Redbad- The poster gives nothing away- it could have beeing for anything- except for the small line underneath the title that says something like: The New Kings Drama from director Douwe Kalma... which i never took notice of- even though it was plastered on every window in stavoren :)
Shortly before i left the Netherlands Barber was involved in a cultural event in Stavoren. She kept calling it Sult- which was the name of the company- And she asked me if i would like tickets to see the event. Naturally I said yes because nothing happens in stavoren and apart from work i had all my free time to kill haha. My understanding of the event however was very different from everyone elses. A few months prior Barber had staged a musical production in Hindeloopen the next town over- It was a new instrument that relied on pipes being sunk in the water and once done so they could create harmonies by using the wind blowing past- like a giant Piano underwater organ I imagine. I had really wanted to see that performance as i often heard the melodies being carried this way on the wind.
Now looking at this scaffold- minus the people one could assume it had nothing to do with anything remotely theatrical- or so i thought :)
Back before man invented fire The Netherlands as we know it today was actually two or more separate countries, and was rife with civil wars. Friesland was the strongest and most patriotic of the separate countries and the town i lived in (stavoren) was founded quite near all the famed battled grounds. Eventually Friesland was conquered and fell under the rule of the Dutch- Today however there remains a second official language of the Netherlands- and yep you guessed it. Its Friesian. The reason this language still remains is because the locals of Friesland are ridiculously patrioitic and consider themselves first Friese and second Dutch. They lobbied long and hard to have their language officially recognised and when it was so they took to harassing poor Australian girls about not being able to speak Friesian. When i would politely ask something in Dutch they would often reply in Friese, or worse in a strange un-recognized pseudo friesian language that was more a dialect and often found within small towns. I was determined however, never to learn another language in that country- having already learned fluent Dutch within the space of a year.
I should have known something was up when i arrived at the beer tent and saw this- it was a funeral pyre for the deceased king- I just thought the decorator had had one to many spliffs before coming to the show tonight... In my defence i wasnt being ignorant by not reading all the little plaques about- I was just a) busy meeting with Barber's family and colleagues and b) I CANT READ FRIESE!- the latter being the most problematic hehe
Imagine then ladies and gentleman my surprise of being told i was about to sit through a few hours of a play in a language i could only just understand? I didn't have time to worry however- A man in a very creative costume quickly jumped up upon a wagon in the beer tent and began regaling us of the Friesian history before we were moved to the stage.
The stage was one of my favourite part of the entire performance- It was a scaffolders dream of perilous drops and hazards in the shape of a castle defence wall. Having watched it being built from time to time (it was rudely being built where i took the little kids to swim- i had to endure many complaints because of it) I never dreamt it was a stage. Upon seeing the photo on my blog you guys can appreciate that i just assumed it was part of the strange water pipe piano from Hindeloopen. But it was much better than that in the end!
Tension between father and Son- Before the king had died his son (in blue duct tape on the left) had tried and failed to murder him. This Prince was then banished and not permitted to return to Friesland while the King lived- The banished Prince's own son however was to remain in Friesland and be raised by the king. Imagine then the tension after the King has died and the murderous Prince takes the throne and must contend with his own son protesting his rule... So many kings, princes and sons for such a small country me thinks!
We took our seats on the grandstand and made ourselves comfortable- I will admit that in the opening scenes the amount of dialogue being spewed forth in a strange language made me bored and I took instead to looking at all the funky costumes! I really loved the details and the funny costumes that had been constructed from what looked like a scrap material heap- one lady was stitched into a sleeping bag with a blue plastic crown on her shoulder (symbolising royalty) Others had duct tape insignia's and royal house flags plastered on old blankets that formed their clothes! It was all brilliantly done and I was thankful for such detail as it helped me keep tabs on who was whom during the play.
Two blue duct taped crowns meant you were the king, and one crown meant you were of royal blood. This was very helpful as son tried to murder father and son took crown and then grandson took crown back. The dark also made all the good looking blond and muscly friesian men look like clones rather than family members.
My favourite costume was the queens, in these two photos you can see that she is wearing a sleeping bag. Bloody creative genius i say :)
The play itself was fast paced and situated around the death of a great king and his grandsons transition into an ever greater king to be. There were moments on family rivalry over religion and murder plots resulting in banishment. It was fraught with civil and foreign wars as well as guerrilla attacks on beloved monuments and castles. I especially liked the weedy British man that managed to seduce the princess and gain a foothold for a quick take over on Britain's behalf. Good old England.
The princess is wooed with false promises and british 'pomp'- i love her costume here and yes she is holding an ipad to boot. The whole production was very tecnology based- with the scaffolds and the ipad as well as giant monuments being erected in a minute flat, explosions and amstel beer bottles existing hundreds of years before their creation. Cool Cool Cool i say!
I was most surprised however by the fact that I understood what was going on, and i found myself chanting along with the crowd saluting the King and such haha. All the actors did fantastically well in the freezing cold, especially when they were forced to wade out into the water to farewell the funeral pyre of the king. they didnt even wince and yet remained at all times in character- had it'd been me i would have dragged my feet towards the beach and then complained it was not in my contract to get wet on the job haha.
The cold cold water and the burning glow of the lights helped to recreate the glow of the burning funeral pyre long after it had gone out. The funny little black box on the right hand side also exploded during a particularly tense moment in the play- to what point and purpose i know not. But it was freaking cool and an attack on the castle followed soon after- The visual effect in this play out did themselves on a number of occasions.
I also happened to know a few people in the performance. My archery teacher was funnily enough one of the archers- they set the funeral pyre alight with flaming arrows. It was quite realistic and very clever to have the funeral pyre burning and floating away from the performance as the new king stepped into role and took his new kingdom in opposite directions to his father.
The treacherous Prince who became king (two blue crowns= king, remember?) and his son who fought for a kingdom that would continue in line with his Grandfathers wishes. What the outcome was i cannot quite remember, i know that the unfortunate prince (with the bow) was later hung after he staged an attack on his fathers kingdom. As seen below.
By the end of the performance i felt i had had a truly wonderful time and a new appreciation for the stubborn and patriotic friesians i lived with. And the costumes and set were just so effing awesome i couldn't enjoy the craziness that was going on amongst it all! It was definitely a night to remember :)
Please note that i do not own nor did i take any of the above photos- they remain the property of the Sult production company.
