A man for all seasons

Jos van Kan:

A man for all seasons

Taipei Times: What is your background in theater?

Jos van Kan: When I was 16 I knew I wanted to do something in theater. I discovered that being a director was the best place for me - not on the stage but in the rehearsal studio. I studied to be a director of drama, and I began to introduce songs, because I like singing and music, and it slowly developed that I became a director of opera. I am very interested in crossovers, so sometimes I do a Baroque opera by (Henry) Purcell, and sometimes I do very modern operas for small audiences. ... When I did a play of Brokeback Mountain, from the novel of Annie Proulx, I took the text of the novel and asked the composer to write songs, so the cowboys were singing songs in the show.

TT: Why were you interested in studying Asian theater?

JVK: For me, you cannot go further from home (Holland) than Asia. There is no culture that is stranger to me than Asia, and that has appeal to me. As to the theater, I have a great love of stylization on stage and the Asian performing arts are highly skilled in using stylization.

TT: What did you get out of studying gezai opera in Ilan?

Being lonely around many people. Getting to know a culture that is very social, based on doing things in groups. ... Also to accept that there are things you cannot understand. Everybody should have this experience in their life. In the rehearsal studio there are many things that I don't understand, but still I go strong and I rehearse. I also try to accept the things I don't understand, that maybe I can go around them and get what I want in other ways; or don't get what I want, and get something else that also has its beauty. This is even more important as an experience than to see how fabulous people can fight on stage.

TT: What was working with a Taiwanese performance group like?

JVK: It can be a very positive feeling when you don't get what you want. You think we should go left, ... but you end up going right, and you find there are beautiful possibilities when you go right. It opens up the piece of art. I often say that I know how a show should "smell," from the very first rehearsal, even if you don't know what it will look like at the end. But here, sometimes even the smell changes, and in very surprising ways; to be open to that makes it interesting.

TT: Is the fusion of East and West just a dramatic gimmick?

JVK: I have forced myself to pick the disciplines only to serve the intent of the story in its best way. As long as this is done, I have no objection to this hip idea of fusion (of East and West), that we should shop (around) and mix and combine everything. I like The Second Goodbye because it is not a showy show, although we use many elements. I want to entertain, of course, because people go to the theater to be entertained, but besides this entertainment we should also talk about important things - communicate with an audience about things that touch our heart and brains. … You don't want to be superficial, but you don't want to bore the audience.- Ian Bartholomew