Beautiful ode to shyness by Treurdier

Few actors can portray timidity as aptly as Jan-Paul Buijs. With his wonderful Circus Treurdier, he made a catchy performance that anyone who has something against big mouths should enjoy.

Especially to chat show tables and on Twitter, but also with the incessant smattering of columns in the Volkskrant; the big mouths of the betwetervolk exert a power that you would rather not compare to dictatorial invasions; but which can come across that way to the timid, bashful, timid people of this earth and whatever other wonderful synonyms are available to denote the humble fellow man.

They suffer. Yet meanwhile, they constantly cherish a glimmer of hope that, one fine day and got may know when, they will get their revenge. That their greatness will reveal itself like a sudden blooming lily and strike the great cymbals dumb. That day of triumph beckons ever.

Branch roll

How tragic when in every emerging stanza of your life you cannot shine as a blooming lily but are doomed to know your place as a wallflower. Behold the harsh fate of Guido. We meet him on arrival in the main hall of Theatre Bellevue in a long brown suit and branches on arms and head. Guido has secured the role of a tree in the school musical. Worse, we see Guido frontally in all his desolation, but the school performance takes place at the back of the stage, with the audience on the other side. We are 'mere imagination'.

Leave that kind of invention to Jan-Paul Buijs, Ellen Parren and Peter van Rooijen, the writers of Baaaaaa, Circus Treurdier's new show. It premiered on Friday, under the watchful eye of the kindred actors of the unsurpassed Mission Earth (conceived by Tim Kamps, co-creator of The Terrible Eighties). In terms of absurdity, this series measures up to TreurTeeVee of which Vpro may well deliver a new series).

Oh yes, about Jan-Paul Buijs spoken just for his role as the autistic Dirk, the series is Swanenburg worthwhile. And so now as a tree, at least the beginning of his lacklustre career that will end this evening as a novelist, a role in which he once again hopes to finally break through but once again encounters his tormentor, now as a blowhard (Peter van Rooijen) who receives a literary award purely on the basis of image and market potential. Poor Guido, who can't even handle an expression of regret from his opponent.

Parren and Paddenburg

From stage of life to stage of life, he bumps into Van Rooijen again and again, whose dominance actually finds its cause in the flat though subtle support of those who defy him with their cowardly choice of the big mouth and their own bullying at the expense of the shy eccentric they cherish as a target and not a friend.

Great roles from Buijs and Van Rooijen, but also from Sophie Höppener in varied guises and Sam van Hulst - with a distinctive crested head over a green checked slipcover. And a remarkably strong Eefje Paddenburg as a spontaneous cheeky girl. Still studying at ArtEZ, she has already been given a contract with ITA for the new season. Her powerful acting and singing voice promise much from the youngest member of the Paddenburg family of actors.

And leave the directing to Titus Tiel Groenestege which is now responsible for so many brilliant theatre and cabaret That one wonders if the man still gets to sleep.

So is there nothing to criticise about this wonderful performance? A little nagging then: I miss Ellen Parren on stage. And the text may be scrapped towards the end to keep up the momentum. But otherwise: go see it, this performance that is as witty as it is tragic.

Good to know

Seen: Premiere of Baaaaaa by Circus Treurdier at Theater Bellevue, Amsterdam, 11 March 2022. Still on view until the end of May 2022 in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, Eindhoven, Nijmegen, Arnhem, Utrecht, Groningen and Delft. And you can Tears shareholder become.