Olympique Dramatique
De Krippel
With The Cripple of Inishmaan, Martin McDonagh – best known for the film In Bruges, among other works – wrote a raw black comedy in 1996 that would become the first part of his Aran Islands Trilogy. ‘Cripple’ Billy Claven is an orphan on a remote Irish island in the 1930s. As well as being crippled and seriously ill, he is also intelligent: a severe handicap in a community of mentally rigid islanders. When a film crew from Hollywood arrives on a neighbouring island to shoot a documentary, Billy sees a way out.
With their idiosyncratic adaptation De Krippel, Olympique Dramatique won the hearts of theatre audiences in 2001; the production was selected for the 2002 Theatre Festival. “De Krippel is absolutely over-the-top, completely and utterly over the top, magnificently raunchy and exaggerated, but precisely because of that, it is also bitingly harsh. It is a rough landing, stumbling and trying to scramble back to your feet,” wrote the jury at the time.
Now it is time for a reworking. A quarter of a century has passed, but social exclusion, the desire for recognition and the construction of identity remain just as relevant. In an age where image-building and social media determine even more strongly how people view themselves, De Krippel loses none of its relevance.
With their idiosyncratic adaptation De Krippel, Olympique Dramatique won the hearts of theatre audiences in 2001; the production was selected for the 2002 Theatre Festival. “De Krippel is absolutely over-the-top, completely and utterly over the top, magnificently raunchy and exaggerated, but precisely because of that, it is also bitingly harsh. It is a rough landing, stumbling and trying to scramble back to your feet,” wrote the jury at the time.
Now it is time for a reworking. A quarter of a century has passed, but social exclusion, the desire for recognition and the construction of identity remain just as relevant. In an age where image-building and social media determine even more strongly how people view themselves, De Krippel loses none of its relevance.