At the Gala of Dutch Theatre, she won the Colombina 2015 for best female contributing role, in Genesis. From this week, Antoinette Jelgersma, actress with the National Theatre, plays in The golden dragon By Ronald Schimmelpfennig. From biblical history to life today - but there are more similarities than you might think.
Jelgersma sits relaxed at a table in home base the Nationale Toneel Gebouw in The Hague. The nomination has touched her. 'You get a nice letter with appreciative words. What I was most happy about was that it said that I had made a contribution to the quality of the Dutch theatre. I received the nomination for Genesis, for the set of roles I played in it, but the report also mentioned my role as the jester Touchstone in As you like it, and the whole season, which was strong. I thought Genesis hearty and varied, I did eight different roles, but I myself was glad that Jester was also mentioned. I had to fight more for that. He is further away from me, I had trouble conquering him.'
At the Gala, Jelgersma had her acceptance speech ready. 'That's always crazy, such a thank you, you have to write it as if you are going to win, but you don't know that at all yet. I said something about how I had experienced the play. There are always thanks, of course: to director Johan Doesburg, to writer Sofie Kassies, also for the way she gave a voice to the women in the story. And that I want to keep fighting for the stage. To Genesis citing: we have to tell our stories, if we forget them nothing will remain of us.'
Jelgersma at first hardly saw fit to take on the book of the Bible Genesis going to play. I thought: it's so old and far away. But while rehearsing it, I noticed how topical it is: the Middle East, exploitation, the position of women, migration flows; the themes are and remain world history'.
Brechtian
You will soon be playing in The golden dragon by Ronald Schimmelpfennig, directed by Casper Vandeputte. What is that play about?
'The Golden Dragon is about living alongside each other in the big city. In today's society, every individual leads their own life. They are all separate worlds. In this case, there are five illegal Chinese who work very hard in a restaurant to survive. Also living in the same building are a drunk grocer, a couple who have just broken up, an old man and his granddaughter, two flight attendants, and a young couple whose girl is pregnant. It is an overall picture of modern life and there is another story throughout: the ant and the cricket. At the end, everything falls together. It is half narrated and half acted, so you don't identify with the characters. A bit Brechtian: very human and at the same time sometimes bizarre and dreamlike. We all play a number of characters. I am an old Chinese woman in her 70s, the drunk grocer, the young girl... and the ant.'
At Genesis you also played a lot of roles. Isn't that difficult?
'It's switching. If you have one role, you can dive more comfortably into your character's development, but the fun thing here is that fast switching. When we started this I thought: a simple piece, but now I think: oh, how difficult!'
To have or not to have
The refugee problem is very topical. Did your approach change when that suddenly became so big?
'We talked about it a lot in rehearsals, but this play is about economic refugees. By the way, I think the feeling of having to survive can come down to the same thing. Throughout this season, the theme is the inequality that is increasing: economically, but also socially and on a knowledge level. The "to have or not to have". That one exploits or abuses the other. Such a theme is determined by artistic director Theu Boermans together with the dramaturgy department. This all sounds very heavy right now, by the way, but it is not. The golden dragon is a tragicomedy.'
To get a feel for current events, Jelgersma went to investigate. 'I went to a nail salon in Chinatown. I enter and I immediately recoil from the acetone smell. I see five little tables there, each with an Asian woman sticking nails. They sit there all day, that can't be healthy! I just said I needed a manicure, they told me to go somewhere else then.'
Do inequality and exploitation also feature in the other plays you're in this season?
Yes. At The little foxes is clearly about money. Think of what Joris Luyendijk writes: 'This cannot be true', but at the level of human relationships. I am especially looking forward to The reviewer Of Gogol'. This is about the municipal elite getting it right while the population complains. Unexpectedly, an inspector arrives and they start trying to present everything as nicely as possible. But they mistake an unsuspecting man for the auditor and he in turn exploits them - the mechanism repeats itself. I love working with Theu, and I love all those entanglements. But now first The golden dragon. Still a bit exciting, but nice and weird and chaotic.'
Do you have more plans? Is the Colombina opening any new doors for you?
'It's a nice recognition. I would like to do more with TV. I have 7.5 years left, which I want to use as much as possible. So bring it on!'
More information: www.nationaletoneel.nl/de-gouden-draak
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français 
