For Bruinsma, the performance is successful when grain makes people think, about the choices you make in wartime. “When do you do right or wrong, what do you do if you are face to face with a Russian soldier. And of course it is successful if there are 200 people every performance.”
But Bruinsma thinks it is more important that people are touched by the performance. “That the piece does to you. I always say ‘head, hands, heart’. It has to get something moving there. And it was successful when visitors also get some about the history of Ukraine, and the strong relationship that has always been with Europe.”
PeerGroup is grateful for the ‘great cooperation of the municipality of Assen’, to make the grain bunker suitable for the theater performance. “The first time we visited this shed through a hole, because there were not even normal doors in it. But thanks to the municipality there was a beautiful access door for the public, with a landing. And who knows, this will soon be our new fantastic cultural breeding ground, along with Jeugdtheater Tdi and the theater company.
First the tension around grain, because before 4 October is the premiere, Bruinsma with his crew, the actors, and the Polish cellist Drobawa Czocher have to put a lot of dots on the i. Like this morning in the cold bunker, where she plays and sings with eyes closed with eyes closed. “The music has been composed, so throughout the performance. So it is not text, song, text. Drobawa also continuously plays in the midst of the public.
When it comes to tension, spectacle and also emotion, the cello does it all according to Bruinsma. “It is a beautiful instrument and Drobawa plays a load -bearing role in grain. Bombs, exploding landmines, drones, earthquakes, the cello does it.” According to Bruinsma, the audience can in any case prepare themselves for ‘a very exciting performance’.
“This fantastic place, the penetrating cello music, and all the techniques we use, they really make it a must-see,” says Bruinsma. “And what’s also saves, I don’t have to worry about the weather, because there is a roof upstairs.”