About the author
Sometimes I think I was born too late. I would’ve loved to live in the hippie age; wearing flared jeans, protest with a guitar and blow ideals into the world. I’d travel down to San Francisco to experience a summer of love and then go back to Amsterdam to lie in bed with Yoko Ono. Unfortunately I would never meet my historical heroes in real life, but the play They are Just Kids by Toneelgroep Oostpool can let me dream away. Writer Roeland Hofman tells me more about it.
Teaser They are just kids – 2 t/m 20 september 2014 from Toneelgroep Oostpool on Vimeo.
The story is about the artist Robert Mapplethorpe and the singer Patti Smith; who were they?
“Robert and Patti were two youngsters building their lives in New York during the roaring Seventies. Robert became famous with his unorthodox photography and Patti became a frontrunner in punk music. Despite their differences they had an intense friendship and even a relationship. They lived together for a while, searching for themselves through alcohol, music, art and drugs. Doubting the world and their sexuality. In 1989 Robert dies of AIDS, and Patti decides to immortalize their story in a book called Just Kids, our inspiration for the play.”
I’m not the only one who’s fascinated by this period, a lot of people my age listen to Jimi Hendrix and ‘act as hippies’. Why is that?
“Hmm let me think. I would say this period means something magical and mystical to a lot of people. This young subculture in New York created a strange world where everything was possible. They slept in and out of the Chelsea Hotel, where they could pay with a painting when they ran out of dollars. It was a wild and free time. Nowadays things are definitely more regulated than then.”
Robert dies of AIDS, Hendrix dies of too many sleeping pills and they were not the only ones who died young. Does it always end badly in these kids of stories?
“When you choose to live strong, you have to deal with the consequences. The way Robert and Patti gulped up life sometimes makes me think of two kamikaze pilots. A heavy life goes hand in hand with a heavy end.”
Just Kids is the second of the three theatre pieces with young inspiring people in the lead. What will the third one be about?
“About the Beat Generation, the ones from the book and movie On the Road.”
But first leave Amsterdam for once and go see the play in Arnhem. I think mysterious times need their retell; this is one I won’t forget.
They are Just Kids from Toneelgroep Oostpool
Who: Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen, Judith van den Berg en Ludwig Bindervoet.
When: September 6 to September 20
Where: Huis Oostpool, Nieuwstraat 58, Arnhem
Tickets: Between €7,50 and €19,-
Online: Website Toneelgroep Oostpool
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