Former journalist, theater maker and festival organizer Jos Visscher passed away yesterday in his hometown of Assen. He was ill for a short time. Visscher turned 65 years old.
Jos Visscher was a theater animal in heart and soul, (re)wrote plays, directed and produced. And took his rolls himself. He comes from an artistically creative family from Groningen. Father Kees Visscher was a well-known Groningen writer, younger brother Bert still draws full houses as a cabaret artist.
Jos Visscher has developed over the years as an autodidact into a playwright, artistic director and director. And sometimes he also puts himself in the role of an actor, and does not shy away from long monologues. But he prefers to be in control, and likes to leave the stage to others. And the art, he watches it.
It is in theater halls, from large to small, that Visscher’s first living begins, as a journalist who looks at everything with a critical eye. He became a reviewer for the Winschoter Courant, the newspaper that was later merged with the Drents-Groningse Pers (DGP), also publisher of the Drentse en Asser Courant and the Emmer Courant. Visscher rises to the rank of chief art editor and ends up at the head office of the newspaper publisher in Assen.
In Assen he focuses mainly on ad hoc theater productions, which can be seen at all kinds of locations. An old slaughterhouse, awaiting demolition, is the setting for the classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. He uses a chilly parking garage from top to bottom as a stage for a fierce monologue, which he writes himself and also performs himself. And a dilapidated, historic bakery, which is just about to collapse, fits seamlessly with a dramatic play.
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