Opinion: What makes up the link between a city and a theatre group?

 

I was very enthusiastic about being the assistant of Alize Zandwijk, another personal favourite and known for her social plays that are often related with current issues in societal debates. My surprise was big when I found out that, besides a few employees of the pr and educational department, virtually no one of the core members of the group was living in city they proclaimed to be the ensemble of.

Alize, the artistic director since 2006, lived for many good years in Belgium and has been an active commutor for just as long.

When we look at the staff actors, 32 in total,  we see that only six of them actually live in Rotterdam. Perhaps I’m a little traditionally minded, but I wondered, what made this theatregroup, the city’s theatre group, beside its name?

When art is seen by an audience, the enjoyment never comes solely from an aesthetic experience. It has always been about trying to grasp the meaning of the work. There has been a shifting in focus of the audience enjoying art. In the past few decades it seems that the audience focus has moved more from enjoyment to understanding. Too often the audience looks at the ‘person behind the work’ to understand a certain piece. This goes for all types of arts. Masses perversely enjoy the behind-the-scene stories and photography of paparazzi and tabloids. The first question a writer is asked when his book publishes, is how much of it is autobiographical.

It is basic human instinct trying to explain the world around oneself. By knowing the artist, the audience feels as though they’re closer to his/her art and somehow understand the work better, the experience becomes a more fulfilling experience. It makes art become personal. A savouring experience.

 

When artists are asked why they make art, an often heard answer is that their work is a way of life, they simply couldn’t live in any other fashion. Perhaps it is a bold statement, but I believe that ever since we stopped being part of a religious congregation and have become less involved in social grouping, individuals have merged their identity with every article of consumption they use. From their toothpaste to what shoes they wear: all of them have become indications of who they truly are. It is safe to say that art has become part of identity. Following the work of a certain artist can give as much identity to an audience as wearing the latest Nike shoe.

Artists remain the modern day sorcerers. People are enchanted by their work, but have little clue how they do it, that is why the personal link between artist and audience is so important. Living alongside artists ‘sparks’ the imagination and brings magic a little closer to everyday life. For that, the artist doesn’t have to do much, besides doing its groceries and saying hi to his/her neighbours.

 

Theatre groups are often reproached on being institutions that are too far away from peoples minds. Audience numbers drop, because people favour musicalshows and comedians. Because the audience feel as though they ‘know’ the famous person on stage personally by seeing them on television, tabloids or movies, it can make all the difference between choosing to buy a ticket to one show instead of the other. Stage-actors are a different line of breed and are often unknown to the masses. The RO theatre tries to engage a returning audience by hosting a two-monthly talkshow with musicians, artists and peculiar figures from the city. A bright idea, but how much of the creative staff mingles with the audience during such a talkshow? The spotlight is on local artists and not per se on the RO itself. From personal experience, I can safely say that the staff remains in the shadows of their own comfortzone and have a minimal amount of contact with the audience at such talkshows.

 

In a global world, art is becoming increasingly globalistic and there is a new rise of ‘internationally oriented’ groups that live in different places across the globe, like the French/Belgian Needcompany or the Dutch Omsk, that is stationed for half of the year in Africa.

It is valid to claim that artistic quality and vision should have top priority, when choosing the staff for a city’s theatre group instead of place of residence. I’m not pleading for a nationalistic sort of theatre, where only trueblooded in upbringing are allowed to have a say. Bringing in an outsider of a certain city or society as a new director can prove to be very refreshing. The viewpoint of an outsider is often an eyeopener to the ones that have lived at a certain place for long. But it seems to me, the appointed outsider should be living in the city he/she works in to accurately comment on the tides that are going on within it.

 

Rotterdam is the home of a few true iconic artists. Actors Loes Luca and Jack Wouterse have become personal guideposts of their work. When they enter a bar to have a drink, they, like politicians, bring their work along with them and people are instantly reminded that theatre, literature and movies exist.

Since theatre groups have started striving for more economic and commercial success with their plays, they took up modern ways of gaining publicity: video-teasers, playing an active role in online social platforms and other playful ways of drawing the attention to their upcoming play. Of course a selfrespecting theatre group cannot do without the ‘classic’ means of publicity such as flyering, postering and mailinglists. In all these publicitary means they centre one aspect of the play, namely the actors of director making the play. They are making themselves literally ‘the face’ of a theatre group. So why is this face absent in the urban streetview?

 

If you ask inhabitants of Rotterdam why they’re proud of where they live, it can be expected to hear a standard list of characteristics that involves soccerclubs, certain bars, architectural prides and festivities. Rarely the city’s theatre group comes up as part of an urban identity. This is partly due to architectural placing, the place theatre has taken up in a national/local history, but also how far the theatre group is emotionally placed from the general involvement of the audience. When their icons would walk the streets, it would only be a few steps more for an audience to enter the theatre.