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Als het donker wordt

September 2024

 
Als het donker wordt... in this captivating theatrical concert, Dutch Classical Talent finalist Isabel Pronk takes you on a journey through the hauntingly beautiful emotions of loneliness and vulnerability that arise in the quiet of the night. But from this solitude emerges a powerful strength, the courage to begin again.

An evening filled with music by Astor Piazzolla, Kurt Weill, Wende Snijders, and a breathtaking new composition by Sarah Neutkens. 

Mezzo-soprano: Isabel Pronk
Violin: Valentine Blangé
Piano: Vera Kooper
Cello: Ketevan Roinishvili
Director: Fabienne Vegt
Writer: Amanda Payne


Photo by Juri Hiensch






Two Across

April 2024

Two Across is a spoken opera for two performers about watching and being watched. Set in a dimly-lit living room looking out over an apartment building on the opposite side of the street.

To enhance the musicality of Two Across, the layout resembles sheet music. This design allows the reader to easily see where dialogue overlaps and rhythms intertwine. Repeating words or sections of a sentence creates patterns that evoke songs without fully transforming into one. The choice of rhythm is not inspired by the meaning of the words but by the sound of the words themselves or even the sound of particular letters. 

Two Across is the second part of a trilogy of dramas written by Amanda Payne.

Two Across was performed at Das Leben am Haverkamp as a part of A Staged Slumber during Rewire Festival 2024, at Conny Janssen Danst during O. Festival 2024 and at Door Open Space during the Sandberg Graduation Show


Concept, writer, performer: Amanda Payne
Performer: Sabine Pendry 
Set-design: Caz Egelie and Jesse Strikwerda
Thanks: Sjaron Minailo and Claron McFadden




Photo by Adele Dipasquale


Trailer by Elena Štrok




No one ever told me we should have already been here

March 2024
No one ever told me we should have already been here” is a site-specific performance commissioned by the Dutch National Opera and the Opera Forward Festival. The starting point for the performance was the concept of instruction scores, a working method that balances the improvisational skills of the performer with rehearsed sequences. Various visual scores were created by the collective for this performance. Ultimately, it explored themes of loss and the acquisition of language, both verbal and non-verbal as well as the tension between the collective and the individual. This was achieved through the use of sung echoes, repetitive movements, humor, and an absurdist scenography inspired by the emergency exit space of the Dutch National Opera.
Makers and performers: Amanda Payne, Ari Teperberg, Caz Egelie, Diane Mahín,  Luz, Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir, Elena Štrok, Nadia Bakhshi, Sabine Pendry, SasaHara, Simone Goslinga.
Guest performer: Laura Bohn


Re:master Opera performed No one ever told me we should have already been here during Opera Forward Festival at the Dutch National Opera.


     
Photos by Ben van Duin




Three Exhale

May 2023


Three exhale is a text composition for English speaking voices. It is a play for three women about loss.

Ideally, a composer writes for an instrument that best captures the sound they envision. They may favor a warm tone, a rhythmic quality, or a blend of both. Similarly, a playwright develops characters to inhabit their play. These characters are distinguished by their appearance, life experiences, and social status, all of which influence their voice. A character might have an accent, a stutter, or use specific swear words. However, aside from variations in language, a writer cannot directly shape a character’s musicality.

In contrast, a composer defines tempo, pitch, duration, and dynamics. Through careful word placement, font size, horizontal and vertical scaling, and spacing, I have found a way to convey these musical parameters in a text score. There are moments when language blurs, and words detach from their meanings. Repetition transforms into rhythm, and just as it begins to feel comfortable to the ears, it shifts back to the narrative.

Three Exhale is the first part of a trilogy of dramas written by Amanda Payne. 

A first reading of Three Exhale was performed at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam in May 2023.


Text score: Three exhale


Welcome to the house of the ruler

October 2023

Welcome to the House of the Ruler was commmissioned by Amsterdam Dance Event and the H*art Museum in the fall of 2023. The terminus a quo for the performance was the opening of H’art Museum’s exhibition about Julius Caesar I came, I saw, I met my doom and Elif Murat’s sound piece Sonic Phantasmagoria. The collective, working together with Murat, worked on a show set around the hypothetical funeral of Julius Caesar, exploring (the vocal qualities of) grief, power dynamics and social status in response to the Kerkzaal of the H*art Museum.

Makers and performers: Amanda Payne, Ari Teperberg, Caz Egelie, Diane Mahín,  Luz, Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir, Elena Štrok, Nadia Bakhshi, Sabine Pendry, SasaHara, Simone Goslinga.
Music: Elif Murat


Re:master Opera performed Welcome to the house of the ruler during Amsterdam Dance Event at the H’ART museum.






I fell asleep on minute 6

March - June 2023
The piece revolves around the act of dream excavation: diving into the content and form of dreams as a way of poetically exploring both the individual and collective subconscious. Departing from a shared curiosity about the two-phase sleep pattern of medieval times, the uncanny essence of dreams, and the incredible dream documentation of Dion McGregor, the group decided to start exploring their oniric worlds.

For weeks, the 14 bodies recorded their dreams in the freshest form possible: at the very second of waking up. Everlasting yawns, hypnotic vocal fries, shredded speeches and absurdist storylines: a treasure mine was found. Excavating the words and vocal qualities of their dreams, the group of 14 voices composed their creation using means of collage, pastiche and layering. i fell asleep on minute 6 is a poetic worldbuilding inviting the audience into the collective process of the Dream-Excavators, sailing through the waters of their subconscious.

Makers and performers: Amanda Payne, Ari Teperberg, Caz Egelie, Diane Mahín,  Luz, Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir, Elena Štrok, Nadia Bakhshi, Sabine Pendry, SasaHara, Simone Goslinga.

I fell asleep on minute on minute 6 by Re:Master Opera was performed at the Opera Forward Festival, Synergy Festival and No-Art Festival in 2023.

Photo by Roman Ermolaev

Teaser: I fell asleep on minute 6


Pink Elephants on Parade

August 2021

Pink Elephants on Parade is an anti-coming-of-age story in the form of an electro-pop musical performance that transports you into a psychedelic fairy tale with live visuals and music.

‘As a host, I salute you. Attend my pink elephants on parade. Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. Just follow the railroad track’

In 2019, Jip Bartels, de Transmissie, and Amanda Payne won the Walhalla Pitch with their hallucinatory presentation of Pink Elephants on Parade, an ode to imagination and a requiem for childlike fantasy. 

Director and Dramaturgy: Anouk Beugels
Libretto: Amanda Payne
Performers: Jip Bartels, Ayla van Summeren en Amanda Payne
Music: David Schwarz en Jip Bartels
(Live)Video: Derk Stenvers
Set-design: Quinten de Smedt 
Costumes: Ferry Pappalardo
Production Assistant: Thenera van der Pluijm 


Pink Elephants on Parade was performed at Werkplaats Walhalla during O. festival in Rotterdam in 2021.


Photos by Vincent van Woerkom




Niet Antigone

August 2021
Niet Antigone is a modern response to Sophocles' tragedy. It begins with two young women, the creators united in their desire to challenge the established order. But soon, it derails into a clash between writer and composer. What do they truly wish to express with this adaptation of Antigone? What takes precedence text or music? And who embodies Antigone more: the composer or the writer? After all, doesn't everyone want to play her?

‘Godless wonder, time was never on her side with a lust to alter, the present seems awfully bleak. Godless’

Director: Anouk Beugels
Text: Amanda Payne
Music: Charlotte Dommershausen
Writing coach: Ramsey Nasr
Music  coach: Jeroen Sleyfer
Performers: Charlotte Dommershausen, Amanda Payne, Tjyying Liu, Timo Tembuyser, Lucretia van der Vloot, Suzanne Heijdra, Job Greuter, Mees Christeller, Podcast: Dide Vonk



Niet Antigone by Nanoek was performed at WORM.UBIK during O. festival in Rotterdam in 2021.



Lokroep

2021 - 2023
Lokroep, Nanoek’s #wetoo musical, is a one-way journey into the ruthless terrain between seduction and intimidation. A story that transports you to a sterile operating room, a coffee corner steeped in activism, and the studio of the most-watched talk show in the Netherlands. Composed, written, and brought to life by a new creative collective.

‘Don’t dart those eyes. Soft beauty frost bite. Claim no mind your own. To think a sin. Women just listen. Thy man thy lord thy head’
Director and concept: Anouk Beugels
Writers: Elisabeth van Nimwegen, Marijn Bellaard, Amanda Payne, Lotte Pierik, Lisse Knaapen, Mirthe Bron
Composer: Job Greuter
Music Coach: Paul Maassen
Writing coach: Tjyying Liu and Anouk Beugels
Light design: Jan Kortbeek/Lightwise
Performers: Shanice Redan, Marijn Bellaard, Tjyying Liu, Lisse Knaapen, Saskia Mees, Charlotte Dommershausen and Okke Westdorp



 Privileged the Musical

2019


P(L)AYHAUS, a music-theater collective by Charlotte Dommershausen and Amanda Payne, combines themes like discrimination with atomic physics, merges spoken word and R&B with the classical music of Poulenc, and performs a musical with no flying sets or tap-dancing numbers. A waterfall of powerful vocals and humor.
Created by Charlotte Dommershausen and Amanda Payne

Privileged the musical was performed at Pleintheater during Fringe Festival Amsterdam and in Energiehuis during Festival Wanderlust in Dordrecht in 2019.





Photos by Guido Bosua



T.U.G. Club

2018

The Unsatisfied Girls Club. How can a privileged young woman articulate an honest and sincere opinion about social injustice? In this performance, rich with electro-pop and poetic influences, P(L)AYHAUS embarks naively yet earnestly on a quest for an accepted stance and the first step toward... well, toward what, exactly?

Created by Charlotte Dommershausen and Amanda Payne

T.U.G. Club was performed by P(L)AYHAUS at Tapastheater in Amsterdam in 2018.