Govert de Roos
Sometimes he brings the blood from under your nails, sometimes he is your greatest hero, or sometimes your feelings for him are difficult to describe: fathers. The performance Ons Vader (Our Father) is about this: fatherhood and your relationship and connection to him. A show that is personal, intimate, and inspiring for the lead actors Huub Smit and Gürkan Küçüksentürk.
Govert de Roos
At its core, the performance is about the bond between fathers and sons. Huub Smit describes: “I found it exciting to create a show around this theme. I have a complicated relationship with my father. It forced me to explore what that relationship really is.” Huub explains that the performance brought change to his relationship with his father. “I started to look at him and our relationship differently. With more compassion, less judgment.”
For Gürkan Küçüksentürk, it's a different story. He lost his father when he was 27 years old. Despite losing his father at such a young age, the relationship with his father was never really over. In his thoughts, he continues to converse with his father. “I reflect on things with him: how would he have handled this? In a way, we now have an adult relationship,” Gürkan continues, “Sometimes I fantasize about how he would have been if he were still alive.”
Huub and Gürkan are not the only ones playing a role on stage. The well-known barber from 's-Hertogenbosch, Huib Burmanje, is also part of the performance. The audience gets the chance to get a haircut from him, right in between the scenes. “Surprisingly, people were really willing to get a haircut,” Huub shares.
The choice to set the performance in a barbershop is not accidental; it was an idea from director Vincent van den Elshout. Gürkan explains this: “The barbershop is a place where fathers take their sons. A transitional moment. A place where you become a man.” Huub adds: “In the barber’s chair, people share things they wouldn’t say anywhere else.” That openness resonates in the audience. The actors are vulnerable on stage and invite the audience to share something too, but nothing is required.
Govert de Roos
Ons Vader (Our Father) also gave the actors more insight into their own fatherhood. Huub explains: “I strive to build a strong emotional bond with my children and to truly be there for them.” The performance has also had an impact on Gürkan: “The relationship with my stepson has become warmer. It’s just good, even if we don’t speak for a month.”
The performance has not only sparked something in the lead actors but also in the audience. After the show, conversations arise that otherwise would never have occurred. “A father told me that through the show he finally started talking to his son,” Huub says. “And a son mentioned that he asked his father something he had wanted to ask for years but never dared to. Now he had that conversation,” Gürkan adds. Some visitors even come back with their father or their son.
“That is the power of theater,” says Gürkan. “That you can share something together that you couldn’t share before.”
Sun 03 May
Govert de Roos