The traveling theater festival De Parade is visiting Eindhoven this week. The theater company includes two solid carnival celebrators: Mike Weerts and Bjorn van der Doelen. Together they go in search of ‘The soul of carnival’. “We try to expose the soul of carnival. One feels that, the other does not,” says actor Mike Weerts in Brabant Today at Omroep Brabant.
It is the middle of summer, but this week in the center of Eindhoven three times in one evening people are thinking and philosophizing about carnival. Actor Mike Weerts from Overloon and musician Bjorn van der Doelen from Eindhoven will unravel the carnival feeling in a half-hour performance.
A world without carnival is unthinkable for both of them. “Wouldn’t it be better if it were a ‘beetroot’ carnival every day? People are then optimally happy, the party brings people together, nice music and it’s fun. That would be the salvation of our society at the moment,” says Weerts with a wink.
“For Bjorn and me, carnival is the most beautiful party of the year. It contains everything we love. A beer every now and then, nice music and some old talk. That is what carnival is all about,” Weerts describes.
“Carnival is life’s pressure cooker. Everything is crammed into four days.”
The duo wants to convey that feeling to the audience. “When we started the performance, we each put an ode to carnival on paper. That is how we came to the design of a master class. Carnival is in our fibers and we want others to experience that too. Carnival is actually the pressure cooker of life. Everything is crammed into four or five days.”
Back to the masterclass for a moment. “We didn’t just want to appeal to people who have nothing to do with carnival. With some carnival celebrators, the level could also be a step higher. That’s how we came up with our eleven commandments. If you’ve been to our performance, you can no longer say that carnival is not for you or that carnival is not for you.”
According to Weerts, you cannot really see the eleven commandments separately from each other. “For example, it’s about drinking, eating, company and perseverance. The latter is the most important. If you don’t have perseverance, you better stay home.”
