Featuring readings by Dyveke Bredsdorff, Cornelia Isaksson and Taylor Le Melle
December 7, 2024—8pm
Torpedo Theater, Amsterdam
ACT XI marks our second open call as a platform. Given that Playbill originally began from a perceived lack of presentation spaces focused exclusively on language- and text-based artistic works in the Netherlands, we initiated the now-annual tradition of Open Stage in 2023. We did this as we wanted to hand the platform over to artists and writers working with similar concerns, aware that taking the stage often requires resources not always available.
This year, we teamed up with Book Works—a leading art publisher and platform for (art) writing based in London—to focus specifically on the unsupported reading and recital of texts on stage. While reading the applications, it became clear that there are many practitioners working with (auto)fiction and poetry, eager to present or experiment with this type of writing within live formats. We were especially taken by the willingness on part of the applicants to actually experiment, meaning the applications that stood out to us were ones where a risk was woven into the plans—be it the first externalisation of a text within a public setting or a piece of writing in very early draft form, so on and so forth. As Gavin Everall, the director of Book Works, noted during our deliberations, ‘Book Works has always sought to give opportunities to new work to develop, where there is something to solve in the process’. Regarding our intentions for Open Stage, this also rang very true: the point is to try something out as a step towards an aftermath, and to do so from within the safety of a small and supportive audience.
The selected contributors— Dyveke Bredsdorff, Cornelia Isaksson and Taylor Le Melle—come at text and its performativity from different angles, but together present a cross section of practitioners primarily busy with writing and its distribution across various formats, in this case the stage. From early sketches of a soon-to-be-written play to the vocalisation of a non-existent novel to a piece of fiction seemingly born from first-hand workforce experience, the three contributions span different social relations and power dynamics, all of which are ultimately tied together through alternating currencies and their conditions of exchange.
𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 (𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭) 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘢 𝘑𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘶𝘥 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘚𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘜𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘢. 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭: 𝘈𝘊𝘛 𝘟𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘎𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴, 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯; 𝘈𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳- 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘍𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦 𝘒𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘢𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘕𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘋𝘺𝘷𝘦𝘬𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘧𝘧 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘢 𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘤𝘪ó𝘯 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘵 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘒𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘦𝘮, 𝘈𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘮.
