Ten years of wayward intercultural theatre

The story of Rast

It‟s the summer of 2010. Twelve-year-old Ibtissam is sitting on a fold-out table in an
old fashioned caravan. In front of her is a fish bowl and in her hands she has a black-
haired Barbie-doll. When five spectators have entered the tiny caravan, Ibtissam
starts speaking, her voice soft, slightly muffled as if she had just awoken from a
dream:

I often dream that I cry.

Not that I feel sad then.
It´s crying without feeling.
A very strange empty kind of crying.
And I´m unable to stop it.
(…)
There are puddles in the room now.
The puddles grow and grow.
I keep on wrinkling.
And I keep on crying.
The water level in the room rises.
The goldfish in the bowl can swim over the edge now.
My wrinkles turn into gills.
And scales.
I swim out of the room.
Following the goldfish.

This monologue by young Ibtissam is the opening of the new production Wall to wall
by Jong Rast (Young Rast) as it was performed at the Amsterdam Sloterplas festival.
Ibtissam is the youngest performer in the production group of Jong Rast. When Rast
was founded ten years ago, she was still in diapers. But her play is already suited for
the Rast tradition. This is to say that wall to wall derives its theme from today‟s
intercultural city, that own experience is turned into high quality lines through
improvisation, through the filter of an author, thus creating layers of realistic, analytic
and poetic language.
This story is about Rast, but it had to start with this monologue by twelve-year-old
Ibtissam from New West Amsterdam because history is only interesting when it holds
a future. It also had to start like this because it provoked confusion. What does this
piece of youth theatre have to do with the Turkish-Kurdish theatre group which
started ten years ago under the name Rast, a name which refers to, among others,
the Kurdish word for happiness, to “rest”, to a scale (makam) in Turkish music and
once represented “Rebelse Aanzwellende Stormvloed”(rebellious urging storm), the
source of inspiration for a young generation of Turkish theatre performers?i
The answer to this long question is a story which starts at the end of the seventies of
the previous century and takes us along political developments, changing visions on
art and minorities and allows us to meet stubborn creators who have been doing
what‟s in their heads for a very long time. Let‟s just simply tell the story, the story of
Rast.

Pre-time
Toward the end of the seventies, early eighties the foundations were made for a
group such as Rast to grow. By then, the first Turkish spoken performances took
place in the Netherlands.ii The leftist Turkse Arbeiders Vereniging in Nederland
(HTIB, Turkish Workers’ Society Netherlands) set up the theatre group El Kapisi, later
continued as Öngören Theatre. This amateur group was noticed by the Ministry of
Education, Culture and Science because they performed in theatres such as De
Engelenbak and De Balie. In line with the spirit of the times the Werkgroep
Cultuuruitingen Buitenlandse Werknemers (Working group Cultural Expressions of
Migrant Workers) wanted to stimulate minority culture. Against this background black,
American director Rufus Collins had been invited to the Netherlands to train theatre
makers of Caribbean origin mainly. Early 1982 the Ministry made money available to
set up theatre project STIPT (Foundation of Intercultural Theatre groups) for Turkish
theatre makers in order to “stimulate Turkish (amateur) theatre in the Netherlands ”
by creating (intermediate) professionals trained in arts.
The course was given by Vasıf Öngören and Meral Taygun. Nine students got their
diploma‟s in may 1984 and four of them moved on to regular training. Şaban Ol, who
later would be one of the founders of Rast, was one of them. At nineteen, he saw an
advertisement in the Turkish newspaper Milliyet, seeking young Turkish wanting to
do theatre training. Having been in the Netherlands for only two years he didn‟t speak
the language very well, still he enrolled and two years later he was ready to move on
to the regular director‟s training. In doing that, Vasıf Öngören not only became the
founding father of professional Turkish theatre in the Netherlands, but also one of the
stepping stones to the foundation of Rast. iii
In hindsight Şaban Ol sees major differences between Rufus Collins‟ training for
future theatre makers of Caribbean origin like Maarten van Hinte (Made in the Shade,
MC) and Vasif Öngörens approach. Ol: “Vasıf said: we happened to be of Turkish
origin but we have to participate in Dutch society, whereas Rufus pleaded for keeping
your own identity without participating within the existing institutions”. Looking back,
Ol agrees with Rufus‟vision more. Ol now: “we were supposed to find our way
through integration, but the opposite has happened. In hindsight I totally agree with
Rufus. First, we have to create our own world, and only then can we adjust.”iv

Brake
But the road was long. There are sixteen years between 1984 and 2000, the period
during which Şaban Ol and Celil Toksöz are in training and start working. After his
director‟s training in 1989 Şaban Ol takes his projects to Stichting Loods, later theatre
group Close Up. One of his best known productions of this period is Kakkerlakken
(Cockroaches) in collaboration with Theatre group Ceremonia, his first international
project with Belgium and Turkey. Celil Toksöz, born in Kurdish Diyarbakır, came to
the Netherlands in 1986 as a refugee, he took the teacher‟s training of the Theatre
school and set up Tiyatro Kina in 1994. One of the productions of that time, Open
Huwelijk (The Open Couple) by Dario Fo was performed 200 times, also in France,
Germany and Turkey.
Both of them are subsidised occasionally for their theatre projects and perform in all
kinds of theatres, ranging from de Engelenbak to the small hall of the
Stadsschouwburg (The city theatre) but also for Turkish organisations. The first
international contacts were originated during that period, as well as the basis of the
youth school and many of the themes that would re-appear in Rast, albeit that both
theatremakers each follow their own path.
During those sixteen years the makers had been moving, policies hadn‟t. After the
initiatives of the early eighties, the arrival of Collins and the founding of theatre
groups like Cosmic and De Nieuw Amsterdam (DNA) (New Amsterdam) the brake of
intercultural art policy had been pulled. At the end of the eighties the image of
migrants had shifted, and it wouldn‟t be for the last time either. Focus shifted from
migrants as a group to the individual foreigner, from attention to minorities‟ cultures to
a focus on integration in Dutch society. Stimulating intercultural art policy did not fit
the picture.

‘ Migrants’art’
All that changed during the first “purple”cabinet ( a coalition of the red labour party
and the blue Christian party) Ambitious secretary of state Rick van der Ploeg thought
that the cultural system was rigid and that integration was not going anywhere. He
wanted to see progress made in both areas, as he plainly said in his first
memorandum Cultuur als Confrontatie (Confrontational Culture).
Later, on 3rd may 2002, the letter of progress for Cultural Diversity was issued. He
wrote: “The basis of the 2001-2004 Culture memorandum was to further open up the
doors to so-called „newcomers‟; institutions which have not been granted a long-
range subsidy based on the Culture memorandum.” He counts the results of his
action: fifteen new intercultural institutions, Rast being one of them. Van der Ploegs
ideas meet with enormous resistance from other political parties as well as the
cultural world. His policy was felt to intervene in the autonomy of arts for merely
political reasons. His knowledge of what was really going on was questioned.
The response to Cultuur als Confrontatie by renowned theatre critic, Loek Zonneveld,
for instance, in De Groene Amsterdammer, was: “What is the opinion of the
department on the achievements of multicultural groups such as De Nieuw
Amsterdam, Cosmic, Delta, Made in da Shade, of individual artists like Surinam
story-teller and director Wijnand Stomp, and of multi-coloured theatre school It's
DNA? Does the Ministry of Education, Arts and Science have an opinion on the
attempts of existing theatre companies to not only accept in their midst
representatives of other cultures but to clear the way to the resounding in the
performances the influences they bring along? (…) If the policymakers simply ignore
all this experience and insight – and that‟s what it looks like – then The Hague should
not be surprised that the art producers in their plans for 2001 to 2004 (which are
being written right now) haul in our foreign fellowman, respectively complain that
soon they‟ll be standing at the entrance of their theatre halls counting brown and
black noses in order to comply with the state secretary‟s statism. Not mentioning the
danger that a noncommittal policy towards cultural minorities may lead to gratuitous
forms of so-called migrants‟ art„”v
Zonneveld was one of the milder ones, but critics feared that this policy would lead all
kinds of groups into the Culture Memorandum which were more about welfare than
with art. Newcomer Rast would also be perceived as such: migrants making
migrants‟ art.
Bridging function?
Naturally, the founders of Rast saw this differently. They had diploma‟s from Dutch
art colleges, they had founded their own companies realizing one project after
another and saw this new policy as a golden opportunity to take one step further.
Both theatre makers just happened to have contracted the same managing director:
Gert de Boer. He had already won his spurs at intercultural centre RASA in Utrecht
and in setting up Dox theatre company. Among others he was able to convince
Toksöz and Ol to join hands in Rast and to collectively submit the subsidy-
application. This application shows the marks of Van der Ploegs policy. Some
quotes: “The main artistic goal of Rast is having a bridging function between Turkish
theatre traditions and European theatre. “ “Orta Oynu (the play in the centre, note
transl./BT) Commedia del Arte, Karagöz, Meddah, narrative theatre, these are the
traditions that Rast wants to use and connect to modern European theatre.”Methods
of acting such as „physical acting and the epic-immersing method and a multi-
disciplinary approach, integrating music, dance, folk tales and visual aspects‟ will all
be seen, is promised.
In short: “Rast wishes to contribute to creating a new language for theatre, melting
eastern and western traditions.” Rast addressed a „mainly Turkish audience‟.

Ten years later, the makers put these quotes in perspective. Toksöz: “I had directed
Dario Fo before, for a reason. I was not building a bridge to Turkey. I had my theatre
training here, of course, I had brought my baggage, but I intended to make theatre
from my own taste and preferences. That was and is my passion. At the time, I didn‟t
have a clue about Turkish theatre. I was not allowed to enter Turkey for ten years.
That did not matter, because I wanted to focus on the Netherlands and develop here.
Later, mostly during the second period we were able to realize our own artistic ideas,
also thanks to our contacts in Turkey. By that time we were self-confident and it
turned into a true exchange.”
Ol, too, smiles at these quotes. “there are recurring elements. I do use the Turkish
„play in the centre‟ : when I say, there is a house, then there is a house. When I say
the house is gone, then it‟s gone. These kinds of simple means are very useful. I will
use them in the coming productions. But we are not realizing Turkish traditions and
it‟s not feasible for me to make a bridge between Turkey and the Netherlands. I don‟t
know the eastern tradition. I‟ll sooner find my references in Belgium, with Eric de
Volder, and in Poland with Kantor. His ideas on authenticity are essential to me. To
Kantor lighting is as important as a costume, the actor is as important as the settings,
the word as important as the music. That is what inspires me, like the organic
approach of Eric de Volder. “

To work (2001-2004)
Anyhow, the phrasing in the application caught on with the national Culture Council.
They say that: “the joining together of separate initiatives (…) (offers) the prospect of
the raising of a strong company which may fulfill an important role, in any case to the
Turkish-Dutch community. A similar role is not fulfilled by any other institution in the
current system”. The Council expect for the joining of Turkish and European
theatrical traditions to enrich Dutch Theatre.
The Amsterdam Culture Council is much less enthusiastic. Just like part of the
theatre world, apart from Cosmic and DNA, they are unable to rank Rast and rather
see the company as a product of the Van der Ploeg policy. The disapproving
comment speaks for itself: “Rast gives the impression of striving to be a
representative or speaker for Turkish theatre and for theatre for a mainly Turkish
audience (…). The Council would have liked to have seen a product from the
initiative, or that the organisation had somehow proven itself somewhat already. That
might have been an indicator for the specific added value of the initiative to
Amsterdam which would justify a structural subsidy. Now all that can plead in favor of
subsidies is the size of the Turkish community instead of the quality of Rast itself.
The Council also believes that initiatives such as Rast are mainly the responsibility of
the ministry of education, Arts and Science.”vi In other words: if van der Ploeg really
wants to do this, let him pay the bill. The Culture Council granted Rast nothing, but
the City Council cancelled that decision after the makers pointed out their record of
merits.
In short: Rast could get to work! The first housing was a former shop, smoky narrow
premises in the Haarlemmerstraat. It has room for an office and a small rehearsal
area. The heart of Rast at the time, besides the two makers, is designer Bülent
Evren, in-house composer Selim Doğru and players like Ergun Şimşek, Sinan
Cihangir, Inci Pamuk and Murat Toker.
The aim was as clear as it was ambitious; to make artistically interesting products
with an intercultural approach; reflecting on now; to bring young people of non-
western origin to theatre and work internationally.
It took time to get used to the new arrangement and to turn from working ad hoc to
planning and producing plays. As is appropriate to a collective, old-fashionately long
meeting were held. One of the hot topics was theatre training for youth. A great plan,
but where to begin? That took up a lot of energy in the first six months. Productions
were not made yet. After that things moved rapidly. Since Rast had already started
up a youth project in Amsterdam Bos en Lommer, it was given the opportunity to set
up a similar program in the whole of west Amsterdam. A highly successful concept
had been developed in South east Amsterdam by the Theatre college of the
Amsterdam College of the Arts and asked Rast to set up similar training in West. Its
aim was to bring talented young people from West to Theatre School and the
colleges.
Moreover, through initiator Zafer Yurdakul, Rast was soon offered the chance to join
in the founding of international Podium Mozaïek (Theatre Mozaïek) in the former
Pniëlkerk (Pniëlchurch) in Bos en Lommer. Being the in-house player of a stage with
a similar international approach was a golden opportunity for the development of
Rast.

First productions
The first productions are issued in 2001 and 2002: The performance aimed at the
entire family: Maatjes (Buddies) filled with dance, songs and circus like elements; the
tragicomic performance De Afrekening (Pay-off), a play about the arranged marriage
of a young girl, honour revenge and the rise of fundamentalism and the poetic play
Ahmed Arif about the poetry and the life of Ahmed Arif, a well/known poet in Turkey,
co/produced by Tiyatro Oyunevi in Turkey.
The first hit followed in 2003, In de schaduw van mijn vader (In my father’s shadow) a
collage-like performance with lines by Flemish playwright Paul Pouveur, directed by
Şaban Ol. He based the play on interviews with former migrant workers and second
generation youths. Ol made the play out of „frustration and anger‟ because he didn‟t
like the image of migrants on stage and in reality. He had also been hurt by a remark
made by the Minister of Integration that the first generation workers should have
integration training, whereas these workers had been recruited in the sixties for their
illiteracy. “That is why I wanted to show why they are here and how”
Therefore In de schaduw van mijn vader tells the tale, regardless of taboos, of people
who are engaged in a great adventure.

Some fragments:

Man 2: arriving in the middle of the night. Like thieves. Drunken with weariness. In
the dark. In a camp, especially built for me.
Man 1: A yellowish corridor. A small bedroom with neon light. Two beds.
Man 2: A smell. Pressing smell of sweat, stinking feet.
Man 3: Fall asleep as fast as you can. Forget the arrival. Find the origin in dreams
(…)
Man 2: Not getting an explanation.
Man 1: Except when to eat and when not to.
Man 3: Too late; no food.
Man 1: No explanation.
Man 2: Except that I have to make my own bed.
Man 1: Have to wash my own clothes.
Man 3: Do everything myself! Me!?
Man 1: The first steps in the new world outside. Grey. Gloomy. But mostly and all
over: women. Large, blond, healthy, yoghurt-like women (…) Colourful
women everywhere, smiling, lustful, luscious ànd alone.
Man 3: Shameful practices everywhere.
Man 2: Overwhelming.
Man 1: Impressive practices.
Man 3: Couples kissing in streets shamelessly (…) Not food is a fundamental need
but warmth, tenderness, love…sex.
Man 2: For sex, all you have to do is go to this waste land where the…
Man 1: No, not cold, paying sex.
Man 2: You mean a relationship with a yoghurt-like woman? A lasting relationship?
Man 1: Affection and tenderness you don‟t have to pay for. I want to feel, stroke, that
soft white skin of the blond, half-naked, yoghurt-like woman. Grab her, make
her my own. In fact I want love, I guess….western style. Yes, that‟s what I
want. Warm western love.

For actor Ergun Şimşek, who played Man 1, this performance made everything clear.
“It was as if the ghost of my father, my mother, and all migrants was in that
performance. Initially we played it forty times, and then thirty more in rerun. I felt very
strong during that period.”vii He was not the only one. Ols attempts to shed another
light on migration hit home, with the audience but also in the media, also thanks to
the literary lines by Pouveur. The theme of migration was successfully turned into the
main topic, combined with an excellent playwright and good actors: Inci
Pamuk, Elvan Akyıldız, Sinan Cihangir, Ergun Şimşek and Murat Toker. The play
realized one of Ol‟s creeds:”I want to make plays that are contemporary but not solely
so, plays with a universal touch. I want to be a witness of my time like every artist
should be”.
Antigone
Director Celil Toksöz took another road. At firsts he focused on Greek tragedies
mostly, seemingly a traditional choice in Western theatre. Toksöz, however, had
reasons of his own: “I had been planning to do Greek tragedies for a long time, if I
had the chance. Some people reacted surprised: „why would you do European
repertoire?‟For me, I have another view. From the Netherlands to Greece is over
2000 kilometers, but in Turkey it‟s just across. History of both countries intertwine.
Xerxes came to Athens from Persia. Alexander the Great went to Iran. They not only
took their soldiers and their architects but their stories as well. What happened to
Antigone might as well be set in Iran or Turkey as in Greece. Medea can be set near
the Black Sea. The theatrical lines by Sofocles and Euripides are based on stories
that were already going round in these areas. The narrative culture I grew up in fits
the disciplines of Greek tragedy exactly. Besides, the questions they ask are very
modern. Is it divine law or conscience? Should one follow the heart or the brain?
Where do good and evil clash? “His Antigone referred to contradictions within Islam.
Uncompromising harshness, tradition on the one hand. Sensitivity and humaneness
on the other.
One scene sticks in our memory: six women in the background, rising 7 feet tall in
their long robes, singing gripping Kurdish songs. In the meantime Ismene whirls like a
dervish and Haemon uses the necktie – symbol of the west – to chastise himself.
Antigone sings her death song. Kreaon is Chaotic and as if that wasn‟t enough, a
guard hands out sweets to the audience. All emotions come together in this one
scene: The theatrical image, the music. In that one image there are clashes:
contradictory movements on stage fight for attention. And there is height, depth.
At that point in time Theo van Gogh had not been murdered yet. No controversy is
caused by Antigone.

Rast closes its first four years with Kus van de Roos (Rose’s kiss), inspired by
Shakespeare‟s Romeo & Juliet, the first production for a larger hall. The story is set in
a Roma-environment in Turkey. Composer Selim Doğru and gipsy artists from Turkey
gave music a central role in this piece. This spectacular musical theatre play is a hit
in Turkey as well as in the Netherlands.

Growth (2004-2008)
In 2004 the storm over Van der Ploeg had subsided. Most of his measures had been
accepted, more space for intercultural theatre no longer seems controversial. This
also resounds in the tone and contents of Rasts new application for subsidy. “We
have grown into a middle-large intercultural company with national and international
appeal.” It states with confidence. viii The assessment also headed in a positive
direction. The Culture Council states that despite‟ inconsistent quality „ of the plays
Rast fulfills „an important role as an intercultural theatre company.ix Even the
Amsterdam Arts Council has something positive to say about the company: “The
plays are made with love and respect. Despite their simple way of acting they touch
the audience with their imagination and design”.x
Rast may go on.

In the mean time, Jong Rast xi had arisen from the youth projects that had been set
up earlier. During the following years it would grow into the organisation more and
more, in particular after Elike Roovers joined the artistic staff in 2008. Intercultural
youth theatre Jong Rast focuses on youths between the ages of 15 to 24 and helps
them to develop their talent. Its aim is to see as many youths as possible continue on
into theatre colleges and in to the (semi) professional field of theatre. The initial
selection is done on an audition day, when youths can partake in a training group
and the ones most talented go to a production group. In the beginning, however,
things were quite different; at that time Roovers literally spotted youths in the street.
Elike Roovers joined Rast at the intercession of theatre school tutor Bruin Otten, after
having worked, among others, with 020, Rotterdams Lef and Dox.
Its heterogeneous character is what she found so attractive about Rast. Roovers
does not like homogenous organisations: “They mutually have all kinds of
presumptions which will not hold in a heterogeneous organisation. An opinion turns
into a norm when everybody agrees. Besides, I had experienced that the group
dynamics are much more difficult in homogenous groups. “
This basis turned out not to be so easy. Roovers:”I actually went and picked up
youths from the streets. That is why in the beginning I ended up with a different
Mohammed every week. I also found players in the schools where I used to teach. I
wanted to have a framework of people who had already had some direction, who had
picked subjects in the field of art, culture and entertainment, and I added people for
whom theatre was something new. I don‟t like it when youths are too nice. It is not so
hard to find youths that are nice and well-bred, but I don‟t see the excitement in that.
The mix in the production group is always good, because for me its self evident to
have some kids for whom it‟s not normal to do this. “
Roovers father grew up in Dutch East-Indies, her mother in Australia. Roovers had
never been aware of the influence of that. “Until one of the kids said to me: I have the
feeling you‟re one of us. Since then I understand better why I always feel at home
where things do not really „fit‟.”
Roovers takes the coaching of her pupils very far:”You must be talented though, if I
doubt that, there‟s nothing I can do for you. It‟s a place of development, not a youth
theatre college. But I‟m prepared to go very far for a super talent from a multi-
problem family. I once sat down with one of the player‟s entire family to figure out
how to keep her on the straight and narrow. I used to pick up one of the other players
from home. I even texted him round the time I thought he went to bed to remind him
to set his alarm-clock. By now, I have taken more distance, though. If I know too
much about the mistakes a pupil makes, I tend to see them in that way too.”
Individual development is the main principle. Elike Roovers: “As soon as I start, I tell
them that there‟s not one rule that goes for everyone. I say: You all have to develop
yourselves. When that development comes to a standstill, I can be really tough. But
everyone has to develop in their own place. So if someone is always on time, and
then once they‟re late, I freak out. Whereas I might send ten text messages to
someone else. But I might be very patient on the floor and repeat the same scene ten
times over and over with that one person, just as patiently as when I send ten text
messages to the other one.” With play teachers Peter van Roermund and Rutger
Esajas, who have been involved from the very beginning, Jong Rast annually select
fifty people this way. They continue on to theatre colleges more and more. In this
way, Rast gives them the opportunity the makers of Rast had in the eighties of the
past century.

Gripping plays.
In the meantime, these makers, Şaban Ol and Celil Toksöz, strengthened by the
positive reviews, continue their productions. In 2005 Medea is produced as next in
the series of Greek tragedies. Islam plays an important role in this Medea. Despite
the daring, for hilarious, performance of a fundamentalist imam, the piece has not
caused any turmoil in Amsterdam-West or anywhere else.
During this period Ol continued working with Paul Pouveurs work. BodyPeeling
(2005-2006) and Noorderlicht (2007) are performances of existing plays by the
Belgian playwright. Noorderlicht is another one of Rasts international co-productions.
Played by renowned Turkish actors from Istanbul, subtitles are projected on the side
wings on stage, in Belgium and the Netherlands
Toksöz‟ play Solitude , by the famous Turkish author Hasan Ali Toptaş, as well, had
these two sides when it was played in the 2005-2006 season. There was a Dutch
tour in the Dutch version and an extensive tour in Turkey in Turkish.

Another highlight was Sivas (2007). For this production Ol again worked together with
Flemish author Paul Pouveur. They made a „fictitious reconstruction‟ of the fatal hotel
fire in 1993 during the Pir Sultan Abdal festival in Turkish Sivas, when 33 theatre
makers, artists, musicians, dancers and poets from Turkey were killed. The hotel had
been set on fire by fundamentalists. They had gathered because it was rumored that
a part of the Satanic Verses by Rushdie was to be translated at the festival.
This collage play painfully demonstrated that the attacks by political Islam happened
way before 9/11, and were oftened targeted against progressive Muslims.

When Jeanne d’Arc was performed Celil Toksöz first explored his fascination for
Balkan authors. The piece is based on a text by the Bulgarian author Tsanev. Like in
Antigone and Medea a strong woman is the main character, but again, the use of
heroism and sacrifice are questioned.
The second cycle was rounded up with two gripping plays: Tolken (Interpreters) and
Dilek , respectively about a refugee in Belgium and a woman threatened by honour-
revenge. More than ever before did the directors have the courage to show their
personal involvement in an ever more gripping shape.
Tolken, an international Dutch-Belgian production written by Eric de Volder is
performed by Rast and Volder‟s Gent Theatre group Ceremonia. It is an absurd play
in French, English, Flemish and corrupted forms of these languages, magnifying the
hopelessness of „truth-finding‟ in an asylum procedure. Tolken received a lot of
attention, in Flanders in particular.

Dilek is also an international production, with Turkish actors and musicians. This play
is shown in large theatres and the audience in the Netherlands and in Turkey are
very enthusiastic, often moved to tears. In this people‟s opera, as Toksöz called it,
the songs that he wrote himself, have a central role. This is a song of Dileks fate:
(translated from Turkish):

What would my father and mother say

What would my unborn baby say
If I were to live with this stain
What would my grandfather call

A black fate is what you gave me

Can I not have happiness in my life?
Others will be given a face like a rose
I was given a wounded gazelle
Tormented by my own hand
Today I pity no one

My spring blossom withered

My sentence passed
Surrendered to serpents in the desert
Mercilessly robbed by satyrs

Sold to lies
My torture by my own hand
You live your life
If only I had loved rocks and stones
My tomorrow squandered today

Here again a women is pivotal as the tragic heroin. Toksöz has no feminist intentions
here. His women represent more than just that: “Antigone can be compared to a
woman standing up in church in the Middle Ages saying: God does not exist. If
someone says they‟ll follow their heart and it‟s not the law that dictates what
happens, it‟s rebellion. In the struggle of my women I recognise my own personal
struggle, the struggle of the Kurds. Anything these women say, might as well be said
by a Kurd. The underlying motifs are justice and injustice. Medea unjustly avenges a
just principle. The positions of power in this piece are very understandable. For me,
the upraise against injustice is the main issue.
In Dilek men are in power and they abuse it. You‟ll never forgive them for that. But at
the same time, all main characters suffer the same fate. There was not one man who
had the courage to say – like the child calling out that the king is naked – “we should
not commit this act”. That would have made him a sissy. Apparently the price you
pay for disturbing the social order is higher than the price for killing your child. In that
sense Dilek is a true tragedy. An opera must have its victims. Madame Butterfly dies
too. The human soul wants victims and we too need them in theatre.”

Beyond pioneering (2008-2012)

Eight years onward Rast has increased in size and strength with alterating
productions for large and small theatre halls. Fearlessly, complicated and
interdisciplinary projects are set up. Rast has turned internationalisation, wished by
many theatre groups, into reality. The network within Europe is growing and ties with
Turkish theatres and theatre groups intensify. The lines are defined by themes, by
the connection to Turkish and Kurdish culture. The youth group has witnessed its first
pupils go on to regular colleges. Other things are less successful. It is getting more
and more difficult to find theatres outside the Randstad (urban agglomeration of
Western Holland) that are willing to book the productions. This is a problem faced by
more theatre groups, but their relative unfamiliarity and the “Turkish” image play their
part as well. Another minus is that the established critics rarely turn up at Rast.
The growth is also reflected in the financers‟‟ judgment. Apart from criticizing too
much ambition and a lack of cohesion, all assessments ring with praise. According to
the Fonds Podiumkunsten (Fund for Stage Arts) Rast has deservedly won esteem for
its „pioneering work‟. The fund is positive about the groups positive development over
the past years, but feels that both directors are still insufficiently „complementary
profiled‟.xii During eight years the Amsterdamse Kunstraad has come round almost
completely: “In the past period Rast has gone through an artistic development”, feels
the council who at first did not think it was worth two pence. The council even
appreciates the „way the connection with Turkey is expressed in the choice of
repertoire and the activities‟.xiii

Close to yourself
By now, the third cycle has come halfway. In September 2009 Jong Rast scored
points with Backfire, a play that shows how one gunshot influenced the lives of
thirteen young people in four different countries. The movie Babel and the stories of
the players themselves were the inspiration for the writers. Writer Anouk Saleming
turned it into a thrilling story.
Yet another target has been reached. It was not an existing piece that was presented
to the youths, as is done by Toneelgroep Amsterdam and DNA, but instead, they
were involved in it as makers. Roovers: “Being an artist still starts with yourself
essentially. From there you can see the world and you cannot through the eyes of
someone else. If the youths study more in this field, they should also get this feeling.
For if they have nothing to say, everything stops. They do have to learn a lot about
technique as well, but the real questions they ask are about being an artist. In order
to develop your talent you need a story of your own.”

Every now and then old problems show up, like with the play Terugkeer van Olbyses
(return of Olbyses) (ol-by-ses = „become a voice‟ in Turkish). Some theatres would
not book it because it was „not intercultural enough‟. Şaban Ol: “Sometimes people
still address our Turkish background. The programmers did not think it was
intercultural enough because I derived the theme from Homer and therefore it does
not immediately refer to Turkey. I did not get the framework. Probably a play based
on a Turkish author and with Western techniques would be ranked as intercultural. “
The play Eleni en Roos (Eleni and Roos), written and directed by Ol, was better
received. It is set in Istanbul and recalls the plundering and destruction of Greek
houses and businesses in 1955 through the dialogue between childhood friends and
former music hall artists Eleni and Roos. The play has successfully been staged in
Istanbul Theatres Kumbaracı50, Tiyatro-Z and Kartal Sanat Tiyatrosu during
Amsterdam Istanbul Inspirations, part of Istanbul Cultural capital of Europe.

Tarator
Toksöz‟ tragicomical play Tarator means a new breakthrough for Rast. The pay is
selected for the Parade and NRC critic nominates the play to tasty trendsetter of the
festival. The audience came flocking in so that extra shows had to be planned.
Set in a realistic restaurant kitchen Tarator shows how focusing on ethnicity can give
a sharp edge to relationships. Tough reality sets in, not in spite of, but thanks to the
humor which, like the music, plays an important part in the play.
As a playwright Toksöz was inspired by humor the way Balkan writers use it.
“Countries which have dealt with a lot of censorship are very resourceful when it
comes to telling a story in a roundabout manner. These people are also used to
assuming that you‟re not telling the truth. In the Kurdish part of Turkey where I‟m from
I had to deal with oppression and fascism and in Yugoslavia it was communism. It‟s
not common here to joke in a play. But theatre in the Balkan is what comedy is in the
Netherlands. Therefore I always want my plays to be tragicomical. There‟s a comical
element in every tragedy and every comical performance is utterly tragic.”
Visions for the future.
Thus far the past of Rast. What is next? Suddenly a dialogue between the makers
and the managing director turns up. It‟s still theatre!

Does it matter how you are seen?

Şaban Ol: The Dutch interpretation of intercultural is still very rigid. Intercultural
equals black or Surinam or Moroccan or Turkish. No Swedes, Danish or Germans.
It‟s often still an orientalistic approach. We‟re subsidized on those grounds: Be
different, or don‟t get any money. We strive to be intercultural in a different manner:
take Amsterdam as our home-base and translate the reflection of that society – half
of foreign origin – into our actors, our staff and our youths. That is what we basically
strive for.

Celil Toksöz: After 24 years I really don‟t care what my work is called. If they say that
this Turkish group or that Turkish-Dutch group has given a beautiful performance,
fine! We have fought but we can‟t ignore the Turkish and Kurdish roots. And why
should we? Politicians and programmers keep on making that difference, so all right,
we‟re a Turkish group. We should benefit by it then.

Şaban Ol: German or Swedish kids won‟t come to us. It‟s about migration, the big-
city. The problem is the vision that sees the intercultural society as a fixed thing,
whereas it is in continuous motion. It all started in the eighties with the migrant
workers, foreigners and since then a whole range has developed.

Elike Roovers: All three of us are bothered by the fact that the development of the
multicultural society is much slower than our development as makers. The social
discussion has been the same for the past fifteen years, it‟s not getting anywhere.
But you don‟t want to be telling the same story over and over again. So the question
is: how do you deal with this slow-moving matters? Three years are nothing socially,
but it‟s a very long period for the maker.

Gert de Boer: We have had a long discussion about whether or not we should keep
calling ourselves Turkish or not. Of course, we are intercultural, international,
transnational or whatever you wish to call it. But the way our audience sees us and
we see ourselves as well, the roots play a part in everything we do. We want to
continue appreciating it and show it in our themes and various forms of theatre. We
have achieved that people that come to us and want to work with us artistically or in
production, always have some different cultural background, are attracted by our
model of working collectively, interculturally.

What do you have in common?

Elike Roovers: Theme-wise we are all very similar, Rast and Jong Rast:
contemporary, multi-cultural of course, and using language as the engine to achieve
something. But most of all: telling stories. We are not associative theatre, we want to
use stories to tell something about the world.

Şaban Ol: It‟s our strength to find funny points of view from our different
backgrounds. It sometimes looks like a collection of rare knick-knacks. But we do
have some things in common: we all try to find new forms, tell new stories with a
controversial touch and we all re-define the spirit of the times. Having three artistic
leaders all making totally different things makes it tricky, but there has been cross-
fertilization. I believe we give each other the courage to go on. Seeing the other one
achieve something, really gives you a boost. The way we interpret our theatres is
very different. That makes us very elusive to programmers and critics. There is no
common style and that makes us lively and special.

Elike Roovers: The question whether it all goes together is less and less relevant to
me. The good thing is that we have been able to grow towards each other, without
any forced attempt to commonness. I always wish for my students in the teacher-
college that they may keep their autonomy, or else you‟ll just be some creative
person within a theatre group. When I see how amateur theatre works, I hope that
Jong Rast will set an example. That it will open up new ways. Celil and Şaban have
given me every opportunity. Ivo van Hove wouldn‟t have. He would have thought:
we‟ll have that teacher-girl do her own little thing.

Gert de Boer: Ever from the start Rast focused on nachwuchs (offspring), coloring the
schools. Through Jong Rast this is working out. There will be even more synergy in
the future now that our students are in mime- or theatre college. After their
graduation, they would love to come play with us. They have said so already. The
circle will be complete then.

How do you see the future?

Elike Roovers: I want to make Jong Rast even more of a mix, work with younger
children. Based on the thought that society is reflected on stage. Stage doesn‟t
always do so yet, although Rufus Collins already phrased it like that twenty years
ago. Al we‟ve done is segregated theatre even more : children‟s theatre, youth
theatre, it‟s been terribly compartmentalized. I would like for Rast to be a trendsetter
in breaking down all these compartments. In my dream everything is intertwined.
Running a non-homogenous group is quite a task and we‟ve become very good at it.
I would like to increase that ability. When working with young children I‟ve had to
reset myself three times, in order to get them where I wanted them. I would be great
if I could add three adults. But, subsidies are granted for youths. As a maker I would
like to stretch those outlines much further.

Gert de Boer: I want for us to become strongly rooted in the major cities in Europe,
preferably with partners that are fascinated with Turkey as well. The mutual interest
creates a strong bond. Co-working with the Arcola Theatre in London, the Riksteater
in Stockholm, the Ballhouse in Berlin and the Talimhane theatre in Istanbul, we are
now making the first production for Europe Now. Young playwrights make new
stories and those plays are going to be performed at festivals in all those cities. Every
one of our ideas will come together: The Turkish roots, the international fascination
for life in big cities, writing new theatre lines; new stories.
Şaban Ol: I do hope that the five-city project will pay off, so that there will be more
opportunities for international festivals and the recognition that comes with it. It is my
ultimate dream to be able to realize several plays for small and large theatre halls,
that we‟ll be able to organize the directing, writing, acting and translating workshops
in our theatre school in Karaburun in Turkey and thus open up an auxiliary in Turkey.
Gert de Boer: The circle will be complete in 2012 because by that time the first
graduated actors who started with us will become available. Then the time has come
for new steps. Compartments need to be broken down and there needs to be more
collaboration within the intercultural field. Forming coalitions is the smart thing to do
in this current climate. I value our connections with Mozaïek and Studio West. We
can take a huge step forward with them: Mozaïek is ambitious in the field of
producing and Studio West has interesting partners in the field of dance, media and
urban music. That will enable us to work in a more multi-disciplinary manner while
sharing functions in the field of administration, production and promotion.
We have been made into an example, judging by the number of theatres and
companies that approach us to learn how to build up an audience. Having been
staged at De Parade in the summer of 2010 is another example. The Parade
programmers see 500 productions and until recently we were not in the picture. They
see it as a new and interesting perspective, even for a wide audience. The artistic
validation has also come about. Initially the story was: we can‟t range it, then we
were promising and by now I believe that we are fully recognized in that field as well.

Celil Toksöz: Allow me to be arrogant: there is no other group like Rast. Many groups
are very similar, borrow each other‟s players, are incestuous. Our casting is different,
the philosophy is different. European influences, commitment to migration. Music is
the skin to our performances, it is not separate.
We must reach higher. I know that we are a necessity for the theatrical world.
Therefore Rast must go on. I would seek coalition partners in the future too enable us
to work one step higher and attract more attention. However, I do want to be able to
have autonomy in making theatre my way, keep on doing what fascinates me as a
theatre maker. I would be interested in collaborating with another discipline. We are
still one of the few laboratories for developing talent, besides Dox, DNA and Siberia.

Inter-European
Ambitions! Ten years ago everybody warned that Rast was over-ambitious. Still. A lot
of these ambitions have come true. Now, too, in an uncertain era with budget cuts,
forced unto us by the economic crisis, the threat of major cuts in subsidies, and a
tightening discussion on intercultural developments, the makers of Rast wish to take
a step forward. Will they manage?
Time will tell. When twelve-year-old Ibtissam from Amsterdam-West has grown up
twenty years from now, maybe on a stage somewhere, at least she‟ll know that one
day she started with this special group.
In the meantime, Rast has achieved a lot now. In its internal diversity it is more of a
city theatre than for instance Toneelgroep Amsterdam. Rast also shows that
intercultural is not just an empty phrase when its filled with your own roots and
sources of inspiration; that intercultural is no more a fixed phrase, as it is still seen
too often, but a flag over many dynamic processes. Mostly, Rast is an inter-European
Theatre group, not with the European Union territory in mind, but rather the area of
the European Council, or the European Song Contest. Western- and Eastern
European influences, the Balkan and Turkey determine the flavor of Rast. This is all
about finding a balance between the outside image, one‟s own ambivalence and the
desire to make universal theatre.
The story of Rast has come about based on the methods used by Şaban Ol and
Elike Roovers. Deriving material from interviews and re-telling the story, thus making
this a true Rast essay, not only in contents, but in form as well.

Thanks to Celil Toksöz, Elike Roovers, Şaban Ol, Gert de Boer and Yuen Kwan Lo
© Bart Top Amsterdam, Kalkan (TR) 29 augustus 2010

i
Rast application for subsidies to the Ministry of Education, arts and Sciences 13 december 1999
ii
‘Turks theater bestaat niet‟, Kunstfactor 2009 page 21
iii
Idem 22-24, 94
iv
Idem 96
v
De Groene Amsterdammer 1999
vi
Amsterdams Kunstenplan 2001 t/m 2004; Amsterdamse Kunstraad september 2000
vii
„Turks theater bestaat niet‟, Kunstfactor 2009, page 47
viii
Meerjaren Beleidsplan Rast 2005-2008 (Policy plan Rast)
ix
Spiegel van de Cultuur; advice Theater Cultuurnota 2005 2008. Raad voor Cultuur
x
Amsterdamse Kunstraad. Advice in preparation for the Kunstenplan 2005-2008
xi
Jong RAST is a collaboration of Theater Rast, the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten/Theaterschool (Amsterdam
College for the Arts, Thatre-college), De Meervaart/Studio West, ROC of Amsterdam, city-districts Bos en Lommer,
Geuzenveld-Slotermeer, Osdorp, Slotervaart and supported by the City of Amsterdam.
xii
Adviezen en besluiten vierjarige subsidieregeling 2009-2012 Theater, Nederlands Fonds voor
xiii
Adviezen Amsterdamse Kunstraad 2009-2012