Salient

Theatre News

By Eleanor Bishop | 14 May, 2007

Almost A Bird Theatre Collective heads to The Netherlands to perform at the International Arts Festival Oerol

In May 2007 a cast and crew of six Kiwi actors (Dan Musgrove, Sophie Roberts, Colleen Davis, Matt Whelan, Stephen Townshend, James Conway Law), a Kiwi designer (Erin McNamara) and a Dutch director (Willem Wassenaar) are off to The Netherlands to rehearse and perform their production of Antigone at the International Arts Festival Oerol.

Terschellings Oerol Festival is an annual location-specific theatre festival held on the Dutch island Terschelling in mid-June. Location-specific theatre, theatre in barns, sheds and on the streets, modern dance, opera, visual art, music and the various cross-overs are the ingredients of a festival that uses the whole island as its stage. Beaches, woods, dunes and older landscape eminently function as both stage scene and setting. Over the past 25 years, the festival has grown from a small-scale street festival into an internationally recognised, multi-disciplinary festival.

Based on Sophocles and Anouilh, Antigone tells the story of a young girl who fights against the law and order of her uncle, the King Creon. For the festival Oerol, the company will use land and sea to showcase this epic tale of human politics, primal forces, civilisation, gods, resistance and rebellion.

Director Willem Wassenaar originally comes from The Netherlands, where he studied and worked as an actor, director and acting tutor.

His talent and passion for his craft has seen him invited to create Antigone for this international event only a few months out of the Master of Theatre Arts in Directing at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School and Victoria University of Wellington. “This is a big thing. I have been to the festival a few times myself. It’s basically a 10 day outdoors extravaganza of some of the most innovative and creative European artists. Now and then I have to pinch myself to believe that it is actually happening; to be going to my home country with this talented group of people and stage there a piece of work at this festival.”