The opening song of The green girl, the new performance by youth theater maker Marije Gubbels, puts the audience on the wrong track. In an almost religious ecstasy, four characters dressed in white sing a song about the beauty of nature, its cyclical nature, its capacity for self-renewal. The piety provides a sentimental start to what turns out to be a bold comedy.
At the beginning it is therefore a matter of looking for the right tone, as if the players have to shake off the sanctity. The central conflict between the young girl Destiny, who has just lost her parents, and the uncles with whom she has moved in, is initiated with archetypal play: nature lover Destiny (Lotte Pierik) is buttery smooth, both in her playing and in her singing, like an old-fashioned Disney princess, and her uncle Perry (Albert Klein Kranenburg) is an equally one-dimensional villain, who hates plants and would like to wipe out all greenery. Gubbels’ predilection for easy-going caricatures reaches a low point in the German employer of the uncles, who at one point is banging on the door (‘Aufmachen!’).
tantalizing
Fortunately, Destiny gradually develops into an increasingly tough eco-warrior, and Lucas Schilperoord, in the role of Uncle Loek, manages to provide his attempts to keep the peace with sharp comedic timing. In addition, Timo Tembuyser’s surprising compositions make up for it: he effortlessly mixes operatic influences and musical songs.
But it’s the intelligence of the plot twists that The green girl really worth it. As the story progresses, the generational struggle around climate transition is increasingly brought to a head, and Gubbels playfully touches on sub-themes such as greenwashing and post- and transhumanism. The radicalization of Destiny is tantalizing: only when we dare to leave our humanity behind, do we see the solution.
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