Fresh Young Gods delivers another installment of the hyperreal

Dec 4, 2015 | by Senne Vercouteren | Art, Event

About the author

Having lived in London to study theater producing, Senne now selects the tastiest performances across Amsterdam and serves up the fine theatrical dishes this city has to offer.

We’re in a hotel room in Dubai, and despite the distance traveled since part one (De Onrendabelen, see review here) we are where we left off. Now, two Shell bigwigs (Bram Suijker and Ludwig Bindervoet) and an envoy from the European Central Bank (a suitably nervous Rick Paul van Mulligen) are engaged in an outrageous, coke-fueled party with Turkish president Erdogan’s daughter (Gonca Karasu) and a distraught internet entrepreneur (Bram Coopmans – based on Kim Dotcom). A CIA agent (Mariana Aparicio Torres) is also present. A callgirl (Whitney Sawyer) completes the set.

… a powerful piece of theater…

All hell breaks loose in the morning: the markets are about to collapse due to a scandalous picture of the businessmen put online the night before. What happens next is a whirlwind of fear and imminent economic disaster, covering every continent. The point is: everything is dependent on everything else, and sacrifices need to be made in order to maintain the status quo.

Over the stage hangs a large video screen, on which we see interludes where the characters on stage talk about the events in hindsight, documentary-style. The bewildered executive is a clean-shaven gentleman again while laughing off allegations; the CIA agent chooses her words carefully and looks meticulous. It suggests hypocrisy but never explicitly; the tales are recounted from various perspectives, never factually untrue but always skewed – as in real life.

The acting is strong, especially Bram Suijker once again proves he is worth his weight in gold – let’s not lose him to television. All in all, Fresh Young Gods is a powerful piece of theater, although I have a natural inclination to dislike too much action happening outside real time, as is the case with the many video segments.

Because the words at the end of the play echo those of the terrorists in the Paris attacks, an after-show talk was organized. It shows, albeit in bitter irony, just how close Oostpool maneuvers to reality.