Bread and games. That pretty much covers the load of Wednesday evening. No television program without attention to the great demonstration of our “food providers” in Stroe. In the Show news-studio was joined by farmer Bertie – once a participant of Farmer seeks wife and winner of Expedition Robinson† She runs an arable farm in Renesse, and her biggest fear is that there will soon be insufficient fertilizer for her soil. One today Geert Leusink followed, he had got up an hour earlier to milk the cows. Farming was always a “very nice profession”, he said, but because of the Hague plans for nitrogen reduction it was now a “funny job”. Short phone call with the group leader of ‘Vol Gas’, who was in charge of the hikers’ groups, and then at walking pace over the highway to the demonstration area in the Veluwe.
There hung according to the NOS News a summer festival atmosphere. Images of farmers taking a nap, caps over their faces. There was singing, laughing, scolding, yelling, dancing. When asked about their feelings, the farmers said they were furious, shook their fists in front of the cameras, and said that “townspeople” and “left-wingers” turned their lives and that of their children into tragedy.
Farmers and politicians on a stage of grass, or well, only the politicians who were welcome and not threatened beforehand. Aad de Mos passed by, leader of the largest party in The Hague, and he expressed his support on behalf of all residents of The Hague for the “people who provide our bread on the table”. The farmers, who, according to the protest signs, are being robbed of their bread “out of nitrogen shortage”. Wybren van Haga, of Importance of the Netherlands, soon bellowed into the SBS6 microphone that nitrogen „one big hoax” and that it actually makes plants grow wonderfully.
love couple
The stage of International Theater Amsterdam (ITA) is a mud pool. Actors writhe and crawl, there is moaning, whining, fighting and splatters of blood. On the sidelines two men, a loving couple, director Ivo van Hove and scenographer Jan Versweyveld. The NTR documentary is about their 40-year collaboration Two men† Suzanne Raes followed them in the preparation of the performance Age of Rage† Six Greek tragedies brought together in one piece about the Trojan War. A nation on the brink of destruction, a country ravaged by war, families perishing from violence, revenge and murder. And national administrators who have no idea how to do things better.
Ivo van Hove goes to great lengths to highlight this ‘circle of violence’. Far in the horrors he wants to show, and far in what he asks of his actors to visualize the “atmosphere of hell.” During rehearsals we see one actress break a foot, one actor sprain something and Gijs Scholten van Aschat go wild. Those are the moments when Ivo van Hove calms down. A wheelchair is arranged for the actress and it actually fits the scene so well. After the rehearsal, the actors can laugh again at this bizarre “Greek work-out”.
Frènk van der Linden interviews the duo separately. Their division of roles seems clear – Ivo van Hove in front of the screens, Jan Versweyveld the man behind it. But gradually they have merged into one in front of and behind the scenes. “Like an osmosis.” Ivo van Hove refuses to answer the question of what he would do without Jan Versweyveld. He’s never put on a performance without him, it’s out of the question, it’s not his wish, it’s never going to happen. It is a “abyss† An abyss. And he doesn’t want to look into that.
#City #dwellers #leftwingers #turned #lives #tragedy #farmers