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Queen’s
day – Eendrachtsplein 12h00 – 14h00
It is
Queen’s day in the Netherlands, the birth date of the currents
Queen’s mother - a holiday and tax-free day, in the sense that people can
organize and sell whatever they want in the street without the need for permission. It is actually in a sense
the day of the people. I woke up pretty early, considering my Queen’s
night eve’s partying, to be out with the theatre platform in the city
around eleven. It was threatening
to rain. I cycled around for a while and was completely amazed. It was my first
Queen’s day and I had been hearing a lot about it, but never thought it
would be so extreme! There were hundreds of people putting tables, blankets and
boxes full of things from their houses, outside to sell. Hundreds more were
browsing through looking for bargains. All the main streets were closed to
traffic and on every corner there was a mobile food bar, and what’s more
an incredible festival atmosphere, even with this awful weather.
I decided
to wait a bit longer to see how the day and weather would develop. It was grey
but still dry, so at 12.00 I headed to the Binnenwegplein, to maintain a sort
of tradition. But as in an other recent tradition, I couldn’t stay there.
This time because the space was already taken by evangelists, who’d put
up a huge stage and all sort of boothes and amplification.
Instead
I went to the Eendrachtsplein, put the structure up, and let the show begin. I
was already wondering, if people would take on a totally different behaviour
because of the festive mood and since this is also a day where everything is
done in exchange for a small coin and that maybe the platform could be read
this platform as just another means to make a bit of money. The weather of
course didn’t help much either, considering that after not even 10
minutes, a thunderstorm felled on
the city. It rained heavily for half an hour, and kept on dripping for almost a
whole one.
I
just placed the boxed against a shop window, covering it from the rain and
waited. Even there, people were aware of the structure and looked curious,
obviously because of the characters portrayed: Saddam, Bush, Blair and
Balkende. So a lot of smiles and
comments. Peter showed up to see how things were doing and around 1PM it was
dry again, so I placed the platform back in the middle of the square. Then more
people reacted: stopping and touching the puppets; giggling, talking about the
theatre while walking away. But today on the Queen’s day, the most
participatory day of all days, a day to reclaim the streets, nobody played. I was expecting a lot more from the
passers-by but also from the whole event, it was crowded but not so intensely
lived out. I guess the rain was completely against us today. But I wasn’t
disappointed to realise that people use the platform opportunity more actively
on regular days.
In the
meantime - leaving the structure a little bit by itself since I regained the
confidence to do so, I visited two
friends that were close by with a kissing booth, exchanging kisses for 1 Euro
and taking pictures with the participants (also not so many because of the
rain!). I decided then to re-locate the structure next to them, so we could
support each other. So I ran back with Peter, and we carried it to the next
street, Westersingel. We received
a lot of attention and played with the passersby around both structures. For
sure there was a lot of talking about both but the rain kept coming and it
became again too much to endure.
I was proud
though, to be a Rotterdamer today: wiht what we managed to put outside and
despite this terrible weather particularly for street events, the masses of
people who joined. This is also
something that I strive for with my work: participation and spontaneous action
- that we could make everyday a little bit more like Queen’s day. Not of
course the appearance or the festivity only, but the willingness off us to be
an actors: finding new economic systems, different ways of communicating and
behaving in public space.
At 14.00 I
closed this box, that could have been in its natural environment if it
wasn’t for the weather, the necessity of having a clear area around it,
and to be left alone, rather than not under some improvised tent. Today the
theatre had company ridding back to its headquarters, the kissing booth. Both
ended the day, stationed in my studio and the stage directors went to mingle in
the crowd.