Can you introduce yourself? Well, I am Bas van de Ven. I am 30 years old and I am a theater maker (kleinkunstenaar & director). I did SUMMA Artiest in Eindhoven, then cabaret training at the Koningstheateracademie in Den Bosch and also the Regieopleiding in Amsterdam. I am a director with Dolfijn met Benen, a theater group with which I create youth theater for adults. I also have my own musical theater group, called HEERSBEEST, and I also make cabaret performances myself. What I make and in what role is very diverse, but one recurring factor is music. In fact, music is always central to everything I make.
What are your biggest motivations? When I started acting as an 11-year-old child, theater felt like a door to another universe. A place where everything that complicated daily life could be transformed into something beautiful or funny. I always had a little trouble learning, was a little slower than the other kids and seemed to need help with everything. When I was playing all those worries fell away. Since then, that is what I try to do: I try to translate the difficult, complicated things and thoughts in life into something clean in all its imperfection.
Who or what inspires you in your work? I love cinematic jazz music like that of Tonbruket, dreamy songs by Roosbeef, I love very imaginative and challenging children's performances like the location performance Molman by Schippers and Van Gucht, I love spherical and imaginative paintings by Jonas Burgert, total theater like Fellini by the Noord Nederlands Toneel, but most of all I love artists who are completely stubborn and dare to give themselves completely in all their power and powerlessness.
How can you best describe your style? Chaotic, melancholic, touching, alienating, imperfect, close to the skin of the audience, sometimes slow, sometimes lightning fast, spherical, sincere, searching, idiosyncratic. Sometimes very moving, sometimes very hilarious, sometimes both. It's often a bit experimental, and deals with big themes. But with every description of my style, I think back to things I've made that don't fit into that category.
What is your ambition? I’m a bit of a scatterbrain, so my ambitions change every day. Right now, I’d love to have my own building in Eindhoven where I can create and direct my own productions. But I also want my own band, I want my own theater company, I want to write comic books and children’s books, I want to make documentaries about artists, and I want to create Ro-theater-style productions. I want, I want, I want. Ultimately, I want to have past event able to explore my artistry in its full breadth and, above all, to have inspired other creators to unconditionally follow their own unique path, with all its contradictions. I also check myself becoming a funeral director someday.
What role does the Parktheater play in realizing this ambition? At the Parktheater I am guided in the development of Dolfijn met Benen. We were able to play our performance for employees of the Parktheater a because of that we can now play at the Children's Theater Week. We also get the opportunity to receive guidance from professional youth theater makers in perfecting the performance and outlining a future plan for the group.
What can visitors expect from your work? We will be touring next season with the performance The Story of Princess Reutemeteut and the Irrepressible Wirwar. This is a raunchy, inimitable ADHD performance in which Suus, our actress, plays an absurd fairy tale with catchy songs in which she takes on all the roles on her own. It's sassy, relatable and moving. The form is a bit childish because it's about princesses, queens, lackeys and mess monsters, but the show is especially fun for adults. Children provoke.
Want to know more about Bas' work?
Follow his theater collective on Instagram.
