Borgen: reality as the superlative of technology

[jrineakter]

Column – See it as an unconditional conspiracy with space. If need be, compare it to a flight from Amsterdam to San Francisco, then you are also offline for nine or ten hours. Nine hours long. Only then not in the air, but in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. It is Whit Monday, and the Noord Nederlands Toneel is playing Borgen , a stage adaptation of the popular Danish political series of the same name that was first broadcast in 2010.


Two more seasons would follow, the last broadcast in 2013. Borgen was broadcast by BBC Four, Arte, pay channels such as Film1 and Prime (Flemish) and had of course also made a splash in the illegal download circuit. Later, our public broadcaster would broadcast the three seasons, and the series found its way via legal DVDs.

Binge-watching on stage
Borgen is in the ranks of popular series such as Breaking Bad , Game of Thrones , House of Cards , Orange is the new Black , The Wire , Dexter and many others. All series that keep people glued to the two-dimensional screen. Whether it is a TV or computer screen, does not matter. It is in the 'small' environment, at home, on australia telegram number list the plane if necessary, with or without friends. Preferably multiple episodes in a row. Binge-watching , as it is called, or marathon watching. It would all be at the expense of theater visits.

Not so the stage version of Borgen . The premiere was in March this year. And the show – which is only played in the weekend – is sold out almost everywhere. And then we are talking about the big halls in the big cities.

14 episodes in a row
Monday afternoon one o'clock. It is Whit Monday. In an email from the Schouwburg, visitors were warned that there were traffic and parking problems on the Leidseplein. We get 14 episodes in which the Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg (Marlou Gorter), her spin doctor Kasper Juul (Peter Vandemeuebroecke), the ambitious journalist Katrine Fonsmark (Anna Drijver), the Minister of Justice and Foreign Affairs Troels Höxenhagen (Dragan Bakema) and political reporter Hanne Holm (Renée Soutendijk) are closely followed, among others.

Cliffhangers
An episode ends with a cliffhanger, then a five-minute break, after which it continues with a short summary of the previous one. The stage is almost bare, you see the stone back wall. After a few episodes you start identifying locations. At the home of the prime minister, the press conferences, the editorial office of TV1. The scenes on stage change rapidly. Actors also enter the room, there is live music (vocals, bass, harp, trumpet, violin) led by musician Eef van Breen. Enchantingly beautiful. During some breaks the actors hand out food in the room. In the meantime, silent play takes place on stage. This is a sensory experience of 3D theatre that does not even come close to the most beautiful flatscreen supplemented with Dolby surround.

Technology is a parody of reality.

Here reality surpasses technology.

column-borgen-sterre-steins-bishop
Drawing: Sterre Steins Bisschop

No pause button
No Dolby surround system can approach the depth and nuance of the sound in the hall. We have no pause button. This is a surrender to time. The actors set the pace, the audience just has to follow. The story comes close to the script of the series. Here and there updated to the white reality of the refugee problem. There are monologues that you wish were said in real life (Birgitte Nyborg), monologues that you have almost literally heard a long time ago (Svend Age Saltum, Harry Piekema as the Danish Wilders) and monologues that are given an open curtain (Hanne Holm).

It is an interesting phenomenon. An experience that once you have started is unavoidable, and not a fiber in you protests. The applause at the end was real, it had nothing to do with relief after 9 hours of theater.

It all started with a script, a studio and a series. It was watched by millions of people who certainly did not go to the theater or the cinema that night they watched it. And later it was 'brought' into the three-dimensional world, into the theater. There were many fans in the audience.