de helling

Artistic director: Gerrie de Vries
Music dramaturgy: Klaas de Vries
Management: Kiki Raposo de Haas

In the music theatre works that are developed by De Helling, music plays the leading role. It is the starting point for developing new works, rather than an emotional supplement or interruption of the dramatic plot. All aspects of the performance evolve equally around that musical starting point.
The music theatre work of De Helling come into being through collaboration with a variety of composers and theatre directors with very different back ground. Creating a work from scratch in a joint venture of open minds results in greatly varying stage projects.
That is why, the working methods of De Helling differ with each project. Projects develop from different sources: either assembled by improvisation and experiment, from a fully worked out score as starting point for a performance, and everything in between. De Helling does not restrict itself to new works. Existing repertoire will feature on programmes regularly, but always developed with a new and different approach.
Contributors:
A specific choice of singers and musicians is essential for the type of works the group wants to present. But productions can also include writers, painters, sculptors, choreographers and film or video artists.
Themes: De Helling explores a great variety of themes.

De Helling produces one music theatre production per year, plus various small scale experimental projects performed in targeted neighbourhoods. These experiments aim to surprise people who are not accustomed to visit music theatre performances with a captivating, unexpected experience. For these experiments, De Helling cooperates with festivals, community centres and schools. E.g. a cooperation with the Rotterdams Opera Choir where De Helling performed La Habanera from Carmen in the foyer of the Luxor Theatre in Rotterdam and the ‘beautiful laundrette’ tour, where three big women do their laundry in different laundrettes while singing songs written especially for the occasion by Rob Zuidam.

*) The simple translation of ‘De Helling’ would be ‘The Slope’, though by the once-so-seafaring Dutch it is still often used in the meaning of ´The Ship launching slope´