speeltheater show

Reviews ADIOS

26 April 2010 Regional Newspapers

Everything falls into place in poetic ‘Adios’

Acting, music, projections and masks, everything falls into place in the performance ‘Adios’ by youth theater company Het Houten Huis.

It has evolved into a beautiful, poetic performance which is sure to move not only children. ‘Adios’ tells the story of an elderly couple. He is sick, she is still healthy. In spite of their ailments, they still have a good life together. She takes good care of him, he tries to conceal his illness from her as much as possible and the couple gets a lot of enjoyment out of their little dog. But then he dies and she is left on her own. She passes through all the stages of sadness, from deep despair to nostalgic memories. In her mind, she relives the good times they had together and eventually finds the courage to pick up her life again. A story as old as the world which runs the risk of becoming sentimental. But director Elien van den Hoek, a young theater-maker who, for this performance, is coached by the experienced authority Onny Huisink of Speeltheater Holland, succeeds in presenting a carefully composed ode to love in both sound and vision. The power of this performance lies in the perfect blending of sound and vision. They support each other.

Instruments

To the right of the stage there are a great number of musical instruments and other objects which can be used to make sounds. Using these instruments and objects, the musicians Martin Franke and Raymond Gross make all the noises and sounds that are part of the performance. No tunes or songs, but a warm blanket of sounds that support the mood. Not a word is said in the entire performance. Everything is translated into sounds: the barking of the little dog, the sadness, the joy, the memories. The musicians even succeed in mimicking the sound of an old, creaky bicycle. The image would lose expressiveness without those noises. The set is an equally integral part. A simple white wall with an opening for a window, the suggestion of a house, no more than that. But on that wall, the dreams of the old man and the memories of the woman are projected in a stream of images drawn in warm colors. From time to time, a shadow of the deceased appears too. And finally, the masks the actors wear complete the suggestion of a fairy tale. They are large, somewhat grotesque, yet seemingly friendly caricatures of old age.

Van den Hoek must have wondered how to visualize on stage the death of a person. She found an elegant solution. While the man is lying in the arms of his wife, actor Michel Visser slips from under the mask. Without a mask, he reappears several times in is wife’s memories, to comfort her. An image that the children in the audience infallibly pick up. The still rather sad story is lightened up by flashes of slapstick comedy. When the man gets sick, two learned physicians appear on stage with a trolley full of inventive instruments, tubes, bottles and hub caps giving medical science a completely novel, very humorous dimension.

Sonja de Jong

Comforting performance with not a word spoken about sickness, death and swirling dreams

When actor Michel Visser steps out from behind the mask – thereby stepping out of the sickbed in which he has just portrayed a dying man, the audience undergoes a slight shock. Was that dying man being played by such a young, fresh person? With flowing, red curls? While it was a fatally ill grandpa in his pyjamas that we had been looking at for the past hours? Visser briefly glances at the sheet on which he has placed the mask he has removed. Emotional: it is as if he really does leave his lifeless body. And leave the old woman, his beloved, behind in mourning. In the wordless, musical performance Adios, for an audience aged 6 and older, the large, deeply wrinkled masks (made by Daan Bakker) strongly appeal to the imagination. Actress Inez de Bruijn wears a mask too. With her shaky movements and dressed in her woolen skirt she seems like an old crone. Even her little dog, brought to life by the actors, barking and wagging his tail, has a similar marked face.

Man, woman and dog form an elderly trio, sickness and death run through their existence. However, Adios is never heavy-handed, thanks to the happy heartbeat the German musicians Martin Franke and Raimund Gross conjure up from their manifold instruments.

The comforting, poetic Adios is a successful co-production of Speeltheater Holland, Edam and the young theater-maker Elien van den Hoek of the Houten Huis. With classic shadow theater, she brings memories to life on the wall, the woman’s melancholy thoughts and swirling dreams of her dead husband. Only the end of Adios is too abrupt. It misses a comfortably completed ending. As a loving farewell to us.

Annette Embrechts

	Reviews ADIOS 26 April 2010 Regional Newspapers Everything falls into place in poetic ‘Adios’ Acting, music, projections and masks, everything falls into place in the performance ‘Adios’ by youth theater company Het Houten Huis. It has evolved into a beautiful, poetic performance which is sure to move not only children. ‘Adios’ tells the story of an elderly couple. He is sick, she is still healthy. In spite of their ailments, they still have a good life together. She takes good care of him, he tries to conceal his illness from her as much as possible and the couple gets a lot of enjoyment out of their little dog. But then he dies and she is left on her own. She passes through all the stages of sadness, from deep despair to nostalgic memories. In her mind, she relives the good times they had together and eventually finds the courage to pick up her life again. A story as old as the world which runs the risk of becoming sentimental. But director Elien van den Hoek, a young theater-maker who, for this performance, is coached by the experienced authority Onny Huisink of Speeltheater Holland, succeeds in presenting a carefully composed ode to love in both sound and vision. The power of this performance lies in the perfect blending of sound and vision. They support each other. Instruments To the right of the stage there are a great number of musical instruments and other objects which can be used to make sounds. Using these instruments and objects, the musicians Martin Franke and Raymond Gross make all the noises and sounds that are part of the performance. No tunes or songs, but a warm blanket of sounds that support the mood. Not a word is said in the entire performance. Everything is translated into sounds: the barking of the little dog, the sadness, the joy, the memories. The musicians even succeed in mimicking the sound of an old, creaky bicycle. The image would lose expressiveness without those noises. The set is an equally integral part. A simple white wall with an opening for a window, the suggestion of a house, no more than that. But on that wall, the dreams of the old man and the memories of the woman are projected in a stream of images drawn in warm colors. From time to time, a shadow of the deceased appears too. And finally, the masks the actors wear complete the suggestion of a fairy tale. They are large, somewhat grotesque, yet seemingly friendly caricatures of old age. Van den Hoek must have wondered how to visualize on stage the death of a person. She found an elegant solution. While the man is lying in the arms of his wife, actor Michel Visser slips from under the mask. Without a mask, he reappears several times in is wife’s memories, to comfort her. An image that the children in the audience infallibly pick up. The still rather sad story is lightened up by flashes of slapstick comedy. When the man gets sick, two learned physicians appear on stage with a trolley full of inventive instruments, tubes, bottles and hub caps giving medical science a completely novel, very humorous dimension. Sonja de Jong Comforting performance with not a word spoken about sickness, death and swirling dreams When actor Michel Visser steps out from behind the mask – thereby stepping out of the sickbed in which he has just portrayed a dying man, the audience undergoes a slight shock. Was that dying man being played by such a young, fresh person? With flowing, red curls? While it was a fatally ill grandpa in his pyjamas that we had been looking at for the past hours? Visser briefly glances at the sheet on which he has placed the mask he has removed. Emotional: it is as if he really does leave his lifeless body. And leave the old woman, his beloved, behind in mourning. In the wordless, musical performance Adios, for an audience aged 6 and older, the large, deeply wrinkled masks (made by Daan Bakker) strongly appeal to the imagination. Actress Inez de Bruijn wears a mask too. With her shaky movements and dressed in her woolen skirt she seems like an old crone. Even her little dog, brought to life by the actors, barking and wagging his tail, has a similar marked face. Man, woman and dog form an elderly trio, sickness and death run through their existence. However, Adios is never heavy-handed, thanks to the happy heartbeat the German musicians Martin Franke and Raimund Gross conjure up from their manifold instruments. The comforting, poetic Adios is a successful co-production of Speeltheater Holland, Edam and the young theater-maker Elien van den Hoek of the Houten Huis. With classic shadow theater, she brings memories to life on the wall, the woman’s melancholy thoughts and swirling dreams of her dead husband. Only the end of Adios is too abrupt. It misses a comfortably completed ending. As a loving farewell to us. Annette Embrechts