Lost father (Theatre After the Dam)
During Theatre After the Dam, more than eighty performances that relate to the Second World War will be played simultaneously. Especially for this event, Belgian author, playwrighter and performer Tom Lanoye has written a new piece, titled Verloren vader (Lost father), about a former warrior who is suffering from dementia and becoming less and less certain of his memories of the war.
Rabozaal
21.00
Duration: 1 hour
Dutch spoken
Verloren vader
Every year, Theatre After the Dam commissions a playwright to produce a new theatre text about the Second World War. Previous writers include Rik van den Bos, Rebekka de Wit and, for the most recent edition, Arnon Grunberg. This year, the Belgian writer Tom Lanoye will write a new text for Theater Na de Dam, about a military veteran who, due to his progressive dementia, is becoming less and less certain of his memories of the Second World War. What really happened, and what exactly was his role again?
This text, titled Verloren vader (Lost father), will on 4 May at 21.00 be read aloud all over the country by various companies and theatre groups.
Tom Lanoye
Tom Lanoye (1958) lives and works in Antwerp (Belgium) and Cape Town (South Africa). He is a novelist, poet, columnist, screenwriter and theatre author. He is one of the most read and acclaimed authors of our language area and a familiar presence at all major European theatre festivals. His great Shakespeare adaptation from 1997, Ten oorlog (Off to war), was crowned number one in the Dutch-language theatre canon by theatre visitors, actors and directors in 2015.
Theatre After the Dam (Theater Na de Dam)
On the evening of the National Commemoration of the Dead on 4th May at 9 pm, theatre makers and artists throughout the Netherlands are committed to providing extra significance to this day. During the ninth edition of Theatre After the Dam, more than eighty performances will take place simultaneously, each in their own way related to the Second World War. This theatre tradition is unique in the world and is supported in part by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam.
Theater After the Dam is an initiative by producers and philosophers Jaïr Stranders and Bo Tarenskeen, who also look after the programming. In 2010, they were worried about the diminishing eloquence of the National Commemoration of the Dead. Not only is the Second World War becoming increasingly distant to the current generations, the character of the commemoration has become so general and abstract that the significance of that time and the associated reflection on ourselves are threatening to disappear.
Theatre is uniquely suited as a place where questions and thoughts about history, war and freedom can come alive, and be concrete and personal. The presentation of appropriate stage texts after the Commemoration of the Dead was a well-established practice in the sixties. Theater Na de Dam picks up this tradition and continues it on a larger scale. That the need for a more in-depth focus is shared is all too clear: what started in 2010 in seven theatres around Dam Square in Amsterdam has now grown into a national phenomenon and a new, widely supported theatre tradition that is unique in the world.
Tom Lanoye
Tom Lanoye (1958) lives and works in Antwerp (Belgium) and Cape Town (South Africa). He is a novelist, poet, columnist, screenwriter and theatre author. He is one of the most read and acclaimed authors of our language area and a familiar presence at all major European theatre festivals. His great Shakespeare adaptation from 1997, Ten oorlog (Off to war), was crowned number one in the Dutch-language theatre canon by theatre visitors, actors and directors in 2015.
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Theatre After the Dam
On the evening of the National Commemoration of the Dead on 4th May at 9 pm, theatre makers and artists throughout the Netherlands are committed to providing extra significance to this day. During the ninth edition of Theatre After the Dam, more than eighty performances will take place simultaneously, each in their own way related to the Second World War. This theatre tradition is unique in the world and is supported in part by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam.
Theater After the Dam is an initiative by producers and philosophers Jaïr Stranders and Bo Tarenskeen, who also look after the programming. In 2010, they were worried about the diminishing eloquence of the National Commemoration of the Dead. Not only is the Second World War becoming increasingly distant to the current generations, the character of the commemoration has become so general and abstract that the significance of that time and the associated reflection on ourselves are threatening to disappear.
Theatre is uniquely suited as a place where questions and thoughts about history, war and freedom can come alive, and be concrete and personal. The presentation of appropriate stage texts after the Commemoration of the Dead was a well-established practice in the sixties. Theater Na de Dam picks up this tradition and continues it on a larger scale. That the need for a more in-depth focus is shared is all too clear: what started in 2010 in seven theatres around Dam Square in Amsterdam has now grown into a national phenomenon and a new, widely supported theatre tradition that is unique in the world.
