Jacques Vriens not only writes well-known children’s books, such as Meester Jaap or Achtste Groepers Huilen Niet, he also regularly presents a play. In a meadow in De Mortel, near Gemert, a real medieval city has been recreated for its last production. The biggest yet. “I had hoped for this, but that it would become a reality? Our set designers have done a great job.”
‘Battle for the Cathedral’ will premiere on 21 May. “It’s a real family show,” Jacques says. Of course he hopes for sold-out stands. After two years of corona, the theater world can use that well.
No fewer than 80 people are on stage, 40 people work behind the scenes. Vriens is grateful for the ‘fantastic location’. “The farmer came up with the offer and we can just do our thing here with our tents for the players and the spaces for our horses. He has a very nice company and would like visitors to walk past his stables so that they can see that he keeps cows responsibly.”
“There’s a lot of fuss about that cathedral.”
‘Battle for the Cathedral’ was first written as a book by Vriens. “There are two stories in it. On the one hand, the construction of a cathedral. It took them 80 to 100 years in the Middle Ages. There is a lot of fuss about that cathedral.” The city in which it takes place is the Trichterbosch. “A mix between ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Maastricht.”
The play is also about a forbidden friendship between Thies, the son of the master builder of the cathedral, and Mette, a blind girl. Thies has to succeed his father in the construction, but much to his father’s anger, he does not want to. Mette is a blind girl, a ‘witch’s child’, who is left out. When Mette’s father dies in an accident, Mette will be used to ‘amuse’ the gentlemen in the dubious inn in the city. Thies does everything he can to help her.
“I directed plays as a 7-year-old boy. Complete chaos of course.”
Vriens had an early love for the theater. “I grew up in a hotel in Helmond and there was a theater there. I directed plays as a 7-year-old boy. Complete chaos, of course. I had seen another director who was very strict with his players and thought I should do the same. My players left after fifteen minutes,” he laughs.
There are still performances in Gemert on 26 and 27 May and from 2 to 5 June. Subsequently, the medieval city of Trichterbosch moves with its inhabitants to Venlo, where performances are held from 16 to 19 June. There are also performances on 23 to 26 June. In September, the performance will be performed in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in front of St. John’s Church on the occasion of the cathedral’s 800th anniversary.