Year:
2019
Publisher:
Toneelgroep Maastricht
Language:
Dutch
Awarded with:
Toneel Publieksprijs TAQA De Vest, 2019
Delftse Kijker, 2019

JUST CALL IT LOVE
A COMEDY OF LUST AND AFFECTION

The bitter, touching comedy Just Call It Love stages a relay of encounters in the famous Majestic Imperial Hotel, where hundreds of rooms have room for loneliness. The play follows the quest of its characters for lust, affection or a form of solidarity and recognition that may ease the silence and solitude. What they are looking for, goes under many names. But just call it love.

Pfeijffer ironically, viciously, passionately and disconcertingly sheds light on love in the 21st century, where sex and love are often confounded, with all its consequences. Almost every scene sets off from a recognizable starting point. In daily life, too, what happens is mainly cliché. But every time the situation is reversed in a surprising manner within a few exchanges, inviting the public to reconsider their predetermined views and premature conclusions. Through this potpourri of one-act plays, offering a sample card of forms of love at the beginning of the third millennium, runs like a red thread to the story of the elderly rock and roll legend Mitchel Brubaker, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, and his wife Cat, who during his heydays was his groupie and background singer and who now reminds him of the adventures during their fifty year long love-story that have leaked from his own memory. The story of Cat is the story of the ultimate sacrifice and a poignant demonstration of true love.

Premiere: 10 March 2019, Theater aan het Vrijthof, Maastricht

Actors: Anniek Pheifer, Jeroen Spitzenberger, Jan-Paul Buijs, Jouman Fattal, Viktor Griffioen, Elisabeth De Loore

Director: Michel Sluysmans

Company: Toneelgroep Maastricht


Year:
Toneelgroep Maastricht
Publisher:
Toneelgroep Maastricht
Language:
Dutch
Buy:
Excerpt:

“Pfeijffer’s text is a refined mix of plastic descriptions of dismal sexual indulgences and solemn statements about love. It is an ingeniously constructed mosaic story, which also covers contemporary themes such as #MeToo, robot sex and the ups and downs of dating sites.” ***** De Volkskrant

Just Call It Love is both a heart cry and a brilliant pastiche on Reigen [from Arthur Schnitzler] from the fin de siècle. It is also an investigation into contemporary morality, questioning about how we deal with love in times of #MeToo, internet dating and robot love.” **** NRC Handelblad

“A hilarious, mean, but also poetic text.” – **** The Limburger

Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer shows himself to be a true romantic.” — Trouw