People trying to recover from burnout often have a striking urge to dig in the earth. To get things done. To plant a tree. Planting potatoes. So it was hardly surprising that, during a conversation about burnout that afternoon in Groningen\u2019s Noorder Plantsoen, two men referred to those kinds of primal urges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Louis Vanhaverbeke, a dancer and object theatre maker from Belgium, went through this in 2020, he told his interviewer. The coronavirus brought his work to a standstill and his mind went into overdrive. He was completely overwhelmed and found recovery through studying biodynamic agriculture. After all, saving the world is the very least you can do after suffering a burnout in the creative sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has now created a performance based on his extensive experience of farm life, which he has deliberately chosen not to stage on a farmyard, but in a concrete setting. In Groningen, he discovered the recent industrial heritage of the Niemeyer factory, where, after years of getting people hooked on Samson, they are now making way for AI creatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During that preliminary discussion between the two burnout survivors with first-hand experience (the interviewer had also suffered from one), it also became clear that the performance *Tractor Rhapsody* takes place far from the farmyard for a reason. Louis Vanhaverbeke is, in fact, rather romantically inclined, and was put off by the intense pressure to produce on a large scale and the big business that is inevitably associated with agriculture, even biodynamic farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, in the performance, we saw a rather clumsy man with a cute miniature tractor and miniature tools tilling the land, sowing seeds, fearing a giant caterpillar, ploughing, planting, and anyone in the know will realise from the order of these activities that Louis Vanhaverbeke was not born to be a farmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of this was accompanied by sweet, yet rather clich\u00e9d remarks about circularity, the blessings of the countryside, life in general \u2013 a sort of spoken word muttered whilst Louis drove his machines around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end, he hands out the text, which has been lovingly designed to look like a sort of harvest calendar. A lot of work has gone into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The script by Lastivka, in the production \u201cShe Stands In The Middle Of The Battlefield\u201d, isn\u2019t entirely free. I saw that hugely impressive production an hour later at the Grand Theatre in Groningen. Lastivka is the name of a female theatre maker, Ukrainian, who in 2024 decides to go to the front as a soldier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Actress and multi-instrumentalist Agata R\u00f3\u017cycka recites, in a serene and masterful manner, the text messages the young woman sends to her sister. At the same time, we see her moving, almost as if dancing, across an obstacle course in \u2018safe\u2019 Poland on film. With this, the Polish director Magda Szpecht has created a production that is deeply moving on every level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the news reports, we follow the young woman, full of ideals and visions of equality, high moral values and human rights. First in training, then on the battlefield, then from the trenches. The texts cut ever deeper into your soul, and because you know it\u2019s real, the impact is all the greater. Not because it\u2019s being portrayed as so incredibly dramatic. We also hear doubt; we witness how the anti-LGBTQ+ mentality \u2013 which the Ukrainian woman is also fighting against \u2013 is no less prevalent amongst her own soldiers. War makes everyone equal, and not in the most noble way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The actions on stage are precise, understated and at times even reminiscent of Louis Vanhaverbeke\u2019s toy farm. Except that here it is a baby drone with a broken rotor, a laser rangefinder and a stringed instrument made of motor springs that take turns to endear themselves to us and strike fear into our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this performance, art is created from the most unimaginable things. It is a tremendous achievement, and its impact still resonates a day later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wouldn\u2019t be right to compare theatre maker Louis\u2019s farming ambitions with actress Lastivka\u2019s war experience. So we won\u2019t do that. They need spuds at the front, too. Let\u2019s celebrate in our own way the fact that a festival like Noorderzon, with a combination like this on a warm August\u2019s day, can make you realise just how unimaginably bizarre life can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wie wil bijkomen van een burnout heeft opvallend vaak een sterke behoefte aan wroeten in de aarde. Dingen aanpakken. Een boom planten. Patatten poten. Dus het was niet opmerkelijk dat twee mannen in een gesprek over burnout die middag in het Noorder Plantsoen van Groningen aan dat soort oerbehoeftes refereerden. Louis Vanhaverbeke, een danser en […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16518,8843,4759,11687],"tags":[5744,4867,58],"class_list":["post-135308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-podiumkunst","category-theater-podiumkunst-2","category-donatie-gevraagd","tag-groningen","tag-noorderzon","tag-recensie"],"featured_image_url":[],"post_author":"Wijbrand Schaap","assigned_categories":"featured, PODIUMKUNST, THEATER, WAARDEER & DONEER!","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132526,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/08\/help-mee-achter-de-schermen-van-noorderzon\/","url_meta":{"origin":135308,"position":0},"title":"Help out behind the scenes at Noorderzon","author":"Noorderzon Festival","date":"11 August 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"In a week and a half, the Noorderplantsoen will once again become the bustling heart of Noorderzon. Noorderzon is still looking for enthusiastic volunteers and crew members from Groningen and the surrounding area to help with the festival itself and the dismantling afterwards. From audience marshals to traffic marshals, from bar staff to ticket sales staff: there are plenty of opportunities for people who would like to make a contribution\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PERSBERICHTEN"","block_context":{"text":"PERSBERICHTEN","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/service\/persberichten\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":134253,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/08\/noorderzon-2026-begint-vandaag\/","url_meta":{"origin":135308,"position":1},"title":"Noorderzon 2026 begins today","author":"Noorderzon Festival","date":"20 August 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Groningen is gearing up for Noorderzon. The 36th edition of the Noorderzon Festival of Performing Arts & Society opens today at 3.00 pm and will take place from 20 to 30 August in the Noorderplantsoen and at various venues in the city centre. This year, the Noorderplantsoen will be transformed into one large, freely accessible stage,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MUZIEK"","block_context":{"text":"MUZIEK","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/podiumkunst\/muziek-podiumkunst-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":134359,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/08\/noorderzon-festival-opent-met-een-forse-dreun\/","url_meta":{"origin":135308,"position":2},"title":"Noorderzon Festival kicks off with a bang","author":"Wijbrand Schaap","date":"21 August 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I had to give the opening drinks reception a miss because of the last train back to Utrecht. After the performance of *Deaf Republic*, which kicked off the Noorderzon festival at the Groninger Schouwburg, everyone was pretty much ready for a break. I certainly was. In that play, the Dead Center theatre company takes a hard line\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "featured"","block_context":{"text":"featured","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61746,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2019\/08\/in-groningen-heerst-een-open-kunstklimaat\/","url_meta":{"origin":135308,"position":3},"title":"'Groningen has an open arts climate'","author":"Jorien de Boer","date":"24 August 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"An artist creates something - but for whom and why? How does the created thing relate to society and what role does that creation want to play in it? Besides all the theatre performances at Noorderzon, there is also the critical question: \u2018What is actually the point of theatre?\u2019 Can art fraternise people? That is still...","rel":"","context":"In "Noorderzon"","block_context":{"text":"Noorderzon","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/service\/specials\/noorderzon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_192500360_HDR-1-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_192500360_HDR-1-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_192500360_HDR-1-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_192500360_HDR-1-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_192500360_HDR-1-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_192500360_HDR-1-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57849,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2018\/09\/waarom-noorderzon-het-groningste-festival-van-nederland-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":135308,"position":4},"title":"Why Noorderzon is the Groningeniest festival in the Netherlands.","author":"Wijbrand Schaap","date":"1 September 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes there is a gap in the strolling crowd in Groningen's Noorderplantsoen. Often this is due to a local resident with muscle-dog, who continues to make his daily round despite the crowds. It's one of those funny things that give Noorderzon a character all its own, as the most Groningen...","rel":"","context":"In "Alleen voor leden"","block_context":{"text":"Alleen voor leden","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/service\/members-only\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_20180830_165557585_HDR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_20180830_165557585_HDR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_20180830_165557585_HDR.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_20180830_165557585_HDR.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_20180830_165557585_HDR.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_20180830_165557585_HDR.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61750,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2019\/08\/kunst-kan-niet-exclusief-genoeg-zijn-op-festival-noorderzon-kan-iedereen-dat-zelf-meemaken\/","url_meta":{"origin":135308,"position":5},"title":"Art cannot be exclusive enough. At Festival Noorderzon, everyone can experience it for themselves\u00a0","author":"Wijbrand Schaap","date":"24 August 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Police sirens sound less frequently in Groningen than in a city like Amsterdam. When they sounded last Wednesday night, it was because residents of the premises behind the local art academy, Minerva, raised the alarm. Standing on the roof was not an owl, but an almost naked man shouting that he was going to the Coop...","rel":"","context":"In "Alleen voor leden"","block_context":{"text":"Alleen voor leden","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/service\/members-only\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_202314081.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_202314081.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_202314081.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_202314081.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_202314081.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/IMG_20190823_202314081.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3yKke-zco","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135311,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135308\/revisions\/135311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}