Our field is about having good conversations. That often seems impossible when tensions are sky-high and there's a bucket full of past misery. How can we still have a good dialogue then? Theater makers offer plenty of inspiration...
Theaters have, of course, always been places where major issues are central. But societal dialogue is something else again than a good conversation between stakeholders who are diametrically opposed. That doesn't work on the street, not in shareholder meetings, and often not at open houses either.
Asylum
Theatermaker Ilay den Boer spent time as a volunteer at an asylum seeker centre, as a decision officer at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), and at the Amsterdam court to dive into the asylum issue from different perspectives. He made Solomon's Judgment, more of a theater dialogue than a performance. Besides Ilay himself, Hassan, a refugee from Gaza, and Peter, Ilay's mentor at the IND, are on stage. As a visitor, you are not a spectator but a participant in the conversation. This can be in the “on location” variant (in my case, a church in Scheveningen), but Solomon's Judgment has also been performed in the living rooms of PVV voters and asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected.
Subsidy scandal
On Lost Innocence The stories of victims of the childcare benefits scandal are central to the Rotterdams Wijktheater. A large number of affected individuals are participating in the city that has by far the most victims: over 9,000. But also officials from the Ministry of Finance are involved, as a public and audience member in the context of the ongoing recovery process.
Tata
Unfortunately, I missed "Lost Innocence" in my hometown, but I visited it with a colleague at the Hoogovensmuseum in Velsen-Noord. Under the Smoke of Hoogovens, an “impetuous family drama” by theater group De Vlammende Eend and Christine Otten. The play is, of course, about Tata Steel, the healthcare drama, the pollution, but also the beauty, brotherhood, and identity of the workers who are themselves the local residents. Around the performances, there is a cartoon exhibition by students about the factory, and visitors can have their own stories about Tata recorded.
In 2015, I saw the work by Van Nuyens Help on development cooperation. That was still truly “classic” socially engaged theater in which you, as an audience member, are taken along in an exposé of the pros and cons of aid to poor people far away. Interesting, but theatrically also distant. Ultimately, "Onder de Rook" is primarily a family drama against the backdrop of the debate about Tata. I suspect this will be different in the play that Anouk Nuyens still have to stage Rebekka de Wit (2024) after a year and a half of research into Tata Steel. Three months ago, they already gave a preview with the piece TATA for a company delegation, Extinction Rebellion activists, and local residents.
Climate
Completely different The Shell Case Let's talk about the Nuyens and De Wit's 2020/21 production regarding the climate debate in general, and the lawsuit against Shell in particular. Wherever you stand, the piece comes very close. The creators attended shareholder meetings, pored over Shell's speeches and interviews, and lost themselves in government policy papers... ultimately creating a piece in which ook Shell's perspective is fully realized through a roaring monologue by the CEO. As the website beautifully describes: “Skillfully, the direction side-steps judgment of individual characters. The spectator can become internally entangled in the fluid role of listener, referee, and ally.” The play won a series of awards and has since been made into a film.
Windmills
Perhaps the comedy proves that it doesn't all have to be drama WIND from Toneelgroep Jan Vos, “a turbulent comedy about the energy transition” which runs from June 17th to mid-August in Haarzuilens (Utrecht), Eelde (Drenthe), and Ambt Delden (Overijssel). Every Saturday, prior to the performance, there will be a talk show about climate change and the energy transition.
Negotiation expert William Ury often talks about the Third Side, the use and necessity of involving parties who are sidelined by conflict in dialogue. The Third Side does not have to be a party itself; art can also enable people to engage in conversation with each other. Theater seems like an art form that is particularly well-suited for this. This should make people with complicated titles like process facilitator, environmental manager, or area director think about exciting topics: instead of “which room should I book,” a better question could be, “which theater maker should I call?”.
