Guy Cassiers tackles Jonathan Littell’s almost one-thousand-page novel The Kindly Ones about the destruction of Jews during the Second World War. When it was published in 2006, the book provoked heated reactions, both positive and negative.
Littell makes us realize that the Third Reich was not unduly populated by monsters or perverts but by ordinary citizens who collectively moved toward total madness under and because of Nazi socialism. Littell takes the readers with him into the head of the perpetrator, thereby placing them in the uncomfortable position of identifying with him.
In De welwillenden Guy Cassiers confronts the darkest side of human behaviour: the Nazi ideology and the destruction of the Jews. What happened in order to make this catastrophe in the heart of Europe possible? What political, ideological, psychological and social transformations brought about this violence and let it take its course? Europe’s current shaky political foundations and the rise of far-right, xenophobic and anti-European parties give this project a special urgency.
The Toneelhuis ensemble is joined by five actors from Toneelgroep Amsterdam and together they set in motion a carousel of characters around Max Aue (performed by Hans Kesting).
De welwillenden is part of The Littell Project, with the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
Dans le rôle de Max Aue, Hans Kesting nous fascine pendant trois heures. (…) Cette exploration subtile du cerveau du coupable colle à la peau. Et Kesting vous poursuit jusque dans vos rêves.
director
- Guy Cassiers
dramaturgy
- Erwin Jans
text
- Jonathan Littell
adaptation
- Guy Cassiers
script based on the translation by
- Jeanne Holierhoek
- Janneke van der Meulen
with
- Abke Haring
- Vincent van Sande
- Jip van den Dool
- Hans Kesting
- Johan Van Assche
- Kevin Janssens
- Aus Greidanus jr.
- Bart Slegers
- Alwin Pulinckx
- Fred Goessens
- Katelijne Damen
video design
- Frederik Jassogne
sound design
- Diederik De Cock
light consultant
- Bas Devos
costume and set design
- Tim Van Steenbergen
publisher
- De Arbeiderspers
production
- Toneelhuis
- Toneelgroep Amsterdam
coproduction
- DE SINGEL
with the support of
- Cultuur Programma van de Europese Unie
in collaboration with
- Istanbul Theatre Festival
- Maison de la Culture d'Amiens
- Le Phénix, Scène nationale de Valenciennes
- Festival Temporada Alta
- Romaeuropa Festival
