De Dagkrant/ The Festival Daily

Its vet on the net

Net als vorig jaar is alle vitale informatie over het festival  toegankelijk op het internet, op het volgende adres: http://www.its.ahk.nl Hier  vind je onder andere de plaatsen, tijden, prijzen en inhoud van de  voorstellingen. Het is mogelijk on-line te reserveren. Met het oog op de  buitenlandse gasten zijn de teksten en Anglais. De informatie wordt doorlopend  ge-update. Er wordt vermeld welke voorstellingen uitverkocht zijn, en je kunt er  iedere dag enkele artikelen van de Dagkrant lezen. Wie wil kan meer informatie  aanvragen en of zich creatief uiten in het gastenboek. De eerste commentaren zijn al binnen. Zowel diepzinnig ('Act true to the spirit of the play and the  play will lift your spirit', Totempiet) als melig ('Coole site, man! Vet, vet,  vet, echt dope, weet je! Ik heb die site van je uitgesjekt en het is een  toppertje!!', Jay.) Inderdaad, Jay. Amen.

NO Sinners at ITS (!?)

ITs out there

This year the theme of the festival is 'bringing Street Noise  into the theatre', so I decided to turn things around and make some Noise about  the festival out on the Street. Are random people out and about interested in  what the theatres have to offer? Something quickly became clear as I was hopping  around the Rembrandtplein, interviewing shy customers at the terraces and  fending off pushy waitresses: people are not open to new impressions. We are  still very much a Zap-culture, surfing over the tidal-waves of information, only  taking notice of what already interested us. There's no time to stop and broaden  our view, as we might fall off the board and drown. All the people interviewed claimed to be interested in theatre (but then, it would be unhip to show  indifference to high-culture). And everybody also claimed to be into something:  music, graphic design, the visual arts are all examples. When they went to a  performance, something outside their field, they focused on their main interest.  A visit is not a regular event, mostly because it requires bothersome planning,  but, on the plus side, people feel very guilty about not going more  often.

There are still borders to cross: 'I'm in the visual arts,' one  of the interviewees said. 'And it's a totally different world.' There's also the  feeling that people who go to the theatre are not quite like other mortals. Jari Versteegen, who edits items for AT5 says: 'I think it's a special kind of people  who go to there, not the same you see hanging around Sinners, for instance. I  didn't usually go to theatre, didn't know enough about it, I quess. I did an  item on the opening of Julidans and was very impressed. What interested me was  the experimental combination of dance, lighting and video. I'll definitely be  visiting the Nes during the festival. That's the way it will have to be: one  conversion at a time. Like a sect.

Guns and tutu's

ITs about dance philosophies

Yesterday, there was a panel discussion about the possibilities  for combining academy dance and street dance. lt seems like there's going to be  a slow and tough road ahead, and the schools will probably always be a step  behind on the swift shift in trends outside its walls. Academically formed  dancers and street-dancers regard one another with suspicion and prejudice, as  sissy tutu-wearers and gun-wielding toughies respectively. Nonsense, of course,  but there are real differences in the respective dance philosophies.

The first are preoccupied with practice and precision, while  the second go more by instinct, not conscious of the theory of what they are  doing. The Ultimate, a group which performed at the opening of the festival,  attempts to cross some of the barriers. Most of them have had some form of  academy training, though not necessarily as dancers. This group, and several  others, were formed by participants from the workshop Artisjok and the  equivalent from Utrecht. The dancers come from widely different backgrounds,  each one adding his or her own styles to the mix. For instance: breakbeat, swingbeat and vogue-like club styles. The biggest difference with actual street  dance is that the dancers don't do 'battles', dancing one at a time and showing  off their skills, but dance together in a choreography in synchronised movement.  For the academically formed this is difficult because they have to get a feel  for the beat and for the street dancers it will not be easy to get used to the  training and theory, the discipline needed to dance as a group. The trick will  be to combine the different styles in such a way that the different sorts of  dance won't seem loosely glued together, but will actually merge. This merger  will be troublesome because teachers who haven't experienced street dance can't  teach it, and the street dancers aren't exactly eager to receive a formal  education and get up on a stage. At least, not without adequate pay. Because  otherwise, what's the point?

ITs improvised

When coming down from the ivory towers of the theatre schools,  the ability to improvise might help actors to survive out in the urban jungle,  in front of a potentially hostile crowd. No matter how well you rehearse your  performance, there is always the exciting possibility that something might go  completely wrong, throwing you and the audience hopelessly off-track for a few  moments: light-cues that leave actors in the dark, people forgetting their  lines, props that aren't where they should be. For instance, a  background-curtain might get caught on your wheelbarrow, making a loud, wide rip  and giving a glimpse back-stage. A lot of the time, the performers just go red  and try to ignore the obvious error. However, the audience will be much more  impressed if they react quickly, with an off-the-cuff remark, making the mistake  part of the play. Cabaret performers are much better trained for this kind of  calamity than actors and dancers. For instance, when somebody from the audience  called 'booo' at Freek de Jonge, our national pride, he quickly retorted: 'Just  a moment, sir, you will be milked in a second!'

Some performers have made improvisation their primary focus by  reacting to each other, and the audience, as the mood hits them, delivering  personal creative impulse in its purest form. This way nothing can go 'wrong'  because there's no plan There was supposed to be a presentation of an  Improvisation class yesterday, but with predictable unpredictability the  participants decided to cancel it at the last moment. I quess they learned their  lesson and were trying to bring their message across that plans are made to get  trashed and that it's better to just not make any. Simply go with the flow and  see where it leads you. And perhaps, in this way, I learned as much as I would  have by attending the presentation. Now I didn't get to see improvisation and  immortalise it on paper, I actually got to do some for this article. For that, I  thank them.

A disappointing performance

Its the audience review

Theatre is frequently regarded as a place to celebrate  individuality and creativity. However, that only seems to be the case for the  performers. The people who come to see their efforts lose some of their selfness as they are herded into the theatre. I, for one, have frequently  felt the urge to 'moo' while being prodded forward in line at Frascati 3. When  the light go down, the spectators form one giant breathing entity for the  performers, staring at them from out of the dark. Sometimes this being is  benign, sometimes malign or indifferent. In any case, they have an influence on  the performance, making the actors feel secure or ill at ease.

In most reviews this aspect is ignored, so I decided to turn  the attention 180 degrees around, for once, and take a look at the beasts that  lurked on the benches. I went through the cards that people filled out while  leaving a performance, scribbling down their comments. The results, ladies and  gentlemen, were not inspiring. One would hope that people might have been moved  to deep poetic thoughts, but instead, what I found were unimaginative expletives  along the lines of 'great', 'wonderful', 'fantastic'or 'boring' and 'shit'. The  beasts were grey and dull. Especially the Liola audience was  disappointingly uncreative, if unanimously positive. Slachthuis got the  most creative juices flowing. On the whole, there were incomprehensible  ramblings: 'That girl tooo'(Body of Will) and there were the occasional  insider comments: 'I've played it too' (De Meeuw) or 'Where is  Marcel?' (Hedda Hedda). But that was it. I guess most people just rushed  out and started talking about the production that they were busy  with.

By far the most tantalising comment came from a certain Van  Rees, at Verkommerde Oever: 'This was a performance.' Astoundingly  simple, yet complex, saying nothing and everything at the same time. But to all  you other spectators out there: there are still six days left to ventilate your  creative musings. Please try a little harder.

Just Rewards

Today we forget all about that there-is-no-accounting-for-taste nonsense and judge that which cannot be judged. A  festival just would not be complete without some winners to admire and, more  importantly, some losers to pity. The editors of this paper agree wholeheartedly  with this philosophy and have decided to add to the fun by making up some prizes  of our own. We came up with the following categories.

Most desirable waiter: That fake-blond guy from Katz,  what's-his-face.

Waiters Most likely to Forget Orders: Katz. (But they look  good, so who cares!?)

Freakiest Waiter: Frascati Eetcafe. (We really didn't  want to hear about dirty, sweaty feet just before dinner.)

Fastest food delivery: Blincker. You order, you blink, it's  there.

Slowest food delivery: Brakke Grond. (Also see: Most Creative  Way of Dropping and Shattering a Plate.)

Most desirable bachelor at ITs: Jeffrey. (Also the only one, by  the way.)

Most Impressive Physical Abuse of Actors Onstage: Nacht, Moeder  van de Dag. (Implements of abuse: chairs, chandeliers, feet and fists.)

Most Impressive Physical Abuse of Actors Offstage: Nuis. (No  one else comes even close.)

Most Impressive Dental Work: Not I. (Our compliments to Léon Roeven's dentist.)

Most Impressive Bloopers: Arizona (A girl ran in from the wings  and knocked over a lighting tree, with hilarious consequences... ) followed by  Status Quo. (An adorable dancer fell flat on her face.)

Most Polite Performer: Ramses Shaffy. (Unbelievable! He just  kept on shaking every hand in sightl)

Most Politically Incorrect Comment During the Queen's Visit:  'Long live the republic' (Will this person please report himself to the BVD.)

Most Openly Obscene Gesture During the Queens Visit: Freek de Jonge, tickling his penis. (We're not sure about this, but one of us claimed to  have seen it. Not that it would be a big surprise.)

We thought up a lot more awards, but those, unfortunately, were  not fit for publication. There won't be any prize-money, by the way. We took a  final vote and decided to blow it all on booze. Well, it is time for us to sign  off. See you next year! Oh, and watch your back tonight... before you know it,  somebody rnight be throwing an award at you.

The writers & editors of the ITs Festival Daily

©2003 Steven van Lijnden