Anne Neuteboom (33) had appeared at the gates of her new home in good spirits. Anti-squat and location in an outlying area, that would have been known information. The fact that the site with her new living space on it turned out to be walled in was a bit of a shock. A relic from the building’s previous life, when it housed an institution where atmosphere and cosiness didn’t exactly drip off the walls. More moments to swallow after the move, of which Neuteboom reports extensively in Don’t bother with your opinion.
In this third performance by the comedian who won both the Cameretten jury and audience award in 2015, Neuteboom makes it clear that she is not interested in other people’s opinion about a number of changes in her personal life. Meanwhile, it takes her a lot more effort to keep her opinions to herself. For example, about a certain type of museum visitor, or about the bedtime performance of a Limburger who may have now – completely wrongly – crowned himself ‘befking van Venray’. The inconsistency that we expect behavior from others while we can hardly muster the same behavior ourselves is the interesting premise of this performance. Neuteboom’s elaboration of this is unfortunately disappointing.
Also read an interview with Anne Neuteboom:‘Give millennials some credit’
On the one hand, this is because the central story in the performance – about Neuteboom’s adventures in the anti-squat – is not exciting enough to keep you interested for a whole performance. More problematic is that it is not such a suitable story for the result intended by Neuteboom. Several times she addresses the audience quasi-strictly that she is not waiting for their opinion. This doesn’t have much effect, because essentially she’s telling a story about the aftermath of a break-up. As an audience you can feel everything about this – recognizability, compassion – but you have to be on the warpath to have a quick opinion about this. Fortunately, then there is still something left, namely that Neuteboom comes to the realization that she has been talking to herself all this time – “not with your opinion” for a while. This is unfortunately a rather scant crop of a long and not too remarkable story.
Pippi Longstocking’s life story
Then there is Neuteboom’s dynamic theatrical act, in which she acts in physical and mental restlessness and a good dose of social discomfort. Initially this is intriguing and creates some tension and curiosity as to what this will serve. If an answer to that question is not forthcoming, it will become rather tiring in the long run.
A few original and comically absurd asides – such as about the life story of Pipi Longstocking – and an unexpected twist at the end of the performance provide strong moments, but unfortunately they are not enough to get the performance running smoothly.