You might wonder what's in the drinking water in Tilburg Noord. After all, how else do the six actors of Het Zuidelijk Toneel's ensemble get their unbridled energy? Or is it the hallucinatory fumes of the asphalt factory that forms the backdrop to Not Quixote? World literature on acid has long been the unique selling point of the state-subsidised theatre company for Brabant, and I must confess, this is my first encounter, but what a knotty state they know how to make of it, under the inspired direction of Sarah Moeremans.
Theatre festival Boulevard in Den Bosch has added a new venue with the car park of De Gruyterfabriek for the special performances they bring - especially this year - off the beaten track of plush theatre. Neatly guided by Frits van de Bussen, you go on a journey as a spectator, where that journey is actually already part of the performance. Certainly to 'Not Quixote'.
Ridiculous energy
Het Zuidelijk Toneel and writer Joachim Robbrecht have teamed up to deconstruct it. Cervantes' 400-year-old masterpiece about a bookworm who comes to believe in his own fantasy and goes to war against the world as a valiant knight in found tin and on a rickety horse has been moved to the 21st century where one Q gained legend status by mistaking his van for a 40-tonne semi.
That legend-making is what the six players are about, and they do it with such ridiculous energy that it sometimes makes you dizzy from the stands. It's also all a bit much: those transmitter microphones should allow whispering on location, but they shout so loudly through it that you wonder if they couldn't have just left those bitches at home. Now it got a bit tiresome at times, and that came at the expense of subtlety and fun in between the grotesque bollocks.
More JOMO
There was such calm earlier in the day at the beautifully serene 'Somewhere'. There, with VR glasses on your head, you experience what it is like not to be able to participate, to watch the children go off to play in the distance and you are tied to your spot.
Somehow, I didn't mind that at the time, by the way. Against the flattened fomo (fear of missing out) that forces many Gen Z'ers to all take the same photo together, we now thankfully have jomo (the joy of missing out): the blissful feeling of not having to participate for a while this time, of being able to leave the holiday traffic jam the holiday traffic jam and not having to endure the indignities at any customs office.
So even for something like that yes you go to Boulevard instead of on holiday. With the flame in the pipe. Besides, you can never see everything there anyway. Lovely.
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