Words to live in - a new generation of Dutch playwrights for young people - De Toneelmakerij

WORDS TO LIVE IN

A new generation of Dutch playwrights for young people (and the adults in their lives)

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Theatre’s more about than about understan At the end of the 1970s a refreshing breeze blew across the Dutch theatre landscape. Social engagement took centre stage, and plays moved out of the theatre and into the wider world, to audiences in factories, prisons and care homes.

There was continual research into new dramatic forms, and the connections between actor and audience became increasingly direct and personal.

All around the country, small communities of artists emerged that had a serious focus on making theatre for children and young people. This was a spectacular choice given the era in which it took place, because there was little interest at the time in this form of theatre – and little prestige associated with it. Although these theatre makers were intensely occupied with social issues, they also explored new theatrical forms and artistic angles. Initially they operated as collectives and most of their plays emerged out of improvisation, but a desire soon arose for excellence, for higher quality, so they became increasingly specialised as actors, directors and writers. This small band was united by a single common objective: to champion theatre that took children seriously on matters of both content and artistic quality. From here on in, childhood would no longer be viewed merely as a succession of joyful moments. These theatre makers took a loupe to children’s position in society, and to the questions, experiences and issues that adults were not discussing. Children were to be viewed not as ‘makeable’ beings that simply required education but as full equals to adults. There was no need to be condescending when reaching out to young audiences because children live in the same world as adults, a world full of contradictions.

Inspiration was also drawn from how children perceive the world around them so associatively and intuitively. The taboos surrounding certain subjects and theatrical forms evaporated – at least, as far as the theatre makers themselves were concerned.

Many plays caused controversy, triggering the full gamut of reactions, but one question in particular: ‘Is this suitable for children?’ It’s still asked to this day, but it didn’t stand in the way of those first, pioneering theatre makers as they explored the

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Introduction

potential of theatre for young audiences, pushing at its boundaries.

The most prominent playwrights of that first generation were Roel Adam, Ad de Bont, Hans van de Boom, Suzanne van Lohuizen, Pauline Mol and Heleen Verburg. Through their plays, they made a huge contribution to theatre for young audiences – and most of them continue to do so. But they are no longer celebrated solely as writers for young people.

After some years the initial indifference swung around 180 degrees and interest in this entirely distinctive movement started growing among theatres, the press, funding organisations and those producing theatre for adults. With all due modesty, it must be said that the experiments that took place in the realm of theatre for young audiences have been hugely valuable in the development of playwriting in the Netherlands. Plays such as “Mirad, een jongen uit Bosnië” by Ad de Bont and “De dag dat mijn broer niet thuis kwam” by Roel Adam tackled social issues, while both “Moeder in de Wolken” by Heleen Verburg and Suzanne van Lohhuizen’s “Heb je mijn kleine jongen niet gezien” had a more absurdist take on the world. There were new adaptations of adult works from all over the world, including “Iphigeneia Koningskind” by Paulien Mol and “Carmen” by Hans van de Boom, alongside poetic works packed with linguistic experimentation, such as “Een lek in het zwijgen” by Roel Adam, Ad de Bont’s “de Hompelaar” and “Het jaar van de haas” by Hans van den Boom.

And then there are the classroom plays such as “Vaders en Eieren” by Heleen Verburg, offbeat adaptations of fairy tales, like “Dag Monster” by Paulien Mol; philosophical texts including “Spinoza in Exile” by Roel Adam and Suzanne van Lohuizen’s “Het huis van mijn leven”; great epic tales from around the world, such as “Mehmet de Veroveraar”

by Ad de Bont; as well as comedies like “De Tantes”

by Roel Adam. In short, children’s theatre has yielded plays of every genre.

And there was also great interest from abroad in what was being produced by these directors and writers in the Netherlands. The ground-breaking

experiencing nding work carried out by the National Theaterinstituut, prompted foreign theatre and festival directors to come and experience this ‘small Dutch wonder’ for themselves. Invitations from abroad followed and the plays were translated and performed all over the world, long before compatriot playwrights for adult audiences gained international attention. And soon enough the walls came down between theatre for adult and young audiences, with authors such as Don Duyns (“Lang en gelukkig”), Ko van den Bosch (“Huisvuil”), Oscar van Woensel (“Bacher”), Esther Gerritsen (“Alles”) and Peer Wittenbols (“Waakhondje”) meeting the challenge of writing for young people and producing marvellous work.

The legacy of this artistic explosion – a generation of playwrights focusing on young audiences – is a fertile breeding ground for a new generation of writers with an important message: there are no limits to the imagination; anything and everything is possible for young audiences as long as you follow your heart and feel a genuine connection with them. This online publication is our platform for proudly presenting a new generation of Dutch playwrights writing for young audiences. As they so clearly demonstrate, the art of theatre writing is alive and well. Like their predecessors, they are audacious and highly imaginative, and the diversity of their approaches is astonishing. They also develop themselves in other areas: some write for adults as well as children and teenagers; some are working on books; others are columnists. Alongside the Dutch writers presented here, we are also introducing four emerging talents from other countries – England, Germany and Norway – who all participated in the European Writers Lab. We hope that our readers feel inspired to read the plays, stage them, and commission new works; there is great talent here, but the practice of a great many writers relies on the interest and support of those working in the field of theatre for young audiences, both here in the Netherlands and abroad.

Liesbeth Coltof (artistic director of Toneelmakerij)

Paulien Geerlings (dramaturge at Toneelmakerij)

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We hope you thoroughly enjoy your first encounter with these writers.

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Jorieke Abbing Jorieke Abbing (1983) completed her Writing for Performance studies at Utrecht School of the Arts in 2007. Her graduation piece “Beste Sneeuw” won the three-yearly Van der Vies award for Best Dutch Play in 2008 and the international Kaas & Kappes award in 2009.

Jorieke’s has had work commissioned by NT Jong, Het Filiaal, Toneelgroep Oostpool, Tuning People, Jeugdtheater Hofplein and Filmmuseum Amsterdam. At Toneelmakerij she worked together with director Roeland Hofman on two productions with TM Jong, the company’s youth theatre ensemble. Jorieke has also collaborated with her sister on two productions: “Aan die komen” and “Hier komt de nacht”, based on true stories about Groningen during the Second World War.

Beste Sneeuw 8

Dear Snow

Pomme, nurse of crushed hearts, is doing everything in her power to repair the broken love between her mother and father: her mother, proud and fearless with a loud laugh, who only believes it when she sees it.

Her father, the gentle man with his deep, undulating, darkly aromatic whiskey breath. Pomme knows the snow is coming for her – because she lies to her father about how her mother misses him, and because she doesn’t tell her mother that her father is still in his pyjamas. But stopping lying would mean war, and nobody wants that. Then her mother meets the Russian man Andrej – just like that – while out shopping.

Pomme can’t let that happen. So when Andrej comes around and they cuddle up on the sofa, Pomme sort of sets fire to his jacket a little bit. Her mother is furious. Meanwhile, her father’s standing on the roof of the town hall, wearing a superhero costume. He wants increased access to his child. It’s a nightmare.

Pomme realises that she has failed. It’s time to run away, to go looking for a place where people don’t need her help. To the ice. Blow, wind, blow, everything can go. She wakes up, wrapped in a blanket, in between her parents. This is the moment that everything turns out right. And her parents lie: Everything will be all right.

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Jorieke Abbing

Play details

DIETER Where is mum?

Age: 8+ Cast: 3 (1 man, 1 woman, 1 girl) Available language(s): Dutch, English

POMME Don’t cry.

Other plays by this author

DIETER Where?

Clover Audience age: 9+ Cast: 3 (1 boy, 2 girls) Available language(s): Dutch, English

POMME At home – knitting or something.

Jagtlust Smaglust Age: 14+ Cast: 15 Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: based on the book “Jagtlust”

by Annejet van der Zijl

DIETER She didn’t want to come.

POMME The scarf had to be finished.

DIETER I understand.

Halve Mens (Half-Human) Age: 14+ Cast: 3 Available language(s): Dutch

POMME What’s a winter without a scarf?

DIETER She doesn’t give a gnat’s nose about me. Tell me the truth.

POMME Daddy no, yes she does give a nose.

DIETER Why doesn’t she come if she misses me so much?

And why am I never invited over for tea? Is there something wrong with your kettle? That’s not it isn’t it? I know.

To her I’m a... a— POMME Please.

Verona aan de Rijn (Verona on the Rijn) Audience age: 14+ Cast: 50 Available language(s): Dutch Lucy Loves Ringo Starr Audience age: 8+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch Het Meisje en de Engel (The Girl and the Angel) Audience age: 6+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch

DIETER A drop in the ocean is what I am.

POMME Look what I brought you. Pickles and yoghurt for your daily vitamins.

DIETER I’m not here.

Contact

www.joriekeabbing.nl joriekeabbing@gmail.com

Extra News!

Jorieke is the Dutch participant in the European Writers Lab 2014-2015.

To read more go to page 26-27.

POMME Not even for a pickle?

(Translator: Alexander Peterhans)

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Trollenjong (Troll Child) Audience age: 4+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch

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Rik van den Bos Rik van den Bos was born in 1982, and in 2008 the completed his Writing for Performance studies at Utrecht School of the Arts. He was awarded the Verse Tekst scholarship in 2009 and in 2010 the Charlotte Köhler scholarship for most promising theatre author of the preceding five years. His stories reveal the goings-on behind our society’s walls, in a narrative form that always seeks out the modern and the topical.

Rik writes for several major Dutch repertory companies including Ro Theater, NNT Groningen and Toneelgroep Oostpool, and smaller ensembles such as Bellevue Lunchtheater, Toneelschuur Producties, Veenfabriek and his own group BERG&BOS, where he works together with Maurits van den Berg.

Rik is an affiliate of the Verlag der Autoren in Frankfurt. His texts are published by De Nieuwe Toneelbibliotheek and International Theatre & Film Books. photo > Bob Bronshoff

Wij Zijn Grijs Gebied We Are Grey Area

Jessica and Sarah return home disillusioned the day their grandma dies. Her eyes were barely closed when the family started sharing out her possessions. Such greed! Those grabbing hands! It’s made them feel sick.

And now they realise the world is a much less beautiful place than all those adults have been pretending for the last fourteen years. It’s a paradise that never was. Jessica and Sarah promise one another that they will not forget, and they swear not to be misled. They don’t want to be like those others. They decide that they can do it differently. They know there’ll be shit to deal with, so they’d better get prepared for it. The sisters withdraw to their secret attic and – in a protest against hypocrisy – they start training. With a cast-iron faith in the power of change and positivity they plunge into the great questions of life: “Is it possible to live according to your principles and ideals? How do you ensure that other people follow your example? How do you go about making a difference in the world, once the fog around your head has dissipated?” But when Jessica and Sarah start pushing each other to put their principles into action, it looks like all their good intentions will be derailed.

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Rik van den Bos

Day 1, After Grandma

JESSICA I don’t want that.

JESSICA So that’s how it works.

SARAH No, me neither. No.

SARAH Uh-huh.

JESSICA But I really don’t want it, you get me? I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to turn out like that.

I swear. I promise.

JESSICA This is how it ends.

SARAH At least Auntie Emmy behaved alright.

JESSICA Auntie Emmy?

Auntie Emmy?

You’ve got to be kidding, Sarah.

You think that was alright?

Auntie Emmy was eating her way out of her problems. The moment she feels an emotion she stuffs ‘something tasty’ in her mouth.

And it’s not just because grandma died. That’s what Auntie Emmy always does. Auntie Emmy can’t stomach life without food.

That’s Auntie Emmy all over. A sort of passageway for food. Nothing more.

Probably Auntie Emmy ‘behaved alright’, because she’s not even interested in a memento. Maybe it’s even worse that Auntie Emmy didn’t join in.

Auntie Emmy isn’t interested in old junk. She’s happy to wait until the inheritance is on her bank account. Then she can go shopping. That’s Auntie Emmy.

SARAH Oh come on, take a good look. It already started way back.

We’re already that way.

Remember when little Rudy ran off with that book – the one grandma always read us?

JESSICA What have you done??

Play details

Audience age: 14+ Cast: 2 (women) Available language(s): Dutch

Other plays by this author

Leger (Running On Empty) Audience age: 16+ Cast: 2 (men) Available language(s): Dutch, English, German

SARAH So that’s how people are.

That’s how we are.

Cookies Audience age: 15+ Cast: 3 (2 men, 1 woman) Available language(s): Dutch

JESSICA We’re not.

Contact

SARAH [sceptical tone] But you saw how we behaved this afternoon.

rkvndnbs@gmail.com +31(0)633036869

JESSICA But we didn’t do that.

SARAH No. It was our family.

Do you know how big the chance is that we’ll turn out like them?

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Floris van Delft and Wolter Muller Floris van Delft and Wolter Muller, born in 1976 and 1974 respectively, came together as a writing duo in 2008, having met one another at Noord Nederlands Toneel, where Wolter acted and Floris directed. They share a fondness for theatre that is direct, raw and of its time.

After their stint at NNT they embarked on adapting classic texts and writing new ones for young audiences. Their plays often address audiences directly – challenging them to interact – and are packed with references to films, television series and current affairs. They pull out all the stops to get spectators thinking about subjects such as revenge, money and the crisis. Floris directs their texts, but they are both keen to write for other theatre makers. "Cash" was produced by Maas theatre and dance company.

CASH 2

Follow the money!

photo's > Peter Valckx, Ruud Pos

Sinan is an ambitious young bank employee whose future is in tatters now he’s been fired because of the crisis. He can’t get a job anywhere. Frustrated, he decides to take his fate into his own hands and rob the bank for which he once worked. In classic heist movie style, he assembles a colourful team for a one-off job: a smart leader, an idealistic hacker, a cunning old safecracker and an inside man – or woman in this case.

Together with the audience, they look into how to rob a bank nowadays, how the crisis arose, and who is the biggest victim – turns out it’s the young generation in the audience that’s going to have to make do with less. Along the way the plan gets undermined by jealousy, love and treachery. Sinan needs to find out whom he can trust if the heist is going to succeed. Trust is the only thing that kept the financial system together, and trust is the only thing keeping the group together. But the challenge is made all the greater by the lure of huge financial profits.

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Floris van Delft and Wolter Muller

Act 1, Scene 1

Play details

[Blackout. Sound of shots being fired; people screaming. Lights on. SINAN, dressed in a suit, is standing on a table. He is pointing his fingers at people, as if they were guns.]

SINAN/BANK EMPLOYEE Now pay attention everyone. The manager of this bank will now slowly get up from his chair and say: “Mister Eroglu we’d like you to work for us, no... to work with us. Your interview was very compelling.

We can’t imagine a better candidate for the job.

What are your salary demands?” Someone’s going to say that right now, or else.... [leaps from the table.]

Am I being unreasonable? These? [Referring to the pistols; he puts them away] This is a fantasy. This is what you’d really want to do, when you’ve heard your fifteenth “We’re sorry to have to tell you that you won’t be getting the job”. Listen, you plonker, sad act, I don’t want your [BEEP] job anymore. You can stuff that [BEEP] job and this... [He loosens his necktie] up your [BEEP] and go [BEEP] yourself. I used to have a job you know. Hang on, I had a life – a good life that was only getting better.

(Translator: Neal Lewis)

Audience age: 12+ / 14+ Cast: 4 (3 men, 1 women) Available language(s): Dutch, German

Other plays by these authors Krijg nou Titus! (Eat This, Titus!)

Audience age: 12+ Cast: 5 (4 men, 1 woman) Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: a radical reworking of Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus”

Vloek (Curse) Audience age: 12+ Cast: 5 (2 men and 3 women) Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: adapted from “Elektra”

Contact

florisvandelft@gmail.com +31 (0) 6 24877631 wwemuller@hotmail.com +31 (0) 6 50575981

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Simon van der Geest Simon van der Geest (1978) trained as a playwright and theatre teacher at Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) and studied in Norway for a year. He writes music-based plays, as well as books and poetry, preferably for children. Simon enjoys drawing his inspiration from the classics. Recurrent themes in his work include losing one’s way, secrets, storytelling, the Dutch landscape and insects. He often writes about children far away from the adult world.

Simon has written plays for many ensembles, including Theatergroep Kwatta, Holland Opera, Het Laagland, Theater Gnaffel and Onafhankelijk Toneel. His volume of poetry for young people, “Dissus”, which is loosely based on the Odyssey, won the prestigious Gouden Griffel award, as did his book for young readers “Spinder”, which is based on the eponymous play about a boy with a secret insect basement. Simon wrote the book given away during the Netherlands’ annual children’s book week in 2015. As well as writing, he visits schools and libraries, gives lectures and teaches writing for theatre. photo > Chris van Houts

MIJN VRIEND WORDT SOMS EEN NEUSHOORN 7 My Friend Sometimes Turns Into a Rhinoceros Nico doesn’t speak much. Luckily Ro and Hinki are always nearby, and they know exactly what he wants.

Nico is their friend, a friend with a ginormous secret: sometimes, Nico turns into a rhinoceros. No one can tell when it’s coming, except for Hinki and Ro, that is – they can tell by his nostrils. Nico has got a really special mother with very long legs, and his father is almost never around. Upstairs at Nico’s mother’s house, Hinki and Ro have secretly built a hut where they can keep watch – because you never know when other men might be coming round. That’s how it is, and that’s how it stays – until, that is, the arrival of the Girl. Her mother is French and her lips are soft. Hinki and Ro realise there’s a danger because before you know it, you might be growing long plaits. But the Girl stays – even when The Big Rip starts. The Window Cleaner used to be sponging Nico’s mother’s windows all the time. But then he fell. A rhinoceros walked into his ladder. Hinki’s father won’t let him play with Nico anymore. But when the ground splits in two, you’ve got to make a choice. And what does a father know about rhinoceroses, anyway?

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Simon van der Geest

HINKI And then there’s a father, too but actually there isn’t because he’s almost never there RO That’s because this father is some kind of office guard HINKI at a bank RO Something to do with computers HINKI Anyway, it’s really complicated It’s so difficult. There are so many calculations that his head just keeps on getting heavier and heavier One day, he could barely carry it home His secretary had to help So he mostly slept at work On his desk

Play details

Audience age: 7+ Cast: 4 (3 men, 1 woman) Available language(s): Dutch

Other plays by this author

Puddingtarzan (Rubber Tarzan) Audience age: 6+ Cast: 3 (men) Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: adapted from the eponymous book by Ole Lund Kirkegaard. The text includes song lyrics.

Dissus – verdwaal mee in de Odyssee (Dissus – Join the Odyssey) Audience age: 8+ Cast: 8 (7 men, 1 woman – all actors must also be singers) Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: music theatre version of “Dissus”, the book of poetry for young people by Simon van der Geest (text almost unaltered).

Gedonderdag (Thunder Day) Audience age: 7+ Cast: 3 (2 men, 1 woman and a large number of puppets) Available language(s): Dutch Zapp Mattheus Audience age: 8+ Cast: 2 (2 actors and an orchestra) Available language(s): Dutch Ver Weg en Vlak Bij (Far Away and Very Close) Audience age: 4+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch iPromise Audience age: 12+ Cast: 2 (men) Available language(s): Dutch Iemand is ‘m Niemand is ‘m (Somebody's Move Nobody's Move) Audience age: 8+ Cast: 4 (2 men, 2 women) Available language(s): Dutch, English Zwanenmeer (Swan Lake) Audience age: 7+ Cast: 3 (1 man, 2 women – all cast members must also be singers) Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: the text is a libretto, freely adapted from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and “The Wild Swans” by Hans Christian Andersen.

Spinder Audience age: 8+, Cast: 1 (man) Available language(s): Dutch, German Penelope Audience age: 12+ Cast: 14 (12 girls, 1 woman, 1 man) Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: theatre text with song lyrics

Contact

www.simonvandergeest.nl simonvdg@yahoo.com

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Daniël van Klaveren Actor, director and writer Daniël van Klaveren was born in 1983 and graduated in 2005 from the acting department of the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU). Existing sources form the basis for much of his work, which often focuses on the struggle to follow one’s own path in a world that demands other things from you. Recent works include “Zus van Mozart” and “Jamal”, about a radicalised secondary school pupil and his counsellor.

Daniël began his career at the Volksoperahuis, Laagland and Filiaal ensembles. His love of producing work for young people first gained full expression at Theatergroep Wederzijds. He was a permanent member of the Toneelmakerij ensemble from 2008 to 2012. Since 2013 he has been working for other companies as well, including Opera Zuid, Tafel van Vijf, Nieuw Utrechts Toneel, Acteerschool Rotterdam, the HKU and STIP theaterproducties where he produced ´Zus van Mozart´. photo > Ivo van der Bent

ZUS VAN MOZART 7 (Mozart’s Sister)

Nannerl Mozart is a musical prodigy, a virtuoso pianist and violinist from the age of three. Then her little brother Wolfie is born. At the age of three he climbs up to sit next to her at the piano and plays along with her. The music he plays is out of this world. Their father decides to take them away from dreary Salzburg.

They travel around Europe and perform before the great and the good of the world. And then one day her father meets the earl Gabrieli, who persuades him to obey the demands of the market and the audience; Wolfgang has a great future, but no girl should perform onstage.

From that moment onwards Wolfie is the main act, with Nannerl accompanying. She becomes furious and Wolfie promises to speak up for her. But when their father presents his latest plan – to compose a threehour opera in Rome – Wolfie is silenced by the promise of immortal success. His journey continues and Nannerl stays behind in Salzburg. They write letters to one another, but gradually grow apart.

In Salzburg, Nannerl sees so many people who mean something to someone but are nonetheless forgotten.

Does it mean that their life has less value? Slowly but surely she grows to be happy that she is one of them.

They may be forgotten, but they do matter. Wolfgang dies destitute at the age of 35, while Nannerl becomes a piano teacher and preserves his music, the music angels play in their free time, simply for its sheer beauty.

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Daniël van Klaveren

From the first scene WOLFGANG Why don’t you tell them how proud I am of you?

[Pause] You were already playing the piano at three.

Have you forgotten about that?

NANNERL How could I have forgotten?

WOLFGANG If you don’t tell them, I will.

My sister was the true wonder.

That’s what I thought, right from the very start.

When I was squealing like a pig in my crib the only thing that would calm me was the distant sound of the piano being played by my big sister.

The moment I could crawl I crawled there because I needed to hear it from close by.

And I couldn’t believe it.

This wonder conjures sound from wood!

For hours at a time I lay listening under her piano.

I suckled on the music as if it was mother’s milk.

And when at last I could walk I walked my first stumbling steps to Nannerl and watched as her fingers moved over the keys.

I want that, too, I thought.

I want to do what that wonder does!

NANNERL And so you have.

WOLFGANG I have met many musicians in my life but you were the very best.

Speak about it!

Why is it that no one knows anymore?

WOLFGANG No. This is the story of my sister, who should never have been forgotten.

Play details

Audience age: 7+ Cast: 2 up to 4 Available language(s): Dutch

Other plays by this author

Just in Case Audience age: 12+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: stage adaptation of the eponymous book by Meg Rosoff Jamal Audience age: 12+ Cast: 2 (men) Available language(s): Dutch, English, German Additional information: freely adapted from the work of Gus van Sant and the stories of radicalised young people Rosalinde Audience age: 7+ Cast: 5 (5 actors, 1 puppet) Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: adaptation of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”

Contact

danielrvk@hotmail.com

NANNERL Yes. At what point are you so important that no one forgets you after you die?

What must you do to remain even after you’re gone?

How does one become immortal?

You know.

And it cannot be told often enough:

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This is the story of my little brother, who lived on after his death.

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Anouk Saleming Anouk Saleming was born in 1977 and studied drama teaching. After graduating she wanted to start making plays with and for children and adolescents, but she was unable to find any suitable texts. And when she had the actors improvise she found that they didn’t generate texts of sufficient quality. So Anouk followed up her studies at Utrecht School of the Arts, specialising in playwriting.

The stories Anouk writes for children always have a touch of magical realism about them, with a singing whale in the kitchen; a girl who discovers she’s got a motor where her heart should be; and an angry circus master who is sent in an envelope to the North Pole to cool down. She has written plays for several ensembles, including Stella Den Haag, Jeugdtheater Kwatta, Het Lab Utrecht and her own company Komma4. Her play "Runnin’ Blue" won the International Kaas & Kappes Ward in 2012.

photo > Maria Stijger

BOBBIE EN ZORA 4 Bobbie lives alone. He likes everything to be calm and neat and tidy; he doesn’t like creases in his life.

The garden gate is shut tight, and the curtains are drawn. Then Zora appears, frightened and hungry. She has fled Mr Mortelli’s circus, where she performs dances on a tightrope. Mr Mortelli’s hands can crush fingers, and his voice stabs like a knife. Zora talks stangely, makes a racket and doesn’t wash her hands – everything Bobbie so dislikes. But when he hears her beautiful singing voice he lets her stay for a sandwich.

Bobbie and Zora become friends. Time passes. Zora has almost forgotten Mr Mortelli and his circus, when one night he comes and takes her away. When Bobbie finds out he feels what it is to miss another person, so he decides to bring her back. For the very first time he steps outside his garden fence. He follows Zora’s voice, finds the circus and uses a cunning ruse to defeat Mr Mortelli. Sadly for Bobbie, Zora decides not to come home with him. Instead she goes out into the world to sing about her brave knight Bobbie, her hero.

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Anouk Saleming

[Zora is standing among the laundry.

Bobbie is startled.]

ZORA I want no squabblation, or angrifying, but...

BOBBIE What the…?!

BOBBIE Squabblation?

Angrifying?

What are you talking about?

AND KEEP YOUR FILTHY PAWS OFF MY SHEETS!

ZORA Hello!

BOBBIE I don’t like nutty strangers around my laundry.

ZORA I don’t taste nutty.

ZORA My grumble-tummy’s roaring.

I’m star-harving for a sandy witch.

BOBBIE This is the main thoroughfare.

The main tho-rough-fare.

Be thorough and fair.

Be gone!

BOBBIE But you are strange.

ZORA Strangederanged and lonelysome.

ZORA I ask polite-like top-mannered for a meansy-titchy chunk of sandy witch.

If you pleasieness?

BOBBIE Strangederanged and lonelysome.

Did you not learn to speak properly?

ZORA Chitchats and doings and the leftovers of myself.

BOBBIE Chitchats and doings?

Scandalous!

Such disarray.

So ill-mannered.

Have you washed your hands?

BOBBIE An meansy-titchy chunk of what?

ZORA Sandy witch.

BOBBIE You mean a sandwich!

ZORA Yes, lovely!

ZORA Two daily before foodtime.

BOBBIE Outrageous.

Be gone.

Move it.

Behind the fence.

I don’t know you.

Move it.

Away with this motley circus.

There’ll be no conga dance in my garden.

BOBBIE Very well then.

Just one.

With cheese.

And then be gone.

ZORA Fantasticious!

Then I shall fly away like a sandy witch.

[Time passes. Zora does not go away.]

BOBBIE Are you still here?

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Play details

Audience age: 4+ Cast: 2 Additional information: text includes song lyrics

Other plays by this author

Ik wacht niet, ik FEEST (I’m Not Waiting, I’m PARTYING) Audience age: 5+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch De dromeneter (The Dream Eater) Audience age: 6+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch Het huis van de blauwe dames (The House of the Blue Ladies) Audience age: 5+ Cast: 2 to 4 Available language(s): Dutch Zandmannen (Sandmen) Audience age: 8+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch Het verre missen (Distant Missing) Audience age: 6+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch Balleinen Ballade (Whale Ballad) Audience age: 7+ Cast: 1 Available language(s): Dutch Het Muilmeisje (The Mule Girl) Audience age: 7+ Cast: 1 Available language(s): Dutch Bloedroof (Bloodsteal) Audience age: 15+ Cast: 10-16 Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: adaptation of “Medeia” by Euripides.

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Anouk Saleming

Het Bos van Dode Liefjes (The Forest of Dead Sweethearts) Audience age: 15+ Cast: 8-16 Available language(s): Dutch Backfire Audience age: 15+ Cast: 14 Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: contains biographical information on a variety of young people from different countries. This information can be changed so that future actors can take full ownership of the story.

Runnin’ Blue Audience age: 15+ Cast: 11 Available language(s): Dutch, German Additional information: inspired by the film “Lola Rennt” and The Doors’ song “Runnin’ Blue” Paradepaardjes (Showpieces) Audience age: 15+ Cast: 5-10 Available language(s): Dutch Yasmine versus Khalid Audience age: 15+ Cast: 2 (1 girl, 1 boy) Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: the text consists of two monologues written in collaboration with Sofian Abayahya.

Contact

www.anouksaleming.nl anouk@anouksaleming.nl

>>

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Sofie Tseng Sofie Tseng was born in 1989 and graduated in 2013 in Writing for Performance at Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU). Her work assumes that humanity is in essence good but incompetent. Her characters are awkward and tactless, but loveable nonetheless. Sofie believes that the greatest emotion is generated by humour; the need to laugh at what is not in fact funny. Her style is clean and controlled, and has a wisdom about it that is both naïve and complex.

Tseng’s plays have been commissioned by, among others, Toneelmakerij, HKU, Tweetakt/Kaap Festival and Parade Festival.

“Andermansplantjes” won her the 2013 ITs Playwriting Award.

photo > Sander Buesink

ANDERMANSPLANTJES 9 (Windowpains) Since Sam’s father died, her mother’s been in her bedroom all the time. All she can do is cry, no matter what Sam does. Just a knock to show a sign of life is too much for her. Allessander (‘You can call me All’), the boy from next door, comes round to ask them to be quiet – all that crying is driving his pregnant mother Anna nuts. Without really being invited to stay, All gives Sam some well-intentioned bits of advice – like when he says that Sam shouldn’t feel rotten just because her father is rotting away. Meanwhile, Frenk the window cleaner is doing his level best to get his work done. But at one house Anna asks him to help assemble the crib, and at the other Sam asks him to bring back her mother, whom Frenk can see through the bedroom window. And All isn’t having it easy either. His mother didn’t want any children at all, so he’s constantly trying as hard as he can to not exist. Sometimes he wonders whether he’s succeeded. So all you can do is bang on the wall and hope that someone hears you; the woman from next door sometimes knocks back. Sam can’t believe what she’s hearing! “Knock if you can hear it, mum. I’ve got no mother, just a stupid dead father.” The door lock clicks open.

> page 18

Sofie Tseng

[Anna is in her apartment. She’s heavily pregnant and talking to her unborn child] ANNA So Listen I’m probably not going to do it right Just to let you know I’m going to say the wrong things, Things that stick with you without me knowing it I’ll make tiny cuts and I won’t realize that they’ll turn into scars You can’t blame me for that I will be unreasonable Unreachable And I’m going to find it very hard to accept When you don’t turn out the way I planned You won’t And because of that I won’t be who I want to be for you That’s not my fault I only want the best for you And I’m always going to know what’s best And I’ll forget you I’m going to be really busy sometime And I’ll forget you But that doesn’t mean that that’s what you deserve I hope that when you look at me You’ll feel the love My love for you I hope that means you’re always loved When you become a mother, you become a truth If I say you’re good, you’re good If I say you’re bad, you’re bad If I tell you off, you deserve to be told off If I forget you, you’ll be forgotten That will be your truth If I give you everything, you can take anything If I’m always there, you’re never alone If I hadn’t wanted you, you should not have been here I might forget that we’re not just two people You and I But you are a person and I am your truth I’m probably not going to do it right

Play details

Audience age: 9+ Cast: 4 (2 men, 2 women) Available language(s): Dutch, English

Other plays by this author

Onderstebodem (Upside Ground) Audience age: 7+ Cast: 2 (1 man, 1 woman) Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: for performance in a classroom

Contact

sofietseng@outlook.com +31 (0)6 14008084

(Translator: Sander Buesink)

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Timen Jan Veenstra Timen Jan Veenstra (1984) attended Utrecht School of the Arts, obtaining degrees in Drama and Writing for Performance. He subsequently wrote for several prestigious theatre companies, including Toneelmakerij, Toneelschuur Producties and De Utrechtse Spelen. Veenstra is also one of the founders of the Tekstsmederij, which provides supports and guidance to gifted young playwrights.

His plays are highly praised for their personal voice, powerful dialogues and sense of social awareness. Although Timen loves writing contemporary drama, he also reworks classical tragedies, such as his adaptations and translations for today’s audiences of Georg Büchner’s “Danton’s Death” and Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”.

Timen is currently working on his first novel “Icarus”, a compelling, fast-paced thriller about the downfall of a prosperous investment banker and his complex relationship with his father.

Wachten 2 (Waiting)

A refugee camp. Two refugees. They don’t know whether they’ll be going somewhere or be allowed to stay.

They barely know where they are. All they can do is wait for the possibility of a future. Time passes and they try to keep a grip on their lives; try not to give in to the hopelessness of their predicament.

Y You know what the joke is?

X The joke? No. Y It’s that I’m sitting behind a pillar, and there are people laying all around me.

It’s that soldiers, fighters, murderers, take those people, cut men’s tongues out, torture them, shoot them in the head, pull out their fingernails, hack them with machetes, chop, and beat, and throw the heads away, and that they pile up the bodies by that wall there, that wall, yes, that wall there, and that they’re starting to rot, and I’m still behind that pillar, that one, yes, that pillar over there; that they took my mother, and cut my little brother out of her, beat his skull against that wall, no, not that one, that one, yes, that wall there, and took my mother away, away, away from here, and I’m still there, still there.

> page 20

Timen Jan Veenstra

And my brother, my elder brother, he’ll save me, he’ll take me away.

Do you know what the joke is?

X The joke? Yes. No. Y The joke is that I’m alive and my mother isn’t, and my father isn’t, and my little sister isn’t, and my little brother isn’t.

X And your brother?

Y My brother?

X The one who saved you.

Y That brother.

Play details

X That brother.

Audience age: 12+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch

Y He isn’t either.

Other plays by this author

Reis (Journey) Audience age: 8+ Cast: 1 Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: Monologue based on the story of Andrew McAuley, who died crossing the Tasman Sea in a kayak.

X No. Y No. [silence]

Clyde & Bonnie Audience age: 14+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: translation from German into Dutch of Holger Schober’s “Clyde & Bonnie” for Toneelmakerij

X I’ve got a joke too.

Y Another joke... A funny one?

X Yes. You have to join in.

Y Join in?

X Dear sir from a big and distant country that’s very rich and celebrates Christmas.

Ontspoord (Derailed) Audience age: 12+ Cast: 6 Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: translation of Naomi Wallace’s “The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek”, for Toneelmakerij, translated with Paulien Geerlings.

Contact

Y Yes, what is it?

www.timenjanveenstra.nl info@timenjanveenstra.nl

X My name is Ngbuku.

Y Hello Ngbuku.

X I am poor and and I need money.

Y Here’s some money.

X Something’s changed. [they laugh]

>>

Y Good joke.

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Jibbe Willems Jibbe Willems was born in 1977 and is a graduate of the Maastricht Academy of Performing Arts. His texts explore the beauty of failure, the fringes of language, and the unattainable state of the sublime, where suffering and happiness are so intertwined that they cancel one another out and generate solace. Tragedy takes equal place to humour and, like an atheist who misses god, he is always seeking redemption.

Jibbe's work as a playwright has been commissioned by the likes of Nationale Toneel, BonteHond, Hoge Fronten, tgEcho, Toneelgroep Oostpool, De Utrechtse Spelen, Urban Myth, Frascati, De Toneelschuur, Generale Oost and Theater Bellevue. His plays have been translated and performed in Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Germany, Spain, Suriname and Belgium. In 2015 he was appointed as the in-house writer at Toneelgroep Maastricht. photo > Willem Popelier

LEO & LENA 9 After Leonce und Lena

by Georg Büchner

Leo’s father is the Minister of Important Affairs. Lena’s mother is Supreme Boss of the Biggest Business.

For the first time in their lives, pampered, loud-mouthed Leo and Lena are being forced to do something against their will. Despite never having met one another, they are to be married. So, independently of one another, they both rebel and run away – into the big wide world, searching for extreme encounters and for true love. Lena leaves with her cautious female friend Valeria; Leo is accompanied by the libertine Valerio.

And Rozetta follows in their wake, despite her love for dear darling Leo being unrequited. Along their journey Leo and Lena meet quite by chance and fall head over heels in love. But then they are separated by death. Life leaves them no choice and this leap is their last chance to shape their own fate. But then they discover each other’s true identity. But this, too, need not be an obstacle to their great happiness. “We have time and we have freedom. Just imagine: we were nearly married without even knowing one another’s name! Love cannot be captured in a ring – just as you do not have to flee to be free. Your freedom is within you.”

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Jibbe Willems

LENA​ I want a boy whose eyes are full of adventure. Who can shout himself hoarse, but who can also softly whisper. He must love dogs, be a good horseman, and be able to talk to cats. He should love eating hamburgers with whipped cream (it’s fine if he just pretends) and he will want to compete with me in little contests that he doesn’t always win – and he will be a good loser. And he should write poems that do not rhyme.

VALERIA And from which fairy-tale did you pluck this lad?

LENA​​ Oh, Valeria, I pity you. You don’t even dare to fantasise.

You will remain alone until you are old and dusty, and then you will crumble into nothing more than a little heap of dirt.

VALERIA That’s fine with me, just as long as somebody clears it up.

LENA​​ Would you help me anyway to choose what to wear?

VALERIA​ In case your date turns out to be your dream boy, I suppose.

LENA​​ Absolutely. Everything is possible if you dare believe in the impossible.

Play details

Audience age: 9+ Cast: 7 (3 men, 4 women) Available language(s): Dutch

Other plays by this author Rotgod (Bad God) Audience age: 8+ Cast: 3 (2 man, 1 woman) Available language(s): Dutch, German

Noem hem Pinocchio (Name Him Pinocchio) Audience age: 15+ Cast: 4 to 17 (min. 3 men, 1 woman, max. 16 man, 1 woman or vice versa) Available language(s): Dutch Apocalypso Audience age: 15+ Cast: min. 6 (min. 3 man, 3 woman up to as many as wanted) Available language(s): Dutch, German (partial version), Russian

Contact

www.jibbewillems.nl jibbewillems@me.com +31 (0) 626040619

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Malou de Roy van Zuydewijn Malou de Roy van Zuydewijn was born in 1984. She chooses to write for children and young people, for ensembles such as BonteHond, Filliaal and Het Lab Utrecht. Her work is almost exclusively based on interviews and conversations with children or adolescents with remarkable stories to tell, and is highly expressive, poetic and physical.

She is currently working on her first novel for young readers for Azul Kids publishers – it was inspired by the story of a 12-year-old boy from Kurdish Iraq.

Malou completed her Writing for Performance bachelors at Utrecht School of the Arts in 2000. From 2011 to 2012, she studied for a post-bachelor certificate in community arts. In 2013 she received additional training in philosophising with children and adolescents.

Along with writer and playwright Timen Jan Veenstra she co-founded Tekstsmederij, the platform for a new generation of stage writers and directors. photo > Ilja Keizer

IK BEN IK 8 (I Am Me) “Who the hell do you think you are?” shouts one of the big boys at Kind. Later, in bed, he can’t sleep. In his dreams he meets the Grey Warrior, a wise old man who tells the story of how the world was full of colour until he found a dead cat. Ever since then, the world has been grey. The only way to do something about it is to bury the cat. But does Kind have the courage to do it? The Grey Warrior puts him in front of the mirror and says, “What do you see?” Kind doesn’t know. The Warrior sends him away, in the company of his trusty hound Hachiko. Along the way Kind meets a brave boy with bright red hair, a girl getting her first hairs under her armpits, a little boy with thick glasses who plays him Beethoven, a bald man with black tattoos who turns out not to be a murderer. Kind finds the cat and buries it, and all the grey in the world dissolves away. Kind returns to the Grey Warrior, only to discover that he is dying. Things change. People and animals come and go.

The next morning Kind looks at himself in the mirror and the Grey Warrior in his head asks, “What do you see?” “Myself”, answers Kind, “I see myself.”

> page 24

Malou de Roy van Zuydewijn

KIND Oo-oops! He’s about to fall out of the tree.

H-h-h-hi. A little boy with thick glasses and a plaster on his eye.

Can I s-s-s-sstalk prey with you?

Was I stalking prey?

Kind of.

Oh. What are you doing in that tree?

T-top sec-cret. He looks determined as he says it.

Oh. I’ve got a hut. Do you want to c-c-c-come in?

I don’t know what I want.

What-t-t-t’s wrong. Wassamatter?? He’s leans his head to one side.

I feel like... I feel like a failure.

F-f-failure? Why? Everything’s going wrong.

Ah, yes, he nods wisely. I g-g-g-get that, too. I keep b-b-b-bBumping into things?

He nods and points to his eye. P-p-plaster.

He strolls over to the tree.

Are you c-c-coming? We’ll listen to some mu-mu-ssic.

So I climb after him.

He’s nailed two planks together.

It wobbles, but he fits onto it perfectly.

I look for a good branch.

W-wait. I’ve g-g-got an i-P-P-Pod. He searches his pocket and all sorts of things come out.

Pebbles, nails, bottle tops, shells, sweets. But no iPod. O-O-Oh g-g-golly. I p-p-put in my p-p-p-pocket. O-OOh g-g-golly.

He carried on frantically searching. Handfuls of earth follow, and Lego bricks.

Yes! He fishes the iPod from his pocket. Covered in earth.

O-O-Oh g-g-golly there’s sand in it. O-O-Oh g-g-golly.

Can I help you? What music do you want?

He looks at me gratefully with his good eye. B-B-BBeethoven.

Play details Audience age: 8+ Cast: 1

Other plays by this author Inside Out Audience age: 4+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch ASO (ASBO) Audience age: 10+ Cast: 5 Available language(s): Dutch Judo Audience age: 8+ Cast: 5 (4 children, 1 adult actor) Available language(s): Dutch Want zwart is geen kleur (Black Ain’t No Colour) Audience age: 8+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch

Contact

www.malouderoyvanzuydewijn.nl maloudrvz@hotmail.nl +31 (0) 6 410 30 246

Why should I hear that?

Be-c-c-c-cause you need to listen t-to your s-s-self the way you listen to m-music.

“Listen to yourself.” That’s what the Grey Warrior said.

I look at him, surprised.

He looks back with his good eye. Blue eyes.

He looks like me when I was smaller.

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Jorieke Abbing Jorieke Abbing (1983) completed her Writing for Performance studies at Utrecht School of the Arts in 2007. Her graduation piece “Beste Sneeuw” won the three-yearly Van der Vies award for Best Dutch Play in 2008 and the international Kaas & Kappes award in 2009.

Jorieke’s has had work commissioned by NT Jong, Het Filiaal, Toneelgroep Oostpool, Tuning People, Jeugdtheater Hofplein and Filmmuseum Amsterdam. At Toneelmakerij she worked together with director Roeland Hofman on two productions with TM Jong, the company’s youth theatre ensemble. Jorieke has also collaborated with her sister on two productions: “Aan die komen” and “Hier komt de nacht”, based on true stories about Groningen during the Second World War.

CLOVER 9 Bea and Jonathan are hand in glove. One day they will marry, their father is sure. Then the day comes when they go to secondary school for the first time. Skittish as rabbits, they scan the class looking for people they might talk with. Clover smiles back – nonchalant Clover, whose class presentation was about the apocalypse. Her father lives on another planet with a robot dog and more than a hundred telescopes in his back garden, all pointed towards planet Earth. Her mother is a nurse. Worldly-wise Clover thinks Bea and Jonathan are sweet. One by one she wraps them around her little finger. She is Jonathan’s first love; she is Bea’s big sister with whom she can talk about her dead mother. They steal together, smoke together, and promise they will never be one of the Normals. Slowly, she drives them apart until she has Bea all to herself.

Clover pushes at the boundaries until Bea will do whatever she wants. But then one day, deep in the night, she meets her mother who smells of wine and Clover cuts off Bea’s pigtail. It makes Bea sick. Fortunately, Jonathan likes her short hair. When Bea returns to school, Clover has a new best girlfriend. But Bea will never cry so easily again.

> page 26

Dutch participant in the European Writers Lab 2014-2015

Play details

CLOVER What a couple of sweeties you are.

You don’t mind if I sit here do you?

JONATHAN Don’t mind at all.

Audience age: 9+ Cast: 3 (2 girls, 1 boy) Available language(s): Dutch, English Additional information: inspired by Tomek Tryzna’s book “Meisje Niemand”

CLOVER (to Bea) You especially, you’re a supersweetie.

Other plays by this author Beste Sneeuw (Dear Snow) Age: 8+ Cast: 3 (1 man, 1 woman, 1 girl) Available language(s): Dutch, English

JONATHAN Correct. Bea’s a supersweetie.

CLOVER Bea. Kiss me.

BEA Why? CLOVER Girlfriends kiss each other hello. On the mouth.

Didn’t you know that?

JONATHAN I knew.

Jagtlust Smaglust Age: 14+ Cast: 15 Available language(s): Dutch Additional information: based on the book “Jagtlust” by Annejet van der Zijl Halve Mens (Half-Human) Age: 14+ Cast: 3 Available language(s): Dutch Trollenjong (Troll Child) Audience age: 4+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch

BEA I don’t know if I want to.

JONATHAN Just do it.

Verona aan de Rijn (Verona on the Rijn) Audience age: 14+ Cast: 50 Available language(s): Dutch

(Translation: Rina Vergano)

Lucy Loves Ringo Starr Audience age: 8+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch Het Meisje en de Engel (The Girl and the Angel) Audience age: 6+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Dutch

Contact

www.joriekeabbing.nl joriekeabbing@gmail.com

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Kristofer Grønskag Kristofer Grønskag (1984) has written or adapted more than twenty plays, both for children and adults. His work has been translated into several languages and produced in Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Bosnia. Several of his plays have received nominations and awards, including “The Beloved”, which won the 2012 Amsterdam Fringe Bronze Award. Other plays include “Kinder K”, “Democritic”, “Sub Text”, “We Who Hate Us”, “The Boy”, “And Everything Shall Disappear” and “Hubris”. He currently has a twoyear residency at Dramatikkens Hus, Oslo’s national institute for theatre play development. Kristofer Grønskag’s work often deals with demanding themes, and he always approaches them with playfulness and curiosity.

photo > Andrea Haugerud Hovik

SATELLITES IN THE NIGHT SKY 8 Joni has discovered something new in this vast Universe. It is a black hole – a black hole that has the power to devour every little thing that comes too close. And the hole is in her stomach. Joni sets out on a voyage into the strange Universe in which we live. She visits the 44 elephants hiding on the moon. She listens to the words that live in porcelain plates smashing on the floor. She sets her younger brother on fire… unintentionally, of course. She tries to make sense of her mum, that great big crying crocodile. She talks to all the dead animals sent out to orbit the Earth like an ever-revolving piece of celestial jewellery. And when she gets really angry she swallows the entire Universe. She sings songs – songs in her own language, a language so different from all other languages that it sounds almost scary.

“Satellites in the Night Sky” might be a play about really using our eyes. Maybe it’s about really using our ears. Or perhaps it’s about really, really using that organ in which our imagination resides.

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Norwegian participant in the European Writers Lab 2014-2015

JONI In my belly lives my little brother, riding a homemade rocket.

Only his shirt collar remains fuming around his neck.

He looks like a naked priestand he shouts

MY LITTLE BROTHER All systems up and running!

MY LITTLE BROTHER Wow!

JONI Where are we going?

MY LITTLE BROTHER Up, up and away!

JONI and I shout Double-wow!

And we can hear our mother and father shouting from downstairs

JONI And why are you going up, up and away?

MY MOTHER AND MY FATHER JONI!!!

MY BABY BROTHER We are going to find something that can seal the hole in your stomach.

MY LITTLE BROTHER Did I go up, up and away?

JONI Yes! Are you ready?!

MY LITTLE BROTHER Maybe we didn’t use enough gazoline?

MY BABY BROTHER But why?

JONI Maybe we used too much gazoline?

And up in the attic there are two mouths laughing.

The sound of light.

Like a star.

And then the door swings open.

JONI Because ”it can’t go on like this.”

MY LITTLE BROTHER Like what?

JONI I’ll show you.

10 9 876543210 I ignite the gazoline.

But the rocket does not burst into flames across the night sky above us.

It just bursts into flames.

With a great woof!

MY LITTLE BROTHER Woof!

JONI And the same thing happens to my little brothers clothes.

His trousers, his jumper, his eyebrows, the hair on his head, it all burns up.

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JONI Not quite.

17.30 uur

MY FATHER Joni!

What are you doing?

JONI Nothing.

MY FATHER It can’t go on like this.

MY MOTHER No, it can’t go on like this.

JONI The star is gone.

The black hole in my stomach has devoured it.

All that’s left is the smell of smoke and burnt hair.

(Translator: Neal Howard)

Toneelmakerij zaal

>> > page 29

Play details

Audience age: 8+ Cast: 4 (minimum, up to as many as wanted) Available language(s): Norwegian, English

Other plays by this author

Mustasjemysteriet (The Moustache Mysteries) Audience age: 4+ Cast: 3 Available language(s): Norwegian, English Og alt skal bli borte (And Everything Shall Disappear) Audience age: 8+ Cast: 3 Available language(s): Norwegian, English Gutten (The Boy) Audience age: 14+ Cast: 4 (minimum) Available language(s): Norwegian, English Demokratikk (Democritic) Audience age: 14+ Cast: 2 Available language(s): Norwegian, English Rami og Yuli (Rami and Yuli) Audience age: 7+ Cast: 2 (2 actors, several puppets) Available language(s): Norwegian, English Additional information: Adaptation for puppet theatre of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”

Contact

kristofergronskag.wordpress.com kristofer.gronskag@gmail.com +47 90 14 05 27

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Norwegian participant in the European Writers Lab 2014-2015

>>

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Jakob Nolte and Michel Decar Michel Decar and Jakob Nolte were born in West Germany in the late 1980s. The plays they wrote alone or as a duo have been produced in numerous theatres in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and have been invited to several festivals. In 2013 they've won the BrĂźder-Grimm-Preis des Landes Berlin for Das Tierreich. Jakob recently published his first novel, while Michel directed two radioplays for Deutschlandradiokultur.

HELLFIRE AFTERNOONS e Hellfire Afternoons is a play about the global menace of drone strikes and the special role that Western society plays in them. In short scenes set all over the world we see all sorts of people wrestling with their problems and being confronted with this new kind of warfare.Â

> page 32

German participants in the European Writers Lab 2014-2015

The KH-12 Crystal satellite emerges from the depths of space, breaks through the border of the Southern Hemisphere and speeds across the equator. North America is visible below, and its high-resolution cameras glide over the Caribbean Sea, the jungles of the Andes and then… a city – a metropolis, a mega-city. The satellite’s lens focuses sharply on the outskirts of Bogotá: its factories, shopping malls and highways. The airport, El Dorado, is surrounded by terraced houses and barracks. The cameras scan in closer and follow a vehicle. A bus is making its way from the centre of the western suburbs. Drizzle beats against the windows.

GABO CORREA Is this seat free?

CARLA RIVERA Are you blind?

GABO CORREA You’re Carla, right?

CARLA RIVERA None of your business.

GABO CORREA Okay.

[Short pause]

CARLA RIVERA Look, I don’t know who you are, and I’ve never noticed you or anything.

GABO CORREA I’m Gabriel Sergio Correa. But my friends call me Gabo.

CARLA RIVERA The Gabo?

GABO CORREA Probably.

CARLA RIVERA So? Like I care.

GABO CORREA Great. So how are you doing?

CARLA RIVERA Fantastic. Was in the Andes yesterday. It was amazing.

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GABO CORREA In the National Park? Aren’t there llamas? And gazelles?

CARLA RIVERA And elephants! But only African elephants, not Indian.

GABO CORREA I think I even saw a Lynx there, once.

CARLA RIVERA Yeah, there are pumas. And Polish and WhiteRussian Lynx.

GABO CORREA You mean, lynxes.

CARLA RIVERA No, lynx.... Definitely lynx.

Play details

Audience age: 16+ Cast: 6 (actors) Available language(s): English, German

Other plays by this author

Das Tierreich (Animal Kingdom) Audience age: 14+ Cast: Unspecified (21 characters played by optional numbers of actors) Available language(s): German

Contact

Rowohlt Theaterverlag: Bastian.Haefner@rowohlt.de

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Glenn Waldron Glenn's first full-length play “Forever House” was produced in March/April 2013 at the Drum Theatre, Plymouth, directed by Joe Murphy.

Glenn (1977) is currently under commission to Company of Angels/Bush Theatre and the Theatre Royal Plymouth. Other theatre credits include “Plucky” (Bush/DryWrite) and “Come to Where I’m From” (Paines Plough). Glenn was editor of influential style magazine i-D from 2004 to 2006.

Since then he has written features for a broad range of publications including Vogue, the New York Times, W Magazine, Wallpaper, The Guardian and The Independent. He also lectures at the London College of Fashion.

NATIVES c “There is a world out there, so new, so random and disassociated that it is both thrilling and entirely overwhelming. We mistake almost anything for a relationship, a community of sorts, and yet, when we are with our families, in our communities, we are clueless, we short-circuit and immediately dive back into the digitized version – it is easier, because we can both be our truer selves and our fantasy selves all at once, with each carrying equal weight.”

AM Homes

What’s it like to be a 14-year-old growing up with this ‘random and disassociated’ world as a given? What happens when you grow up with seemingly everything and nothing within your grasp? Focusing on the generation of so-called ‘digital natives’, the play looks at what it means when 14-year-olds are no longer ‘just schoolkids’ but active participants in a global media community – with all the incredible promise, power, subtle threats and fierce insecurities that this entails.

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UK participant in the European Writers Lab 2014-2015

“Because, I mean, it’s not like I’m gonna do it. I mean, I’m not really gonna do it. Even though I’ve sent her 23 texts and she’s ignored every single one.

Even though I’ve sort-of said I’m sorry. Even though today is my birthday and, I mean, whatever, just get over it, y’know? But I’m not really gonna share it.

Even though I could. I just could.”

And I look at her and she’s looking at me and suddenly it’s just….

Oh, fuck.

There’s this, this rush of….

It is not a feeling I have had before.

It is so big and complete and…. Not to be gay but it makes me go weak at the knees. It really does!

And suddenly it’s like, ‘Arrgh!’ Yes! And I feel completely stupid. I feel like the biggest twat.

Because she is beautiful, she is really beautiful.

She’s the most beautiful girl in this town. Possibly the universe. She is Rihanna, Lauren Cockcroft from Year Ten, and all my favourite video girls melted down and made into one perfect being and why did I never see this before?

And I’m smiling this smile, this smile I’ve never smiled before, and she’s doing the same. Which is how I know.

Know it’s not just something in my head, know it’s something real.

And I want to kiss her, I really do. But I don’t think I can move.

There’s approximately twenty-five centimetres between her mouth and mine but it might as well be the length of the Eiffel Tower for all I can do about it.

And then she’s saying, ‘Go on then. Go on, knobhead.’

And I don’t know whether it’s me or her that reaches out but suddenly we’re kissing. We’re kissing and it is God’s-honest the most brilliant moment of my life.

It’s this pure, golden moment, do you know what I mean?

Have you ever felt like that?

Have you?

Play details

Audience age: 14+/15+ Cast: 3 Available languages: English

Contact

glennwaldron@gmail.com

>> do 16 mei, vrij 17 mei

17.30 uur

Toneelmakerij zaal

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Published as part of

Theatre CafĂŠ Festival Amsterdam 2015

All the theatre texts contained in this publication are intended for young audiences.

Concept and selection Liesbeth Coltof, Paulien Geerlings Texts Susanne Visser, Annemarie Wenzel Translator and English copy editor Steve Green Design Esther de Boer - Es & Zn Editing Neeltje van Balkom, Elselien Leemhuis, Susanne Visser www.toneelmakerij.nl

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