From 28 to 29 June, Georgina Verbaan will star in the Holland Festival's twenty-four-hour show The Second Woman by Nat Randall and Anna Breckon, a unique hallucinatory cinematic theatre experience.
During this theatre marathon, live at ITA and simultaneously on screen at Koninklijk Theater Tuschinski, she will play the same break-up scene over and over again with a hundred different counterparts, unknown to her. This scene of about 10 minutes is not rehearsed. What happens on stage is as uncertain for both Georgina and the opponent as it is for the audience.
Two-time Golden Calf winner Verbaan starred in more than 100 Dutch television series and films, with leading roles in series such as The 5-legged sheep, Maud & Babs and KLEM. She starred in many films, including The Surprise, Dhe Marathon and Outside is the Party. She has almost 20 years of theatre experience with productions such as Venus of Johan Doesburg, and Dazzling By Cyrus Frisch.
Holland Festival director Emily Ansenk: 'We are extremely happy that Georgina Verbaan wants to play this challenging role. She will be able to put her sense of humour, timing and versatility as an actress to full use in this theatrical marathon. It shows great courage to want to act so long and so intensely with unknown opposing actors. Because of the duration and character of the performance, it pushes the boundaries of what theatre and what acting can be. It thus fits flawlessly into a festival that, with Christiane Jatahy as associate artist, asks questions about what theatre and film are, how they influence each other, but also and how you perceive.'
The scene
The Second Woman is about a woman, Virginia, and a man, Marty, whose relationship has lost all creativity, romance and vitality. When the antagonist husband appears on stage, Georgina Verbaan knows as little about him as the audience does. The intense and intimate exchange between her and the man culminates in the choice: 'I love you' or 'I never loved you'. The man leaves. The scene ends and Georgina/Virginia has to clean up the mess. Slowly, as in a ritual, the scene is rebuilt, ready to begin again. Repeating this scene a hundred times reinforces the variations and subtleties in character and performance and reveals the chemistry between the characters as well as the actors.
The set design and live images are inspired by 1970s American independent cinema and melodramas, a genre that stereotypically portrays women.
The set consists of a glass box, filmed by camerawomen and projected on a big screen. At the request of the makers, The Second Woman is made by a female and non-binary crew in front of and behind the scenes.
The makers
Nat Randall is co-author and, co-director of this project, and an artist working at the intersection of performance, video and film. She has played The Second Woman herself several times. Anna Breckon is the other co-author and co-director, and the video director. She is an independent artist and film scholar. Both live and work in Australia. They have previously performed this work in Australia, Taiwan, New York, London and Toronto.
Nat Randall and Anna Breckon on The Second Woman: 'It started as a small, self-funded project. It was a high-risk venture because although we could test working with multiple participants, there is no way to rehearse a 24-hour production - which depends on audiences and participants. The Second Woman exists only at the moment of presentation. It is created each time by bringing together uncertain elements that, while they can be curated and managed, can never be fully controlled. This makes the show vulnerable but also dynamic, alive and full of possibilities.'
Spectator choice
The Second Woman can be seen simultaneously on stage at ITA and, for the first time, also in the cinema, on the screen of Room 1 at Tuschinski. Audiences in ITA, who come and go all the time, are encouraged to switch seats between scenes to see the couple from different perspectives. Every two hours, there is a 15-minute break for both Georgina Verbaan and the audience. Audiences can choose between the excitement of live presence in ITA or the comfort of no queue in Tuschinki.
Ticket sales
There are different types of tickets available for both venues, each with its own conditions. For example, for ITA, it is possible to buy a ticket for the full 24 hours, a priority ticket for a specific time slot, or to come on the spur of the moment and take a seat in the general queue. For the live screening at Tuschinski, passepartouts for 24 hours and tickets for 8-hour time slots are available. Click here for more information on ticket sales.
Accessed
A sign language interpreter will be available on Friday 28 June from 16.00 - 18.00; 22.00 - 00.00 and Saturday 29 June from 10.00 - 12.00. English surtitles will be available on Friday 28 from 6pm-8pm and Saturday 29 June 00am-2am and 12pm-2pm.
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