Why cookies are good for you
On the seventh of May 2014 I, and most of classmates, have been to the
theater show Cookies. This play is acted out by the members of stage
group ‘Oostpool’. This production is in cooperation with the theater of
Sonnevanck which coordinates theater for adolescents in the Eastern part
of the Netherlands. Oostpool strives to gain interest, mainly from the
youth, for theater. It is directed by Joeri Vos and the actors are Ilke
Paddenburg, Hanne Struyf and Lowie van Oers.
They tend to create lively performances in which they manage to make
their audience reflect on themselves, life and society. One of their main
techniques for evoking these thoughts is making their shows interactive.
This extract is approximately how Oostpool advertises itself on social
media and their own flyers. To be able to evaluate this statement one must first know a bit about the
plot of the show Cookies.
It starts out with a girl (Kat) sitting in her kitchen on a chair from ikea. This fact is mentioned several
times probably to emphasize the idea of a regular young couple. The girl is overthinking her life in a
rather depressing way. She mentions all the stuff in the world which she cannot do. Then her
boyfriend (Mark) comes home from work in an equally down mood. Mark feels that his job as
‘searcher of funny YouTube movies’ for a television program is not important enough. The two of
them argue a bit which they do quite a lot in the play. Eventually Mark starts to tell about a girl he
saw during lunch. This mysterious girl all of a sudden
shows up in their apartment but only Mark can see her.
Some strange things happen and each time this girl is
involved. Eventually she encourages Mark to do more
with his life.
I thought the acting was very good especially by the
mysterious girl who-creepily- looked the entire audience
in their eyes. Because of the small space we were in it
felt very personal and it was intriguing how the actors
handled that. The story was very compelling and it held
your attention. Though the message of the play was quite deep it was told in a very light and
humoristic way. I personally really liked the effects they used with very example the cameras and a
screen that portrayed the actors ‘outside’ but could be paused any time. The spacing of everything
was very creative mainly due to the lack of space to begin with. Notable is that the actors already
performed the same play a couple of times the same day and they still put in all their energy thus
making it lively.
I think the feeling of every single day dragging on to the next is something that most people can
recognize at some point in their life. However I do not know whether this message was entirely clear
to me and the rest of the audience just by watching the play. I read the flyer that belongs to the
show and Oostpool’s explanation of the play and then I did start to make connections between the
play and its m essage. The characters being fed up with their lives and trying to adapt to changing