Rijswijk, Netherlands. From July 10 to 14, the Goetheanum will host its Theater Festival. The Dutch ensemble Mees en Roosje will be performing their play Girlfriends in Crisis there. An interview with the directors Saskia Mees and Rosalind Veltman.
What is the performance about?
It is the prelude and interlude to Rudolf Steiner’s first mystery drama, The Portal of Initiation. Sophia and Estella are friends. Estella wants to take Sophia to a theater performance. However, Sophia prefers to go to another, anthroposophical performance. Estella is very disappointed about the refusal and attributes it to the “strange world of ideas”, anthroposophy, to which Sophia has devoted herself completely. A conversation ensues about the sense or nonsense of the mission and task of art. The two friends do not get through to each other and regret this very much.
What themes and questions are you exploring in the ensemble?
What concerns us both is the question that Estella and Sophia are asking themselves: What should spiritual science provide for art and artists? Does art have a spiritual purpose? Or does spiritual science only limit and frustrate free artistic creation?
What influence does Rudolf Steiner’s Drama Course [Dramatischen Kurses] have on your work?
Thirty years ago, we were in Holland with Christopher Marcus and the theater company Theatre of the Word. Back then, we worked for ten years according to the Drama Course methodology. Now, we are looking back on this work and are connecting our performance to these scenes. We want to stimulate a conversation about (theater) art and anthroposophy.
More Goetheanum Theater-Festtage
Translation Charles Cross
Image Saskia Mees and Rosalind Veltman
