THE MIRACULOUS TRANSFORMATION OF A FRYING BASKET

The performance of TAMTAM object theater can then be seen in the theatre. Celebrities Gérard Schiphorst and Marije van der Sande have been entertaining, surprising and intriguing the public for years with their manipulations of everyday objects. To Have Or Not To Have starts almost idyllic, like a nature report. Scratching birds hunt for worms, beetles dig in the sand that forms the flexible floor on which, with and in which is performed, but the dramatis personae are pliers, salad cutlery or a rat trap (or was it a fox trap?). When at some point a red, well-filled purse is dug up from the sand, a conflict ignites over the possession of this purse, which continues to escalate.

The experienced performers know exactly what timing to use, how to make the objects breathe, look, suffer, act. Their own presence as a manipulator plays a full part and in this game of possessiveness and competition, even their part in playing with the objects is affected by envy and competition, which fits seamlessly with the battle shown.

The audience keeps an amused and amazed smile at all this: how is it possible that through the manipulation of kitchen utensils a mirror can be held up to show human interpersonal weaknesses. A ‘puppet’ indeed breaks norms and anyone who wants to see the miraculous transformation a frying basket and a whisk can experience this with their own eyes in this soft-powerful performance.