After his radical take on Macbeth, Johan Simons directs another classic from the world repertoire. In Danton's death he places the two top men of the French Revolution, Danton (Hans Kesting) and Robespierre (Gijs Scholten van Aschat), in stark opposition to each other. Coinciding with the performance will be Adelheid Roosen's De Oversteek (The Crossing): every performance night one hundred inhabitants, from quarters of the city where the play is performed, will settle onto the stage of Danton's death. It is an encounter between Simons and Roosen on the theatrical scaffold of the revolution.


Once, they fought side by side as friends, embodying the same ideals. Now, their relationship is fraught with suspicion and differing opinions about the next step to take. Robespiere wants to employ violence in order to establish a people's democracy, while Danton has growing suspicions about whether human beings are really able to make the sacrifices needed to bring about a revolution. He foresees failure and withdraws, together with his friends and loved ones, into a waking night of intoxication and carnal lust. In the meantime, Robespierre pulls power closer within his grasp with every head that is severed. Danton's death is a speculation on power and responsibility, revolution and violence, written with a near political sense of urgency.

Johan Simons, agent of the Münchner Kammerspiele, was formerly in charge of Hollandia, ZT Hollandia and NTGent. His plays often have an explicitly societal theme. After his extreme adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth in the previous Toneelgroep Amsterdam season, Simons now makes an equally affecting play of Danton's death as he wonders about the desirability and attainability of a revolution in the current time. 'Of course I have asked myself what revolution means in this day and age. Does the Arab Spring count as a revolution? Does the anti-globalism movement? The sit ins of the Indignados? I believe that today's only real revolution is the revolution of genetics. When I view the shambles mankind is making of its world and its self, we --I together with Michel Houellebecq and Peter Sloterdijk- ask ourselves: if we had the means to create a better human being than the one who walks the earth today, why shouldn't we? It is a question I explicitly want to address in Danton's death.'

Georg Büchner (1813-1837) is one of Germany's most outstanding playwrights. In his works, social involvement goes hand in hand with a radical break with literary tradition. His writings are fragmented, poetic texts, infused with actual references. When Büchner was felled by typhoid fever at age 23, Danton's death was his only published work. At a later stage his satire Leonce and Lena, the uncompleted Woyzeck and the novel Lenz were published, too. His documentary theatre style inspired countless playwrights, such as Bertolt Brecht, Heiner Müller and Sarah Kane.

de oversteek (the crossing) -- adelheid roosen
Project The Crossing by alliance partner Adelheid Roosen perfectly fits her own trademark motto; Kingdom-Empire-Community Centre, in that hierarchical order. In Danton's death local residents pop up and trek along with the performance like nomads. When the audience returns home, the residents stay behind and literally settle down for the night inside the theatres. 'A place is a place, but an audience is mobile. The People are mobile. A people is nomadic. So I trek, along with a hundred men and women from the quarters of the cities where the play is performed, into the theatre. We traverse the crossing between the city blocks and the theatre building. These civilians and citizens represent the essence of the play: the People. Most of them will seldom have set foot into a theatre. They will not perform. They stay right who they are: themselves. On the stage they will do whatever they do to feel at home, and they will honour the theatre as a place like a community centre.', says Roosen.

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