Can you introduce yourself? I am Xandry van den Besselaar (1989) and I am a writer, theater and audio maker. I studied Theater- Film- and Television Sciences at the University of Utrecht and the Dual Master Dramaturgy at the University of Amsterdam. I then moved to Belgium, where I graduated from the Word Art program at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp in 2018. Since then I have past event working as a multidisciplinary artist, combining different art disciplines such as writing, audio and theater in my work, and in recent years I have made podcasts, audiovisual installations and performances.
What are your biggest motivations? My work is often about people who are "on the margins of society. They are people who, in one form or another, face social exclusion. For example, during my studies I made the audio documentary The rain that falls upwards (2016) about a good friend and then roommate Willem, who ended up in psychosis after drug use. For my first performance Project Donald, which I made with Anna Dupon, we interviewed a man in a wheelchair who uses sex care and a woman in collective debt mediation (similar to debt settlement in the Netherlands) who became increasingly distressed during the corona crisis. These people, with their stories, formed the basis of the performance. I find it unfortunate that these stories and perspectives are often given too little or even no play. It is precisely the diversity of stories and perspectives that interests me. Perhaps that is my greatest motivation: to give a play to stories that are little or not heard.
Who or what inspires you in your work? It could be anything: the book on my nightstand, the podcast I listen to on the train, the performance that leaves me confused or the series I watch in bed. But equally the neighbor kid playing soccer in the street, a conversation I catch in a café, a walk with a good friend in the woods or a nice meal with people I love. Years ago I was an intern at the then Toneelgroep Amsterdam, dramaturg Peter van Kraaij said in a conversation, "art should drive a wedge into the indifference of the other. I have always remembered that sentence. Art has to drive a wedge into the indifference of the other and yourself. As an artist you have to be both receptive and generous at the same time.
How can you best describe your style? I find it difficult to answer this question about my own work. Perhaps it is up to others to check a line in it? I think as an artist it is especially important to keep questioning yourself about why you are telling the story you are telling. As long as I know the answer to that, it's good.
What is your ambition? In my work, I always try to let the form follow the content. I also try to have that attitude in the work itself: I don't want to throw out a line of where I should or want to be in five years. I hope that I make work that matters, that I use it to move, surprise, confuse, anger, sadden or, on the contrary, make people happy. Or maybe I will: I recently read a children's book that I stumbled upon by chance in Antiquariaat Colette & Co in The Hague. The story does not let me go: it is diep human and at the same time burningly topical. I hope to adapt it into a children's performance within a few years.
What role does the Parktheater play in realizing this ambition? A talent development program like thinX is very important for young creators. When you graduate from drama school or start in the field, it is often years of balancing artistic work and combining various side jobs to make ends meet financially. This requires a lot of energy. As a result, it is sometimes difficult to keep challenging yourself artistically. Having a professional staff of technicians, dramaturges, publicity workers and people who support you professionally is a great gift. Talking to other young makers who are taking the same steps can also be very nice: you form each other's sounding board and support each other.
What can visitors expect from your work? Since the end of 2022, I have past event working as a director at Carte Blanche, an Eindhoven-based theater company for people with and without disabilities. Under the wings of Carte Blanche, I am creating my first performance within talent development project thinX. On October 7 and 8, 2023, Maar niemand kuste mij plays in Pand P. This audio performance is about the question of why we label people as 'normal' and 'abnormal' and what happens when we let go of this distinction. In But no one kissed me, visitors can expect a confrontation: we ask them how they look at each other, what they check and what they think of that. It is an aural performance in which the prevailing norm about what is normal is questioned, and in which the distinction between the audience and the actors may well become blurred.
I am also working, together with actor Johnny Mirer, on the theatrical audio installation With Me, about mourning and loss. In With Me, a woman calls her lover's answering machine one last time: to hear his voice one last time. She talks about daily life without him. The poetic monologue forms a portrait of a woman who must say goodbye to her loved one due to his sudden death. The audience can expect a search for solace and perspective in deep despair. A quest to calibrate back into a world that just doesn't seem to fit.
Want to know more about Xandry and her work?
Follow her on the Parktheater website or on Instagram.
