31 March 2009
From
Radio Netherlands:
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has extensively praised the Netherlands for "being at the forefront of the international community time and time again". Her praise not only referred to how quickly the Netherlands had organised the conference, after Washington first launched the initiative only a month ago. In her speech to the conference, she also praised the "extraordinary contribution and leadership that the Dutch mission has provided in Afghanistan." She went on to say other European countries and the United States in other Afghan provinces have copied the Dutch mix of military effort with development work.
Mrs Clinton called the typically Dutch approach in Uruzgan an important source of inspiration for the new American strategy that President Barack Obama presented last week. Dutch politicians have been saying for some time that the new US Afghanistan plan is similar to the Dutch approach, and that the choice of The Hague to host the talks is proof of this. However, this is the first time this has been echoed by a senior American politician.
Read the entire article
here.
Dutch news interviews Hillary Clinton
RTL Nieuws interviews Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
29 March 2009
From
CNN:
The Netherlands remain top of World Cup Group Nine, maintaining their 100 per cent record in the process, after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Scotland at the Amsterdam ArenA. The visitors missed an early chance to go ahead through Kenny Miller and they were made to pay in the 29th minute when in-form Real Madrid striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar headed home Mark Van Bommel's deep cross at the back post. Then, on the stroke of half-time, Arsenal's Robin Van Persie added the second goal with another header from close-range, this time from Arjen Robben's corner.
Gary Caldwell thought he had brought Scotland back into the match in the 73rd minute, but his header was chalked off for a foul. And, just three minutes later, the Dutch secured the three points with a Dirk Kuyt penalty after Christophe Berra had fouled Huntelaar.
Read the entire article
here.
Dutch coach Van Marwijk delighted with victory
Holland coach Bert van Marwijk hailed a "terrific" performance by his side following the 3-0 win over Scotland. "Internationally that is a fine score," he said. "We gave away only one real chance so we have done a terrific job. "At the start our tempo was too low and Scotland were also still fresh. They kept the field small and that's why we couldn't easily penetrate their defence. Holland are now eight points clear of Iceland and Scotland in World Cup qualifying Group Nine, but Van Marwijk is refusing to celebrate just yet. "We have set a good pace, but it's not real yet. I will wait for that moment," he added. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar continued his scoring streak with the opening goal in the Amsterdam ArenA, with Robin van Persie and Dirk Kuyt grabbing the other goals.
ESPN
28 March 2009
From the
New York Times:
On April 4, 1609, 400 years ago next Saturday, Henry Hudson left Amsterdam Harbor to search for a northern passage over Russia to the Far East. Hudson was supposed to sail east, as he had on two earlier unsuccessful voyages. Both were aborted by arctic ice. Instead, this time he obstinately steered his triple-masted yacht named the Half Moon toward the New World and a Northwest Passage to Asia. Like Corrigan, Hudson deliberately crossed the Atlantic, but went the other way. Both adventurers discovered the enduring power of publicity. But while Corrigan’s name is irrevocably associated with a geographic blunder, Hudson’s is linked to the majestic river he was apparently the first European to explore. You can choose from any number of dates, but arguably this April is the beginning of the birthday of New York. The 400th anniversary of Hudson’s voyage will be celebrated this week in Amsterdam and also in Manhattan, where the Museum of the City of New York opens “Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson.”
While Hudson and his crew received a decidedly mixed reception from the natives, consider what’s happened since: Today, New York’s population includes more American Indians and more people who identify their ancestry as Dutch than any other big city in the nation. And that is precisely the point of the museum’s exhibition: New York is different from other places in America, and always has been, because it was founded by the Dutch. “The Dutch were the first to overthrow a king and create a republic,” says Sarah Henry, chief curator of the Museum of the City of New York. “Nobody was celebrating tolerance, but the Dutch had a pragmatic approach to diversity.”
The collection validates the enduring Dutch legacy and the shared economic heritage of Amsterdam and New Amsterdam, including the birth of, dare we say it, Wall Street, figuratively and literally, where stock trading and multinational companies were incubated and where a barricade was built as protection from both the Indians and the British. In September, the museum will publish “New York 400: A Visual History of America’s Greatest City with Images from The Museum of the City of New York,” a stunning collection of paintings and photographs, many of them never displayed publicly before.
Read the entire podcast transcript
here (includes a link to listen or download this podcast).
28 March 2009
From
ESPN:
Holland defender Joris Mathijsen expects Scotland to be defensive-minded in tonight's World Cup qualifier at the Amsterdam ArenA. Bert van Marwijk's team have a 100% record from their first three Group Nine matches and lead the way by five points from the second-placed Scots and Iceland. Mathijsen believes George Burley's side would be more than happy to leave the Dutch capital with a point. The Hamburg player insists Oranje will pay the Scots due respect but will not be focusing too much on their rivals.
"Of course we speak about the strong and weak points of opposing teams,'' he said. "But we must (mainly) all look at ourselves. If we are in a good shape, then we will win on Saturday.'' As well as having the momentum of a strong start to qualifying, Mathijsen believes conditions will also be on Holland's side. "The roof will be closed and the field is good,'' he said. "So the conditions for a good result are there.''
More at
ESPN.
25 March 2009
From the
Wall Street Journal:
The Dutch government will launch a EUR6 billion stimulus package for the economy, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said Wednesday, addressing the parliament. "The global economic crisis is putting our society under strain. We are facing a shrinking economy, rising unemployment and a widening budget deficit", Balkenende said. The stimulus package will enable the government to invest in jobs, education, infrastructure and energy-saving and fiscal measures, the prime minister said. The Prime Minister said the package will get an additional EUR1.5 billion stimulus from the Dutch provinces. He said public finances will suffer in the coming years, pointing to the latest budget deficit forecast of 5.6% of gross domestic product in 2010, from the government's planning agency CPB. To reduce the budget deficit, the Dutch government will launch a set of cost-saving measures for 2011 and after, including a rise of the state pension age to 67 years from 65, the prime minister said.
Read the entire article
here.
23 March 2009
From the
International Herald Tribune:
The Dutch finance minister said Monday he would consider legislation to limit bonuses paid by financial firms that receive government bailout packages. The announcement came as financial services giant ING Groep asked its managers to return their 2008 bonuses and confirmed none would be handed out this year. In a note to parliament, finance minister Wouter Bos said pay packages still reflect "the excesses of the past," further damaging the reputation of institutions at a time when they need public confidence. "I will investigate which legal measures are possible to force through reduced bonuses," Bos said, and will watch how other countries, including the United States, deal with the issue.
"We will announce this week a number of measures and the main rule will be that if you are supported by the government, the tax payer, then there is no room for bonuses." The three parties of the governing coalition have been struggling for weeks on an agreed rescue plan for the Dutch economy, which is expected to contract by 3.5 percent this year.
Read the entire article
here.
23 March 2009
The official statistics bureau in the Netherlands said one in every 10,000 Dutch citizens is now aged 100 or older. Statistics Netherlands said centenarians in the country numbered only 350 in 1979, but the number grew to a total 1,633 as of Jan. 1 of this year, it was reported on Monday. The agency said 33 percent of those aged 100 or above were men in 1979, but the male share of the population has now dwindled to 12 percent. The current oldest person in the Netherlands is a 111-year-old woman, the statistics bureau said.
From
UPI
21 March 2009
From the
New York Times:
A huge Statue of Liberty designed out of 36,000 tulips bulbs was unveiled this week at the famed
Keukenhof Gardens near Amsterdam as part of a series of cultural exchanges to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s journey from Amsterdam to what is now New York. “This year, the theme of the parks will be New York,” said Gajus Scheltema, the consul general of the Netherlands. (The tulips have evidently been downsized, as the original plan was for 51,000 bulbs.) The tulip design is a celebration of the ties between the Netherlands and New York City. But of course, Lady Liberty — which has become a global symbol for New York City — herself was a tribute to the friendship between France and the United States.
More
here.
18 March 2009
From
AFP:
As stereotypically Dutch as windmills and tulips, the wooden clog is not just a modern-day tourist souvenir. It is still worn by thousands of farmers and factory workers. In use for at least 800 years in more or less its modern-day shape, the clog, though shunned as outmoded by city folk, makes up an enduring part of rural life in the Netherlands. "Some 350,000 pairs of working clogs are manufactured in the Netherlands every year," said Paul Nijhuis, 56, owner of the Nijhuis clog factory in the small eastern town of Beltrum, which claims to produce 90 percent of the world's "klompen" from poplar and willow trees. "I go through about three pairs a year," said 77-year-old pig farmer Theo Startelder, spotted riding his bicycle on streets of Beltrum in a bulky pair of well-worn, unpainted clogs.
Many children still wear clogs. Once they grew out of a pair, it is common practice to hammer the tiny shoes to an outside wall as plant holders. "Clogs are very versatile," she said with a smile. "Young people also drink beer out of them." Clogs, mentioned in age old proverbs, form an intrinsic part of the culture of the Dutch who are sometimes derisively referred to by outsiders as "cloggies". One of the world's oldest specimens, dated to 1270, was dug up by archaeologists in Rotterdam in 1990.
Today, about 10 clog makers remain in the Netherlands, one in Spain, and a tiny number in France, Germany and Belgium, said Nijhuis who himself wore no other shoes until the age of eight. Describing clog making as his life's work, Nijhuis proudly showed off his factory and the machinery that he designed himself. From 6,000 trees a year, some 120 workers make 2,000 pairs of clogs every day.
About six million souvenir clogs are produced in the Netherlands annually, ranging from key holders and money boxes to life-sized, wearable ones. "The clog will never disappear, even if it survives just for the tourist market," said Nijhuis. Extolling the virtues of the clog, he explained that the wood absorbs sweat and isolates the foot from cold in winter and heat in summer. "With steel-nosed safety shoes, if you drop a block of wood on the bridge of your foot, you will have a very bruised foot," said 34-year-old Jeffry Voortman, a factory worker who swears by clogs. "The clog protects your entire foot." Added Nijhuis: "You can drive over a clogged foot with a car - I've done it myself."
Read the entire article
here.
16 March 2009
From
BBC News:
The Netherlands throughout its history has had an ongoing struggle with the sea. Even its mythology reflects this battle, with the story of the little boy who put his finger in a dyke to stop the land being flooded with seawater. Now, it seems as the tension between land and water is set to reach a new level as rising sea levels and overflowing rivers leave this low-lying nation increasingly vulnerable. "Just let it come; we can't hold it back anyway," farmer Fons Bergmans tells the Television Trust for the Environment's (TVE) Earth Report programme.
The Netherlands only exists as a result of the lowlands' extensive flood and sea defences because two thirds of the nation's population lives below sea level. For centuries, it has relied solely on defensive walls - called dykes - to defend them from flooding. Windmills, an iconic image of the region, were not just for making flour, but for pumping water from the land. In the devastating North Sea flood of 1953, which affected much of northern Europe, almost 2,000 people in the Netherlands lost their lives. One of the lessons learned was that walls and dykes were not enough to tame the seas.
Over the following 30 years, the Dutch constructed huge barriers to protect coastal cities. But 50 years later, the predicted impacts of climate change have put the country's flood defences back under the spotlight.
"We used to have these dykes to keep the water in place, but now we have learnt we have to make places were the water can flow in [floods]. "It is an enormous project through the whole country for more than 40 places where we have to 'make room for the river', as we call it." One example of this work involves one thousand hectares (2,500 acres) that will become a flood zone, including 40 hectares owned by Fons Bergmans. Professor Fresco says the Dutch have been complacent in recent decades about the threat posed by water. "I think we are now moving into a situation where we're thinking again about water, not only as something to be controlled, but also something which is part of our environment, our habitat and something that we have to live with. "We are very optimistic about the new creativity that is generated by thinking through how we live with water in the future."
Much more
here.
16 March 2009
From
Associated Press:
Baseball looked more like America's national pastime Sunday night. Team USA avoided elimination from the World Baseball Classic, beating the Netherlands 9-3 to ease the sting of a drubbing endured against Puerto Rico the night before. The Dutch were eliminated. Despite a roster sprinkled with minor league prospects, they became the surprise team of the tournament when they beat the Dominican Republic twice in the opening round. The Americans bounced back from a loss Saturday that triggered the mercy rule when they fell 10 runs behind, ending their game against Puerto Rico in the seventh inning.
The injury-plagued Americans lost Chipper Jones for the rest of the tournament. He was scratched from the designated hitter spot before the game after he aggravated a strain in his right side. The Netherlands contributed the defensive gem of the game. With the bases loaded, first baseman Randall Simon fielded a grounder to his right. Spinning as he fell onto his back, he threw a three-hopper to the plate for a forceout and a place in the WBC highlight reel. Marlins right-hander Rick VandenHurk (0-1), pitching in his home ballpark as the Dutch starter, lasted only two innings and allowed three runs, one earned. Roberts singled in the first and scored the Americans' first run on a sacrifice fly by David Wright. Team USA added two unearned runs in the second when right fielder Dirk Van't Klooster dropped a two-out fly for a two-base error and Rollins homered.
Read the entire article
here.
15 March 2009
From
UPI:
Dutch police on Friday continued to question seven detained individuals suspected of plotting to bomb stores in Amsterdam. An anonymous warning call police received Wednesday around midnight led to the arrests, Radio Netherlands reports. The caller had given police names and addresses of seven Dutch citizens of Moroccan descent who allegedly planned to bomb several stores near the stadium of soccer club Ajax, including an Ikea furniture store. The call led to the closing of stores in the area and also to the cancellation of a concert by U.S. rock band The Killers planned for Thursday.
Police said one of the detained is a relative of a terrorist involved in the March 11, 2004, Madrid bombings, which killed 191 people. The Netherlands have not experienced a major terrorist attack but have long had trouble with violence connected to Islamic extremists. In November 2004 in Amsterdam, a Dutch teenager of Moroccan descent stabbed to death and nearly decapitated the filmmaker Theo van Gogh after the airing of his controversial film "Submission," which criticized the suppression of women in Islamic culture.
More
here.
12 March 2009
From
MLB.com:
The Netherlands could not fend off host Puerto Rico and lost the final game of Pool D play of the World Baseball Classic, 5-0, on Wednesday.
The Dutch squad finished the first round of the Classic with a record of 2-2. Its two upset victories over the Dominican Republic qualified it to move on to Round 2 in Miami, where it next faces Pool C winner Venezuela.
The Dutch threatened to score in the top of the first inning after two outs, but Simon, who got on base with a single, was gunned down at the plate trying to score from first after Yurrendell de Caster doubled. An attempt to mount another threat in the eighth inning fell short. Pinch-hitter Bryan Englehardt and Dick Vant Klooster singled off reliever Maldonado to start the inning, but Michael Duursma struck out for the first Dutch out. Puerto Rico manager Jose Oquendo brought in two relievers to get the next two outs -- left-hander Feliciano, who struck out Eugene Kingsale, and then Rivera, who got Sharlonn Scoop to hit into a groundout to end the frame. The Dutch pitching corps did its best to curtail Puerto Rico's offense to no avail. "Tonight we made some mistakes, and we are going to correct those going into the next round," said Netherlands pitching coach Bert Blyleven. "I wasn't happy with some of the pitch selections tonight."
Read the entire article
here.
11 March 2009
From the
New York Times:
Today, we can all be Dutch. No, we are not tall, hearty and suddenly good at speedskating, but we do love an underdog and today’s verdrukte is the Netherlands’ baseball team. A group made up of mostly minor leaguers and other wannabes just turned the World Baseball Classic into its own orange-splashed viering with another upset of the Dominican Republic Tuesday night. Onmogelijk!
So we will let our own viering begin. Start with an appreciation of the improbability of it all, in a country calls the sport honkbal and assembled a lovable set of honkballers. They turned the tournament from a quaint distraction from the drudgery of spring training and its hamstring tweaks and irritated hangnails to a party the Dutch were intent on crashing. Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci calls them the Buster Douglas of baseball. Verschrikkelijk!
Read the entire article
here.
Dutch stun baseball world
Stunning Netherlands pulled one of the great shockers in baseball history on Tuesday, advancing to the second round of the World Baseball Classic by eliminating a Dominican Republic all-star squad. The 11-inning thriller was not decided until Dominican first baseman Willy Aybar dropped a hard-hit ball from Yurendell de Caster and Gene Kingsale - a goat turned hero in a flash - scored for a 2-1 Dutch victory in Puerto Rico. "It's a miracle. That's all I can tell you," Dutch manager Rod Delmonico said. "It's not because we're better than they are. They're one of the best teams in the world. We just played hard and it happened." A Caribbean team of elite Major League Baseball millionaires fell victim to a fairy tale side, half from Dutch Antilles, for the second time in as many tries. The Dutch beat the Dominicans 3-2 in their opener.
The Dutch will join Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the US stars at Miami in a second-round group starting Saturday. Pairings will be decided Wednesday by seeding games US-Venezuela at Toronto and Dutch-Puerto Rico at San Juan. Defending champion Japan, 2008 Olympic champion South Korea and dynasty Cuba will be joined in a round-two group starting Sunday in San Diego by the winner Wednesday between Australia and host Mexico in a rematch of a 17-7 Aussie win.
Read the entire article at
AFP.
11 March 2009
From the
International Herald Tribune:
The Netherlands will host a one-day U.N. conference on the future of Afghanistan in The Hague on March 31, the Dutch government said on Tuesday. It said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was likely to chair the meeting, proposed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a visit to Europe last week, and it would include NATO members and Pakistan. The Dutch Foreign Ministry, which made the announcement, said Iran would be invited, as would countries that contributed forces to the military operation in Afghanistan as well as aid donors and international organisations. "Under the auspices of the United Nations, a summit will be held on March 31 on Afghanistan," it said in a statement.
Clinton told NATO foreign ministers last week goal of the conference would be to "provide an opportunity to reach a common set of principles" and repeated a U.S. appeal for NATO members to provide more troops to fight al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Last weekend Iran said it would consider an invitation from the United States to attend a meeting on Afghanistan.
Read the entire article
here.
08 March 2009
From the
New York Times:
Rob Cordemans uses a 62-mile-an-hour changeup to fool batters and to make $40,000 a year as a pitcher in the Netherlands. In terms of stature and salary, he is the Dutch version of Alex Rodriguez. Cordemans doubted that any of the high-paid and high-profile players on the Dominican Republic team had heard of him. But Cordemans said that was irrelevant and that being a mystery pitcher was beneficial. The unknown proved devastating to the Dominicans on Saturday. The Netherlands, a plucky team with one current major leaguer in its lineup, shocked the powerful Dominicans, 3-2, in the World Baseball Classic at Hiram Bithorn Stadium here. While the Dominicans tried to figure out how they lost to players whose likenesses do not appear on video games, the Netherlands relished the most memorable victory in its nascent baseball history. “This is the biggest win for us,” Cordemans said. “Too bad A-Rod wasn’t there.”
The Netherlands scored three unearned runs against Edinson Vólquez in the first inning on two infield hits, two errors and a wild pitch. It mustered one more hit for the rest of the game. One sloppy inning doomed the Dominicans. “That is a team we should have shut out,” Alou said. After the Netherlands went ahead, Ponson managed to tame the Dominicans. Ponson’s pitching is not pretty, but he is still capable of retiring good hitters and smart enough to know which ones to avoid. Miguel Tejada homered off Ponson, and Ramírez drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
Ponson, who pitched for the Yankees and the Texas Rangers last year, told his teammates, “Don’t believe they’re an all-star team.” Cordemans, a cool customer, did not.
So the Netherlands, whose cleanup batter played in Class AA last year and whose No. 3 batter was on the Newark Bears, prevailed. Robert Eenhoorn, a former Yankee who is the team’s general manager, noted how the Netherlands twice defeated Cuba. But Eenhoorn ranked Saturday’s victory as the best ever. “You can’t get more publicity for your team than we got today,” he said.
Read the entire article
here.
07 March 2009
From
BBC News:
An art exhibition opening in the Netherlands will allow people to call a telephone number designated for God - but they will have to leave a message. Dubbed God's Hotline, it aims to focus attention on changes to the ways Dutch people perceive religion. Dutch artist Johan van der Dong chose a mobile phone number to show that God was available anywhere and anytime, Radio Netherlands reported. Critics say the project mocks those with religious beliefs. Forming part of an art installation in the town of Groningen, the voicemail message says: "This is the voice of God, I am not able to speak to you at the moment, but please leave a message."
Exhibition spokeswoman Susanna Groot said there was no intention to offend anyone. "In earlier times you would go to a church to say a prayer and now [this is an] opportunity to just make a phone call and say your prayer in a modern way." Instead, the aim is to provoke debate about the priorities of modern life. The phone line (+31(0)6 44244901) will remain open for the next six months.
More
here.
05 March 2009
From
ABC News:
Boeing Co. today reminded airline pilots who operate the world's most popular commercial plane to monitor their flight altitude instrumentation after Dutch investigators announced that a faulty altimeter played a role in last week's crash of a 737 in Amsterdam. Boeing asked operators of the world's nearly 6,000 737 airplanes "to carefully monitor primary flight instruments during critical phases of flight." The Turkish Airways plane that crashed one week ago in the Netherlands had a faulty altimeter that indicated the aircraft was much lower to the ground than it actually was, according to a report released today by Dutch investigators.
The plane's black box, which stored eight flight recordings, showed the altimeter had the same problem twice before, safety board chairman van Vollenhoven said. Despite the findings, Boeing said that today's developments "should not be construed as a final conclusion or outcome of the investigation." The company added that the Dutch Safety Board was "in the early stages of this complex investigation," adding, "We cannot comment publicly on the findings of an open investigation."
Read the entire article
here.
04 March 2009
From the
Associated Press:
A faulty flight instrument aboard a Turkish jetliner lowered the plane's airspeed, setting off warning signals in the cockpit and prompting the pilots to try and accelerate before it crashed in the Netherlands, officials said Wednesday. The Turkish Airlines plane carrying 135 passengers and crew crashed less than a mile from the runway at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport shortly before it was due to land on Feb. 25. Nine people were killed. The pilots, who died in the crash, were landing on automatic pilot when the altimeter, a device that measures altitude, registered that the plane was flying lower than it actually was and instructed the plane to decelerate, officials said.
The Boeing 737-800 had twice before experienced problems with its altimeter, said Dutch Safety Authority chief investigator, Pieter van Vollenhoven, at a news conference at The Hague. He said the Safety Authority has warned Boeing of the problem and asked the company to alert customers that when altimeters are not functioning properly "the automatic pilot and the gas system coupled to them may not be used for approach and landing." Boeing said it was reminding all operators of its 737s to carefully monitor primary flight instruments during critical phases, adding that it was carefully monitoring the fleet. The Deputy Chairman of Turkey's Pilot's Association Ahmet Izgi said during an interview with Turkey's NTV said the preliminary findings were "not satisfactory" and that it was odd the pilots didn't react to the altimeter. "It is also not logical that it was not changed after malfunction," he told Turkey's NTV news channel. The pilot's association had earlier suggested the crash was due to "wake turbulence" from a large plane, a Boeing 757, that had landed at Schiphol Airport two minutes earlier. Wake turbulence forms behind an aircraft as it passes through the air.
According to conversation recorded between the plane's captain, first officer and an extra first officer on the flight, the pilots noticed the faulty altimeter but didn't consider it a problem and didn't react, Van Vollenhoven said.
Read the entire article
here.
A
reconstruction of the plane crash can be found on the website of
RTL Nieuws (Dutch).
03 March 2009
From
Newsday:
Engine trouble may have caused the Turkish Airlines crash that killed nine people in the Netherlands, the head of the agency investigating the accident said yesterday. Separately, officials said those killed were five Turks and four Americans. The State Department confirmed last night that two of the Americans killed were Boeing employees and that a third employee was injured. Flight TK1951 from Istanbul crashed about one mile short of the runway at Schiphol Airport on Wednesday morning, smashing into three pieces and spraying luggage and debris across a field. It was carrying 135 passengers and crew. Chief investigator Pieter van Vollenhoven said, in remarks quoted by Dutch state television NOS, that the Boeing 737-800 had fallen almost directly from the sky, which pointed toward the plane's engines having stopped. He said a reason for that had not yet been established.
Survivors said engine noise seemed to stop, the plane shuddered, then simply fell out of the sky tail-first. Witnesses on the ground said the plane appeared to drop from about 300 feet.
Read the entire article
here.
01 March 2009
From the
Chicago Tribune:
It’s R-rated, video-infused, performed in Dutch, lasts three throbbing hours and 10 throbbing minutes and meditates on matters tragic. If you have a problem with any of that quintet of particular qualities, stay away from the Toneelgroep Amsterdam’s astounding version of Eugene O’Neill’s “Mourning Becomes Electra,” and save a seat for someone who’ll appreciate a revelatory and superbly performed show that, sadly, is in Chicago only through Saturday night.
Ivo van Hove, Toneelgroep’s director, is only just now developing the kind of stateside reputation that comes close to matching his talents: this contemporary version of “Mourning” is making its American premiere at the Goodman Theatre’s O’Neill Festival. When and if it gets to New York, Dutch actress Halina Reijn, who plays the Electra-esque Lavinia, will blow those uptight Manhattan arty types halfway back across the Atlantic. Reijn affects the most amazing physical transformation between acts two and three, as the thrill and horror of murder unlocks her character’s terrifying juices. She is a sight to see and hear. And she is surrounded by a fine supporting cast from Amsterdam, including Eelco Smits, Janni Goslinga and the grimly sensual Hans Kesting. who plays the paternal object of Lavina’s terrifying attentions and who sets all this familial Euro-panic in gripping motion.
More
here.
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