On a large lawn on the Veerplas near Haarlem, three ladies in rain gear are rolling up a huge blue sail. It depicts the large-scale recovery in Noord-Holland in the 17th century. It was the time of engineer Leeghwater. “We are celebrating the 450th anniversary of this man who was at the cradle of many polders,” says Liesbeth Rood from Theatergroep Lava. “He also started poldering, consulting with all those involved to find a solution.”
The show is called Waterwolf. It refers to the old name of the water that threatened people on the land. “The water was a big threat at the time. When a wolf praised the water, the land of people in Noord-Holland,” explains Liesbeth. Eventually man managed to tame that Waterwolf reasonably well, but now he is back. “The sea level rises, the ground is falling, we read that every day in the newspapers. But what should we do with it? Polding does not seem to help anymore, but we have to do something. That is what the show is about”.