BBM Now a Dutch Play - Premier tonight

[mvansand76]

I am on a translation roll! LOL.

Here is the first part of the article in the big Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant today, an interview with the director: It's interesting to read how arrogant this guy is and how he talks about the movie... I am not sure I like this guy and I will make sure to kick his ass when I do meet him after the show!

Interview with director Jos van Kan:
After the film adaptation, the Dutch are now the first to see Brokeback Mountain as a play.

"'Annie Proulx' language is something very beautiful. Tough and direct, there is no way around it. Ang Lee translated that into beautiful images in his movie. I think the suggestion and the imagination that her language calls up are as strong as that."

For theatre director Jos van Kan it is clear: Brokeback Mountain is first and foremost the story by writer Annie Proulx. Not the 2006 Ang Lee movie. At theatre company De Wetten van Kepler he directs the story as a musical theatre piece. He is the first to turn the story by Proulx into a play.

"Even though it is a beautiful story, nobody hit upon the idea to turn it into a play. I think that's strange. I read the short story by Proulx long before the movie came out. I was touched. It felt drenched with theatre. At last not a story about life in the urban jungle, but about people who really live in nature and where the landscape is a reflection of themselves. About people who feel they are thrown onto this earth. I like to tell about that.

Even though he really did not think it was a bad movie, Van Kan did try to forget the memory of it during the making of this play. "I saw the movie once, when it came out. The film script is lying on my table. I haven't read it yet. I keep thinking never mind...

[Toast]

Thanks mvansand76

yes it was funny from the machine.

Now that's what I wanted to read.
Good job.

It would be interesting to see how he adapted Annie Proulx's story.
Toast

[Mikaela]

Well, I can understand him (the director) in a way. Wanting to concentrate on the original source material and present his own visual and emotional interpretation, - another take on the events the short story barely hints at.....

He knows, of course, about the success of the film and that most of his theatre audience will probably have seen the film andwill be bearing it and the impact it made strongly in mind; - they'll be comparing the impact the play makes, and the characterization of Jack and Ennis, - to the film. He probably feels a little intimidated by that and so comes across a bit blustery to cover that up.

It will be very interesting to hear how the play presents its take on the original story. Bearing in mind how much the film fleshed out small sentences and sub-plots and many characters, such as Lureen, and Cassie; - a fresh take on all that might present entirely different events. And what about Jack's death, for instance - I wonder if the play witt retain the same level of ambiguity.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about the play and your review of it Melissa - and I'd have loved to see it. Never mind that I don't understand Dutch. I do understand Brokish!  

[mvansand76]

And the second part.... (*exhausted smiley*)


Only when the Ang Lee movie came out in 2006 did Brokeback Mountain become well-known amongst a wide audience. Lee turned the short story by Annie Proulx into an integer and atypical Hollywood movie that caused quite a sensation. It is about two taciturn, macho cowboys who find love, not with their wives, but in each other's arms. It earned three Oscars. And a lot of publicity.

Actors Sieger Sloot (Jack) and Willem Schouten (Ennis) have taken up the challenge to use Proulx's language to make the love between Jack and Ennis believable. In his adaptation, Van Kan chose to divide all the lines over the two men. "In theatre you can travel through the hearts and minds of these two men. With the help of video images and music we shape their thoughts and feelings. Very different from the medium of film. In film an anecdote is depicted realistically. Obviously, in theatre we can shamelessly let go of that realism. Play with the wording. And see what happens then."

We only see the cowboys' wives in the video projections on wooden screens. Van Kan: "In the movie the roles of the wives are expanded and the children are also incorporated in it. That is an accent that Lee has chosen. I would rather put the emphasis on the inner world of those two. The self-censure that mainly Ennis is tormented by, that far-reaching homophobia within himself, that's fascinating. That's why Ennis is a tragic character. He is everything but rooted in himself. I want to show that.

Brokeback Mountain has another trump: music. "Jack and Ennis sing songs. For this, I went shopping in the short story by Annie Proulx and looked for sentences that work best. If you can't fix it, you've got to stand it. The final sentence of the story. That for me is the essence of the show. There are things in life that you cannot solve and that you have got to learn to live with.

Brokeback Mountain by De Wetten van Kepler. Premiere tonight in the Verkadefabriek in Den Bosch.

Volkskrant - 9th of February 2007




 

[mvansand76]

Here they are, Dutch Jack and Ennis...

[David In Indy]

Isn't Melissa great, ya'll?? 

Thanks Melissa!!!        

[mvansand76]

Isn't Melissa great, ya'll?? 

Thanks Melissa!!!        

I just hope the translations made sense! 

[David In Indy]

I just hope the translations made sense! 

Are you kidding? They make PERFECT sense!

Thanks for all your hard work. We appreciate it! 

[Toast]

Your translations make total sense Melissa

One little question :  How do you say  "If you can't fix it, you've got to stand it" in Dutch.
I hope the music turns up somewhere

Thanks again.
I enjoyed all the translations you did.

Toast

[mvansand76]

Your translations make total sense Melissa

One little question :  How do you say  "If you can't fix it, you've got to stand it" in Dutch.
I hope the music turns up somewhere

Thanks again.
I enjoyed all the translations you did.

Toast

Oh gosh, that really cannot be translated, I wonder how they are gonna do that! Uhm... here goes...

Als je er niks aan kunt doen, dan moet je er maar mee leren leven...