Dood Paard

Dood Paard is a theatre group from Amsterdam that is primarily involved in creating theatre performances which it takes on tour through Holland and Belgium. It performs around 100 nights a year. At the heart of the performance is always a text, though a major role is also played by music and moving images. Most plays continue to be performed over the years as STOCK or repertoire. An English version is made of some performances which the company then takes on tour to theatres in the rest of Europe. A part of Dood Paard's repertoire consists of new Dutch-language plays, which are written specially for the group. Another part consists of plays from the world repertoire, ranging from Shakespeare to Handke. The company is regularly involved in the making of films for television. Performances are sometimes produced for special occasions and in places outside the regular circuit. Most productions by Dood Paard involve co-operation between regular company members and individual theatre directors/actors or other companies. Dood Paard's political engagement is clearly apparent in their performances. 

In 1993 Kuno Bakker, Manja Topper and Oscar van Woensel, at that time all recently graduated from theatre school, founded the Dood Paard Theatre Company. Since then, the company has gained a prominent avant-garde rating in the Dutch theatre scene. To date their diverse achievements include thirty-three theatre productions, several TV films and a TV series. Although they number only four resident actors (the fourth is Gillis Biesheuvel) and regular guest actors, the group can be termed a repertoire company since its productions are often re-staged: older pieces are performed in conjunction with current work. 

Dood Paard's method of working is a collective process, there is no director - actors collaborate with a technician and sometimes a deejay in trying out stage formulas. The limits of theatrical possibility are explored and emotional extremes are studied. Unity of time and place is taken literally so that performances are often relevant to current events. Universal themes are tackled with a characteristic lightness and exuberant energy that show humour to be one of the group's most important weapons, alternated with irony and bitterness. A performance by Dood Paard is an event in itself, a unique experience.
The actors toy with their roles, interpreting them very freely, to the extent that distinctions between different characters sometimes become blurred. At a certain point, the text may sound autobiographical - improvised on the spot, while later the actor may present the same character as a stereotype, a puppet speaking in quotations. These switches are invariably unpredictable and ambiguous.

In essence, Dood Paard is a company that is not afraid to take risks and court danger, a group of actors who create stimulating and challenging works of theatre that can captivate an audience.