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Artist from the entire country gather in Wageningen begin November to give performances in a variety of student homes. The yearly theatre festival Roomservice provided intimate shows and music at ten different locations. Cozy attics, basements and barns gave both atmosphere and a lot of contact with the performing artists.
As I enter Casa Cranca situated on Wageningen’s main street the ‘Hoogstraat’ the warm sounds of Alex van Holstein and his band come to meet me. The band is playing on a stage in the corner of a beautiful spacious attic room which is filled to the notch with students. With a base, keyboard, guitar and voice the group plays melancholic Dutch pop music. A more upbeat song is about a old time drunkmans game; running around the church naked while trying to avoid the preacher. Alex explains to the international students what happens if someone get caught: he’s in big trouble…
In the Wolfswaard, a farm near the Rhine, dance Group El Puchero Flamenco will perform. The audience has a little bit more room in the barn with a large wooden stage. “Yes, it will sound great” an inhibitor predict. And he is right. With seductive looks five dancers stomp and clap to the beat of an electronic version of the original Spanish music. The modern variation of the traditional dance keeps thee show exciting. The reactions are all positive. “Wow, it almost seemed a war dance”. An international student agrees and sais it was ‘awesome’.
Again no one has asked for my ticket, but then again we are in Wageningen. In a city like Rotterdam something like this would never happen.
No one can tell me where Nathalie Baartman in performing so by the time I actually get to the performance it is already halfway. It is given in the spacious basement of ‘Huize Kemenade’. Nathalie’s cabaret performance is very visual and contains a lot of hyperactive dances. As she is dressed in a grey suit this gives a rather hysterical effect. She illustrates a binge attack with the tearing up of a cake on the beat of heavy punk rock music.
After the performance Natalie talks to her fans in a bright red girl’s room. “Remember the joke, in which I bake my Barbie out of frustration, I’ve really done that… Not out of frustration, but just to try is out”. She shows us pictures of the melting dolls and tells us she has really enjoyed this night. “This type of theatre is more intimate. People are less inclined to laugh really loud because they feel like they are being watched. But the coziness makes up for a lot, its just really fun!”
