Ever since the art form was invented, going to the theatre has been about more than just the performance itself. Those who visit the theatre primarily as spectators do so for the building, the auditorium, the people, the cloakroom, and the after-show activities – or the meal beforehand. As a provider of the arts, you can either take this for granted or consciously make it part of your work. This week, I came across two fine examples of this.
If you’re attending a performance at a youth theatre, there’s sometimes a supporting programme to go with it. At MaasTD, Rotterdam’s theatre for children, young people and teenagers, this is an essential part of the experience. It’s very handy if, as an unsuspecting visitor, you go to a show that’s going to tell you everything about getting your period, menstruation and everything that goes with it.
A mess in my tummy
Under the apt title ‘Lets Flow’, there is indeed quite a lot of red liquid flowing about, but anyone who thinks this is a tasteless slasher-style show for the little ones is in for a surprise. What you do get is a dance and spectacle show performed by five performers to music that can best be described as the rumbling in your tummy after a meal of beans. And in the meantime, even a boomer learns something about what every woman goes through every month for a large part of her life.
MaasTD breaks a taboo – an aspect of women’s everyday lives that is shrouded in euphemisms. For an audience aged 10 and over, it’s quite a challenging watch, but a useful one, as menstruation is still surrounded by a great deal of shame and discomfort (on the part of male bystanders).
Seasons
And then there’s the post-screening discussion, which MaasTD has made compulsory. A good quarter of an hour spent talking about how it made you feel, asking questions. And ten-year-olds join in just as enthusiastically as grandmothers and mums. The fathers were a bit quiet, but they actually took quite a lot in during that silence. And the girls themselves, who are going through this? Like the filmmaker Sue Ann Bel, who previously made a name for herself with Let’s Go, Barbie!: Afterwards, she explains how she used to think that the pain and shame she felt were something unique to her alone. Until, thanks to this performance, she discovered just how many other women cope with the cycles of their menstrual months, each in their own way.
One mother was concerned that the pain some women experience during their periods was being portrayed as too intense. The reply was lovely: “It is precisely by portraying my own personal experience so vividly that a conversation is sparked and you discover just how differently everyone experiences it.”
Lava on the floor
That personal approach is also striking in ‘Als vader vechten is’ by Het Nut. This piece is about mothers and sons, with the father as the great absentee – and, as such, ever-present. The text is the personal story of debut author Hendrick de Pecker. He sits at a small writing desk next to the empty stage on which Ellen Goemans and Joep Hendrikx bring to life the grieving process of those left behind through Pinter-esque dialogues: stark and circular, but with, sadly, just a little too little lava on the floor.
What was perhaps slightly lacking in the impeccably performed play – raw emotion – was given plenty of scope in the post-performance discussion. It is in these side events that Greg Nottrot, the driving force behind Het Nut and, on this occasion, also the director, is at his best. The written and performed play may last an hour and a half, but the evening begins at half past five with an aperitif and starter.
Total experience
The piece is actually an interlude during the communal meal, where, once the final word has been spoken, you might just find yourself engaged in very open conversations with complete strangers. It’s the epitome of shared dining around large platters of artichokes and crayfish, with – before dessert – a lovely conversation each evening with a different father who has something special to share.
Theatre is a total experience. And it is precisely for that reason that it offers an experience that is so much more than just the work of art that forms part of it. In our discussion of art, we have allowed this to fade somewhat into the background. Critics rarely mention it.
It could do with being a bit less rigid.
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