Stunning OustFaust tribute by and for Theu Boermans

What magnificent beauty of Dutch language from Tom Lanoye! What greatness of stage by Theu Boermans! What great acting by Romana Vrede, Mark Rietman and Myrthe Huber!

Three hours of enjoyment at the very highest level that culture has to offer. And then the Royal Theatre in The Hague is not even sold out on a Saturday night. Does the great writer Tom Lanoye who himself who travelled to The Hague have empty seats around him. Where are those people: died of corona? Lost their way to the Korte Voorhout? Sticking to the heating on the cold April evening?

Or are we a measly, lame people for whom Netflix and Nieuwsuur suffice? Where, 300 metres away from the theatre temple last week, after a historic speech by Zelensky, goddamn it, the Speaker of our national parliament could think of nothing better than to praise her technicians; only to give way to the ministers of Inability and Lack of Principle? In a country where neighbours complain if you want to accommodate refugees in your flat, for fear of ripples in their life of luxury?

To end on a positive note, with compliments for 'the organisation': with OustFaust, the staff of the National Theatre also put in a joint top performance to make Theu Boermans' farewell unforgettable: beautiful dramaturgy by Remco van Rijn; an ingenious set by Bernard Hammer with a stage-wide high sloping mirror wall to see the performance from two sides; a great interplay of light (Stefan Dijkman), music (George Dauw), choreography (Daan Wijnands) and video (Arjen Klerkx), exuberant costumes from disco to the invention of the cloned machine man by Mattijs van Bergen.

Fair of literary attractions

Goethe evoked about as much revulsion in high school as Bach: compulsory boring German fare that was at odds with your - supposedly - exciting teenage life. But do you sooner or later discover that Bach invigorates and enriches your life, the rehabilitation of Goethe passes most of us by. It is, in my case, thanks to Tom Lanoye and HNT that I excitedly ram on the keyboard about Goethe at this Sunday's crisp morning crunch.

Lanoye succeeds in bringing Goethe's most important text to life peerlessly, in a flow of words and rhythm that links Shakespeare to rap, sometimes literally. In his own words: 'That old Goethe dusty? For me, adapting Faust felt like one big fairground with literary attractions that I was allowed to reinvent. It is so modern, postmodern even... Goethe teases, plays, deliberately undermines things. In a virtuoso way, he uses various literary forms interchangeably - alexandrines, curses, songs, prayers, parodies of prayers, amid witches, gods and the devil.'

Playfully crafting language and adding contemporary elements like pandemic and terror attack, leave that to Lanoye. With a downside, too: you would want time to let the stanzas sink in, but they tumble over each other in one swift stream. Especially at the start, OustFaust's language is overpowering when text drama prevails. Then you also have to get used to Romana Peace's clunky costume and glasses as Dr Faust; something different from the attractive wild-eyed Romana on the posters.

False Mark

But soon sparkling dialogues take over, first between Dr Faust and his humble epigone Strauss - Joris Smit - and then between Faust and Mephisto. Who better to play the by turns evil, cynical, grovelling, enjoying devil than Mark Rietman? Little at HNT charms me as much as the mugshots of the bad guys he plays.

If his role fits him like a jacket, all the more wonderful is how Romana Peace shines as a wavering scientist who gave his life for reason and at the end wants to break free from it in emotion and lust. And gets a helping hand from Mephisto who leads him to teenager Gretha; who lets her admiration for Faust's supposed healing powers - albeit deceptive - spill over into physical surrender and becomes pregnant.

Musical

Just before the interval comes the apotheosis of the perfect interplay between Peace and Rietman, when Faust is screaming and splashingly converted to life with lust. At least in theory, the practice is yet to come. Just when you think in the interval that the play is very much about those brilliant lyrics and dialogues, a musical then erupts from a terrific company of queer dancers and singers - even Rietman makes an effort as a crooner, judge for yourself.

Myrthe Huber then shines as Gretha, Helen of Troy (Astrid van Eck) offers the serene counterpoint of the woman who carries the good and evil of all times. For a while, nothing seems to stand in the way of achieving the ultimate hedonistic pleasure, except an attack by Gretha's black brother Valentino (Daniel Kolf).

Sublime Theu ending

Until this ultimate surrender to lust and life in nightclub The Boogie Witch Kitchen returns to the original tensions: those between body and spirit, death and life, forgiveness or revenge, knowledge or feeling. In full glory, this human struggle returns with the completion of Dr Faust's and the then powerfully played Strauss's final project: bringing the new man to life, for which those weird, emotional creatures must urgently give way.

And how! For this phenomenal finale alone, which will stay with you until dementia strikes inexorably, this OustFaust is worth leaving the comfort of the warm living room for a trip to the theatre. Thanks to Lanoye, Boermans, Vrede, Rietman and all those others who allowed their energy of coronal silence to culminate in this burst of art.

Good to know

Seen: OustFaust from HNT, 2 April at the Royal Theatre in The Hague, to be seen there several more times this month, and for the lucky ones in also in Arnhem, Haarlem and Apeldoorn. You can first the trailer view and read interviews with Boermans and with Lanoye