According to the makers, it is one of the greatest forgotten stories in history: the April-May strike. Johanna ter Steege took advantage of this event for the location spectacle ‘The forgotten Twente spring’ and asked Stefan de Walle to join the cast. “To be honest, I didn’t know this story either,” the actor admits.
Twenthe Airport in Enschede will once again be the setting for a piece of history in the near future. Namely those of the somewhat lesser known war story; the spontaneous strike that started at the machine factory Stork in Hengelo as a protest against employment in Germany and subsequently grew into a nationwide resistance. An event with a dramatic outcome, which was also called a turning point in the occupation. In addition, the story is told about a contemporary village in Twente that is divided by a legacy of millions. When it turns out that the amount of money has a link with the strike in 1943, old wounds are opened.
Huge click with Johanna ter Steege
De Walle (57) previously stood in this place, namely as a replacement for Huub Stapel in the previous music theater performance by Johanna ter Steege Hannah van Hendrik , a story about the peasant revolt. “I remember when I thought: a location spectacle, do I really want that? On the assumption that everything had to be grand and compelling and every scene drowned in violence. But I turned out to be wrong, because anything is possible. From large to very intimate. In addition, I think director Liesbeth Coltof is fantastic and I have a huge click with initiator and actress Johanna. I didn’t even consider ‘no’ when they asked me for it The forgotten Twente spring ” says De Walle, who started his acting career at Ro Theater, then joined Het Nationale Toneel and is best known to the general public as Kees from flodder and as Santa Claus.
The fact that the native Hagenaar grew up in Twello helps him with the dialect that regularly recurs in the play. “When I was 7 we moved to Gelderland, where the dialect is already moving towards Twente. At home we spoke generally civilized Dutch, but it was spoken flatly with a friend who lived further away. Because I was born in The Hague, I never really picked up that language. But I knew most of the words and sounds, but I still get corrected on my pronunciation every now and then, you know. Whatever you want, Johanna is from Notter, actor Laus Steenbeeke is from Twente, and we work together with the local amateur theater. My parents still live in Twello, so being here in Twente also feels like coming home to me.”
Difficult issues
Democracy is an important theme in the performance. “I play Luuk and his grandfather Dolf, who sacrifices himself during the war for a Jewish girl by turning himself in. That girl left for America and became very rich there. She leaves a large sum of money to our village as a thank you. Where initially everyone is enthusiastic about this democratically distributed inheritance, the difficult issues soon begin. Because who is entitled to how much? The woman with the sick child or Epi’s garage that is facing bankruptcy? More and more self-interest comes first and the reproaches come. “You get nothing, because you were wrong in the war.” And that is of course the same in this time of polarization. When it comes down to it, it’s not about the bigger picture and everyone goes for their own skin.”
The actor emphasizes that The forgotten Twente spring is not just a heavy war story. “It is a beautiful form of music theater with the wonderful voices of Roosmarijn Luyten and Lucretia van der Vloot. There is a band, a marching band and the decor is spectacular. The audience starts in the Dorpsstraat, is then taken to the Stork factory and ends on a sand plain. During the interval, the audience can leave the stands and get something to drink and eat ‘in the village’. In this way it is a complete experience, in which the past and the present are intertwined.”
‘Wonderful, that enthusiasm’
For the actor, this project is extra fun because he is involved from the beginning. “Bee Hannah van Hendrik I came into an existing group, now I have been able to experience how such a location performance is created from the start. That you rehearse in a small hall in Utrecht and everything falls into place at the location. In the beginning we also mainly rehearsed during the weekends, because the local amateur theater has a different job during the week. It is wonderful to see everyone’s enthusiasm.”
After The forgotten Twente spring De Walle is going on holiday first. “And after that I will be employed again as an advisor to our good saint.”