as theatre-goers, but as snorting, beer-drinking and pogoing city folk around a moshpit whose floor is lava. Then all will be well. Trust me.
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