In the entrance hall of a high-rise apartment building, a young woman campaigns for a new park. People reject her idea again and again, but that doesn’t discourage her in the least. She defends her dream of a park with such passion that after a while you begin to wonder if she is out of her mind. Or simply out of this world.
Hoge Weg (High Road) is a new play written by Bart Van Nuffelen (MartHa!tentatief ), performed by Evelien Bosmans. She talks about her campaign with the residents of the tower, usually through the intercom, but also face-to-face with people in the entrance hall. The building residents are played both by professional actors and people who have never been on stage before. For the casting, MartHa!tentatief looked in city neighbourhoods and far beyond.
Hoge Weg seeks answers to numerous questions. Is it possible to sketch a complete portrait of a contemporary city on the basis of 64 doorbells? Why does a vulnerable young woman keep subjecting herself to an endless series of rejections? Can a play nowadays shed almost unbearable light on goodness? And then we haven’t even come to the really difficult question: Is it possible to make a portrait of a contemporary city by focusing on a typically middle-class dream, namely the creation of a new park?
Since 2010, Bart Van Nuffelen has increasingly emphasized this urban reality in his plays. Polen op zondag, 13 1⁄2, Dinska Bronska and the recent De fietsendief have all zoomed in on this.