Today I had to pay a visit to Amsterdam. Yes, had to.
I needed some books (play texts) from the Theatre Institute and that is based in Amsterdam, so I had no choice but to go there. No, I don’t really hate the city, I just don’t find it very appealing. So I got there at 1:10 pm and I took the train back at 2:07 pm. It’s a 15 minute walk to the institute, and I knew exactly which books to get, so it was done very quickly. It was pretty cold outside, the wind especially. The city is not Christmas proof yet, that will start next week I think, after Sinterklaas. There were already some lights though and as it was a bit grey because of rainy weather, it already looked very cosy. I love all the lights with Christmas.
Out of the 16 plays I have to analyse, I already had 11 of the texts. I gathered those during the years of my study. I had to copy a lot of texts, buying the book would probably have been cheaper haha. Not to mention the time it costs to copy!! 4 of the 16 plays had to have some kind of theme or something else that ‘bonds’ them. After thinking about it for a long time, I eventually came up with absurdism. 2 of the 4 plays I chose for that probably won’t mean a thing to anyone, so I’ll just mention the other two. One is from Samuel Beckett, “Waiting for Godot”. A couple of years back I saw it on stage, with my dad and brother I believe. The two main characters were played by tow very famous Dutch mime players, so that was very interesting to actually see and hear them talk. It’s going to be a challenge to analyse the text I think, it’s quite difficult. The other play that might ring a bell is from Eugène Ionesco, “The Bald Soprano”. I’ve never seen or read it before, but a long long time ago in high school we had to read another play by him for my French class, namely “Rhinoceros”. For the life of my I can’t tell you what it was about, except that the citizens all transformed into rhinoceros(es). We were 16 when we had to read it, in French, and we didn’t understand a thing of it, that is what I do remember. So I’m curious to find out how this will go.
To be continued…
