Pers – Dancing on your grave

PERSBERICHT HKU

De in juni afgestudeerde studenten Theatre and Education, Ferry Spigt, Malou van Sluis en Denise Lukkenaer hebben op het Internationale Universiteitstheater Festival in Casablanca de festivalprijs gewonnen voor het beste theaterstuk met de eindexamenvoorstelling ‘Dancing on your grave’ (‘We dansen op je graf’).      

De spelers Malou en Denise kregen samen een gedeelde prijs uitgereikt voor de beste actrice. Ferry was de festivalwinnaar met zijn eindregie. 

Uit het juryrapport:
Een internationale jury bestaande uit vijf professionals (actrice, theatermaker, sociologe, docente, en operazangeres) heeft de festivalprijs toegekend vanwege het voor Marokko vernieuwende karakter van de voorstelling. Daarmee hoopt de jury dat het stuk als voorbeeld en inspiratie zal dienen voor de aanwezige theatergroepen.

Waardering werd uitgesproken voor de interactie met het publiek en de intieme sfeer die gecreëerd werd door de zitplaatsen niet in een traditionele zaalopstelling te plaatsen. Lef werd getoond volgens de jury omdat de groep het aandurfde om een thema als ‘dood’ met een interessante gelaagdheid voor het voetlicht te brengen, iets wat binnen de Arabische wereld niet zo gangbaar is. Tevens waren de leden onder de indruk van de transparante oprechte speelstijl, die op een aantal momenten ontroering teweeg bracht.

De twee speelsters werden gezien als een sterke eenheid en dat verklaart de reden waarom Denise en Malou een gezamenlijke prijs in ontvangst mochten nemen voor de beste actrice. Tot slot lof voor het feit dat de groep een nagesprek met het publiek introduceerde direct na en als onderdeel van de voorstelling.

 http://www.hku.nl

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Lees hier onder twee reviews over de voorstelling ‘Dancing on your grave’
MUSHO festival 2012 in Durban, Zuid Afrika.

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Zondag 15 januari 2012

Gisele TurnerGisele Turner
Courtesy of www.goingplacessa.com

You are invited to a funeral. Please come in and sit down. It is so kind of you to attend. Hullo. Thank you; we so appreciate your presence. We will begin in a little while. Oh thank you! Would you like to sit here…?

As we enter the theatre we are met by a beautiful young woman, dressed in a vibrant red cocktail frock, holding a bunch of roses in her hand. She greets us and once we are settled, starts to read a speech she has prepared, a eulogy for her late father. Her sister, also beautiful, dressed in black lace, shares the responsibility of the event; but she sees it in a very different light. Whilst Charlotte, played by Malou van Sluis, wants to cover over all the faults and uncomfortable truths of the family’s dynamics, Evelyn, played by Denise Lukkenaar, sees the memorial as an opportunity to reveal and expel the painful truths that haunt her.‘Dancing on your Grave’ is a brilliantly executed exercise in creating a natural environment through drama. It takes the simple premise that the emotional strain of a death in the family unearths hidden or suppressed feelings; in particular it examines the breakdown of sibling relationship when differences of attitude become both evident and embarrassing.The beauty of this piece lies in the total believability of the two characters and their interactions. The actresses draw strong distinctions between their private and their public worlds using such devices as an exaggerated step into the public domain, mother-tongue discussions at the back of the stage, amplified and natural speech: clear delineations that allow us to witness the control required to handle the shifts which were impeccably executed by both actresses,Van Sluis and Lukkenaar and meticulously directed by Ferry SpigtI was moved by the choice of subject matter. Musho! Festival’s profile is definitely enhanced by international participation and ‘Dancing on your Grave, which has already won awards at the Festival International de Theatre in Morocco added an exciting and original flavour to Musho! 2012.
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Dawn Haynes
15 januari 2012

The audience members were met at the door by a charming young lady in a bright red dress set off by an elegant black veil. With a hug and “thank you for coming”, we were welcomed into what was obviously a memorial service. The bright flowers arranged centre stage and flanked by a portrait of a grey-haired man were the focus as we took our seats. A white “carpet “ led to the back of the stage and so the service began.We soon realised this was no ordinary memorial! Charlotte, the daughter in the red dress, was joined by her sister Evelyn and they began a speech about their recently deceased father. With Charlotte constantly interrupting the more demure Evelyn dressed in a formal back dress in contrast to her flamboyant sister, the eulogy created more laughs than tears. Stepping of the central white carpet, the sisters lost their funeral masks and became two bickering siblings who could not agree on anything. Arguing with each other in Dutch, we could not follow every word of the dialogue but the tension between the two was evident.

Evelyn returned to the mic to present her song only to discover that Charlotte had not brought the backing track. With determination, Evelyn sang a beautiful song which gave the audience a few moments of sadness. But this mood was soon disturbed once again by the forceful Charlotte intent on taking centre stage.

Making the audience part of the proceedings from the start, this interesting look at the swing of emotions at funerals was both innovative and interesting.  It certainly made everyone think about their own experiences and resulted in various emotions and complex ideas about coping with death.The play was well acted with the two girls alternating successfully between the attempt to control themselves in front of the guests and the release of their anger and animosity as they stepped aside. The white carpet was in fact made up of numerous notes and this became a confused mess as the play progressed with papers being tossed aside and the neat arrangement rapidly being destroyed.

After the play, the Director and both actors came on stage to discuss with the audience some ideas about funerals. This exercise was so interesting and certainly added another dimension to this thought-provoking drama.