1975 » The Netherlands » Stage and costume design

HOLANDSKO

The activities of the Scarab studio are characterized by endeavours to achieve creative cooperation between the plastic arts and other dramatic means of expression, such as music, movement, the spoken word and films. Scarab attempts to create a total theatre. The artists in the studio work in the following manner: two of them develop a given range of ideas and determine several points of departure for their realization. From this moment onward, collaboration with the other artists begins and these include figurative painters, poets and musicians. This stage of preparations still offers so many possibilities, that each artist can fully develop his own approach within the framework of the production as a whole. The aim of such a method, where the point of departure is some main theme, is to achieve a whole series of impressive interpretations, each of which is, to a certain degree, quite independent. The central theme is interpreted in a number of way through images and movement. The result is a collage of live images, where the actors, the stage sets, the text and sound effects are all brought together by a single rhythm, which is provided by available technical facilities, such as mechanical mobile sets and floors, light effects and films which form a "structure de fonf". A permanent subject of theatrical production at the Scarab Studio are the values of a consumer society, which seeks and absorbs everything which is easily accessible and pleasant. At the same time aggression is constantly present - a phenomenon which runs parallel to seeking out accessible and selfish luxury. Sometimes the figurative expression is stressed, while at other times the literary element predominates. All productions aim at maintaining a fragile equilibrium between the numerous modes of expression, which are combined in various ways. The ideal to which the Studio is always dedicated is to maintain a happy harmony among the various elements in a production, the same kind of harmony we find among the woodwinds and brass instruments in a symphony orchestra. Each production offers the possibility of new interpretations, committed to the reality of the world by which it is surrounded. This interpretation is carried out with the aid of symbols and gestures, which by their alienating effect sometimes provoke hallucinations and at other times a feeling of purification. For these reasons the reality in the Scarab lies between the world as it is and the world as it could be. This is a legitimate point of departure for its creative work.

Exhibiting artists / ateliers

• Jan van AS

Additional information: Born in 1928 in The Hague. He became interested in the theatre and especially in the work B. Brecht and F. Weiss through a study of German language and literature. In 1966 he met Adri Boon with whom he has since then been associated, as the executive director and one of the stage directors of the Scarab Studio.

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• Adri BOON

Additional information: Born in 1927 in The Hague; the founder and artistic director of the Scarab Studio. In the years 1959-60 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague. He began his artistic work in glass and tapestries. In 1966 he began to collaborate with Jan van As in staging an experimental poetry programme, Lorca. In 1967 their joint experiments led to the foundation of the Scarab Studio, which during that same year presented Batman in Exile. In 1968 the Studio acquired its present theatre studio. Among others, in 1969 it presented Poppetgom at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, at the VIth Biennial in Paris and at the occasion of the two-week Festival of Contemporary Art in Geneva, Switzerland; Netherlands Television made a montage of this programme. During the years 1970 and 1971 the Studio began to experiment with films, which led to the production of Fata Banana, which has been showen, among others, at the Festival of Young Theatres in Liége, at the Europalia Festival at Brussels and at the Bitef Festival in Belgrade. In the years 1972-73 the Studio continued in its experiments, which resulted in the film Witstrip, which was showen among others, at the XXth West- deutsche Kurzfilmtage in Oberhausen and at the Certramen Internacional de Gine Documental y Gortometraje in Bilbao. At the request of the Nederlandes Operastichting in 1974 the studio made Dummies, which was presented in Amsterodam and La Haya and Netherlands Television broadcast a cross-section of the programme. In 1975 Scarab exhibited its théatre designs at the Amsterodam Theatre Museum. At present the Studio is preparing new theatrical and cinema experiments.

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• Gérard COLJE

Additional information: Born in 1922 in Ridderkerk; a painter, graphic artist, sculptor. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Hague. He is a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam. He has exhibited in the Netherlands, as well as abroad. In 1957 he received the Jacob Maris Prize for his graphics.

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Exhibiting works

• Adri BOON: (Dummies), Kurzaal 1974, Director: A. Boon, O. Ketting, W. van Amen, P. Blokhuis, G. Colje, H. Hollenbach, Livinus, H. de Morr, J. van Munster¨, G. Verdijk,
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  
• Jan van AS, Adri BOON: (Fata Banana), Studio Scarabee 1971, Director: A. Boon, van Amen, P. Blokhuis, M. Carlier, G. Coljé, G. Hadeler, H. Hollenbach, Lucebert, J. van Munster, D. Simonis, R. Tuinebreyer, G. Verdijk,
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  
• Jan van AS, Adri BOON: (Witstrip), N.O.S.T.V. 1973, Director: Adri BOON, ,