From a wish to share theatre anchored in reality with people who are so often distanced from it, director Johan Simons, along with percussionist Paul Koek, established the Dutch company Theatergroep Hollandia in 1985. In 2001, it became the ZT Hollandia. On farms, in disused factories, football stadia or car dumps, the ensemble of a dozen actors has forged a direct, critical and musical form of stagecraft. Their productions are based on either classical tragedies or contemporary texts and have made a place for themselves not only in The Netherlands but all over northern Europe.
The Fall of the Gods
In 1933, Baron Joachim von Essenbeck, head of a rich steel-manufacturing family in the Ruhr, celebrates his birthday with his relatives, at the same time the Nazis rush to the burnt out Reichstag. On the ashes of an old world, a brotherhood is rent, falls to pieces and gives rein to the most vile instincts that are condoned by the rise of a desire for total domination. This play is a macabre dance, to music composed by Heiner Goebbels and arranged by Paul Koek, where the taut strings and percussion resonate with the heavy sound of boots and internal torment,and humanity, that is plunged into such dark times, transgresses all the boundaries and is lost in the murder of the father and in Oedipian incest. Adapted from Luchino Visconti's bewitching film, The Damned (1969), The Fall of the Gods, follows the main storyline. A fanatical member of Himmler's SS, Aschenbach, convinces Friedrich Bruckmann, director of the steelworks and lover of the Baroness Sophie, to place Hitler in power. The killer of Baron von Essenbeck, Bruckmann obtains full control of the steelworks from the hands of the young heir, Martin, the neurotic son of Sophie, who is a modern-day Lady Macbeth. Europe's swing to facism encloses the family circle. Slipping off one vest, putting on another: the nine actors and three musicians in the ZT Hollandia company play all the characters in this ascension of perversity staged in the form of a perfectly synchronised ballet.
Distribution
after the script of The Damed by : Nicola Badalucco, Enrico Medioli et Luchino Visconti
direction : Johan Simons and Paul Koek / ZT Hollandia
cast : Elsie de Brauw, Gonny Gakeer, Aus Greidanus jr., Loes Haverkort, Fedja van Huêt, Hannah van Lunteren, Peter Paul Muller, Sanne van Rijn, Jeroen Willems
adaptation : Tom Blokdijk
music and composition : Heiner Goebbels, Paul Koek, Ton van der Meer, Frances-Marie Uitti
scenography : Paul Beuk, Leo de Nijs, Ronald Roffel
costumes : Dorine van Ijsseldijk, Joke Sommen, Jolanda van de Ven
sound : Will-Jan Pielage
lighting : Ate-Jan van Kampen
assistant director : Petra van Huffel
Production
production : ZT Hollandia
avec le soutien : de l'Onda pour les surtitres