They were paid the equivalent of 2 euros per cubic metre – the migrant workers from the North whom Almelo hired to dig a canal to Nordhorn by hand with spades. The 1885 guilder may well have increased in value, but exploitation, it seems, is a timeless phenomenon. Just like labour migration. Something Twente has quite a bit of experience with, as it was Italians who kept the textile industry going in the post-war years. A hundred years later, the descendants of all those migrants are among the crowd once again shouting that a new group of ‘them’ is after ‘our’ women and jobs.
Just one of the lessons you take away from the musical *Polderjongens*, which premiered on Saturday 29 August, right on the spot where the events unfolded 140 years ago. A lesson that, with its brilliant music, overwhelming choral singing and two wonderful, innocent lead roles, brings tears streaming down the cheeks of even the most hardened audience. Not just out of sympathy for the cast, who came out to receive their applause, soaking wet from the pouring rain.
Self-confidence
Every square metre of our country has more history than you can find in the official historical record. Sometimes a story is added to it, as is now the case with Theater Producties Twente, an organisation conceived by musical producer Gerard Cornelisse, who is now in (relative) retirement. It was he who, a number of years ago, brought regionally rooted but professionally staged theatre to Twente, with Almelo as its starting point. The town, whose traffic lights have been immortalised by Herman Finkers, regained its self-confidence thanks to productions such as *Van Katoen en Water* and *Van Katoen en Nu*. That is cultural funding well spent.
So *Polderjongens* is about the lads from Drenthe, Groningen and Friesland who came to dig the canal that was to link Almelo with Nordhorn. A job that earned a shrewd businessman the equivalent of 30 million in today’s euros, a considerable portion of which had already been set aside for his escape to the US, in anticipation of the inevitable bankruptcy. Even back then, the shrewd bigwigs of big business were not to be trusted. And major construction projects that go way over budget? Nothing new under the sun, then.
Dickens
Dignified gentlemen in equally tall hats facing workers in plain clothes, caps on their heads, a bottle of gin in their hands, all painted in Dickensian colours, against a backdrop featuring a real barge. It’s a rather heavy-handed portrayal, but if it’s skilfully crafted, that needn’t be a problem. In fact, it simply does the job.
There’s a love story, as there should be, but this time it really tugs at the heartstrings. In terms of storytelling, the ‘boy-meets-girl-from-a-different-social-class’ trope is handled far better than it was in *Door Het Stof*, a previous production by the Twente-based location theatre company. This is partly because Sofia Ferri plays and sings the female lead. She does so incredibly well. Even the most convoluted explanatory lyrics – a necessary evil in many musicals – she sings with a passion that leaves you longing for every new entrance.
Universal
In terms of urban design, Almelo isn’t exactly a thing of beauty. Its location, in the old industrial harbour – which is now undergoing extensive gentrification – really has to rely on the built surroundings for its appeal. Behind it lie the luxury yachts that were unable to leave this summer due to the drought, meaning that this time the wealthy owners really did have to take the train to Nordhorn. Just as everyone else did, when the most superfluous stretch of water in the Netherlands was opened.
There is such tragedy in a promise never fulfilled, which elevates the futility of the digging carried out by those hundreds of polder visitors to something that transcends our entire earthly existence. That is called universality, and it is wonderful that such a local theatre project can make you feel that.
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