The Laws
Who are you without someone else? In The Laws, based on the novel by Connie Palmen, director Eline Arbo takes you on the journey of a woman in search of herself. Set in Amsterdam in the 1980s, we meet Marie, a young philosophy student yearning for knowledge and a meaningful life. Over the course of seven years, we follow her through seven encounters that shape her life and personality.
Location in ITA and on tour through the Netherlands
Duration 135 minutes
Genre Theatre
Language Dutch
Surtitles English, Thu, Oct 9, 16 & 23
In Conversation Fri 10, 17 & 24 Oct
The Laws
In The Laws, we witness Marie's meetings with seven pivotal figures during her formative years: the astrologer, the epileptic, the philosopher, the priest, the physicist, the artist, and the psychiatrist. Through these encounters, she discovers different ways of looking at humanity and identity. We see her growing into the role of a writer in a striking and profound way, finding meaning in her life both because of and despite these encounters.
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Within a year of its release, over 400,000 copies of Connie Palmen’s debut novel The Laws were sold. Now, thirty years later, it has become a modern classic.
Connie Palmen on The Laws
“I am a great admirer of Eline Arbo's transformative and personal work. She has shown me, with every performance of a novel, novel character, or writer, something I had not understood about the book or seen in that writer myself. So I am handing over my novel The Laws and myself to her imagination in complete confidence, and I am extremely curious to see what she shows me.”
Photo: Fjodor Buis
Eline Arbo on The Laws
“When I first read The Laws, it was like reading about my own life: the search for your own voice, your artistry and who you are in relation to others. It is an unforgettable exploration of being human, in the perfect balance between universal and personal. I am honoured to bring this absolute masterpiece by Connie Palmen to the stage.”
Connie Palmen
Connie Palmen (b. 1955) is one of the Netherlands' most celebrated authors. In 1991, she debuted with The Laws, a coming-of-age novel about a young woman who charges into the world and ultimately finds her true calling in the solitude of writing. Over 400,000 copies were sold within a year.
With her autobiographical novels The Friendship, I.M., All Yours, Lucifer, and Your Story, My Story, she achieved international success and built a large, loyal readership. Her essays were collected in 2017 under the title The Drama of Dependency
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Palmen challenges the idea that a person is a purely independent 'self' with a fixed, intrinsic meaning. According to her, we can only understand ourselves through others, and we gain meaning through the stories told about us. This brings a certain dependency, which she seeks to explore and understand through her work. By creating fiction, she gives shape to this dependency and tries to grasp how stories determine our identity.
Reviews
Trouw
“A grand and compelling theatrical translation of the classic.”
Theaterkrant
“Eline Arbo and the ITA Ensemble devotedly and dynamically portray the pain of thinking that leads to loneliness.”
Het Parool
“Eline Arbo adapts 'De wetten', Connie Palmen's debut, into a clever performance.”
DIGITAL BROCHURE
Read more about the production's author, direction, music, scenography and costumes in our digital brochure.
Eline Arbo is Artistic Director at ITA since September 2023. From 2022 she was already linked to ITA as Associate Artistic Director. From January 2023, Arbo was appointed Ibsen Artist in Residence, an initiative of the Philip Loubser Foundation, which gives directors with an international ambition the opportunity to develop themselves artistically.
In season 24|25, she will create Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin) and The Wall (Marlen Haushofer); re-make The End of Eddy (Édouard Louis) and The Years (Annie Ernaux), which she previously directed elsewhere; and her stagings of The Laws (Connie Palmen), Prima Facie (Suzie Miller), Penthesilea (Heinrich von Kleist) and The Hours (Michael Cunningham) will be reprised.
Credits
by Connie Palmen
directed by Eline Arbo
composition Thijs van Vuure
adaptation Eline Arbo and Peter Van Kraaij
dramaturgy Peter Van Kraaij
scenography Roel Van Berckelaer
light design Varja Klosse
costumes Wojciech Dziedzic
sound design Dennis Slot
assistant director Zorba Huisman
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private producer Jeroen van Ingen & Jaap Kooijman, Esther Kwaks and Anna Wouters, Bertil van Kaam, Hendrik Jan ten Have & Gabriella de Rooij
this production is supported by the Philip Loubser Foundation within Eline Arbo's Ibsen Artist in Residency
supported by Ammodo
Based on The Laws by Connie Palmen published by Prometheus Publishers
