Reviews

Radio 1, Mezzo, 24/04/2008
Listen here to the interview with Peter van Kraaij in Mezzo on 24/04/2008
A typed-out version of the interview can be found at the WALPURGISblog

Klara, Ramblas, 24/04/2008
Listen here to the interview with Peter van Kraaij in Ramblas on 24/04/2008

Boys and science
Peter van Kraaij wrote and directs 'Trinity trip' at Walpurgis, a show in which he weaves together the life dreams of glass blowers and those of designers of atomic bombs.

According to our filing cabinet, Peter van Kraaij (1961) is currently a dramaturge with Toneelgroep Amsterdam, directed another Antigone at De Tijd two seasons ago, but it has been a while since he wrote anything himself. The last time must have been with Sittings, in which he took the photographic lives of Tina Modotti, Edward Weston and Garry Winogrand as the starting point for a play.

Have we missed anything since 'Sittings'?
'Sittings is my last performed play. It dates from when Josse De Pauw was still artistic director of Het Net in Bruges (2001, ed). I have been walking around with plans for Trinity trip for a long time. My first notes date from five years ago. They were about the collection of glass imitations that father and son Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka made of plants and flowers. Someone told me about that collection and sent me a catalogue. It was mind-boggling.'

Was your initial fascination the extravagance of that collection?
'What father and son Blaschka did was a life's work. Between 1887 and 1937, they made 847 full-size replicas of plants and flowers in glass. And also three thousand enlarged details from flora and fauna. They did so on behalf of Harvard University's botanical museum. It was meant as didactic material. What fascinated me most was how science and art came together. The collection was made during the rise of National Socialism. There is no trace of this in their correspondence. All the world events passed them by because they were working in isolation.'

Is that drive the connection to the story of Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who helped design the atomic bomb?
'The scientists at Los Alamos were also pursuing the fulfilment of their dreams. Moreover, they were in a race with time, as Germany was also expected to develop nuclear weapons. For a long time, they hoped the bomb would not be used. A crucial point was Hitler's surrender. Then it appeared that the bomb was no longer needed. But people were so caught up in the realisation that they couldn't put on the brakes.'

Are there major differences between the time periods in which the stories are set?
'The Blaschkas did craft development. They worked in absolute peace, detached from world affairs. Since World War I, there has been an intertwining of science and military warfare. Scientists are chartered by politics.'

You divide Oppenheimer's story between a young and an old narrator. The old Oppenheimer must be a broken man.
'He surveys his life and weighs up his decisions. Have I always made conscious choices? Has everything been my responsibility? Could I have avoided decisions? He is trying to make sense of his life. In a way, he is trying to write his moral will.'

From what point of view do you narrate 'Trinity trip'?
'There are the young and the old Oppenheimer, and one actor plays Blaschka. There are also seven songs from the Bhagavad-Gita, a book that was a lifelong inspiration for Oppenheimer. The music reflects Oppenheimer's inner world of feeling.'

'Furthermore, the story is not chronologically structured. Rather, the connection is associative, according to motifs. As in The echo maker by Richard Powers, stories are told side by side. I almost didn't push through any thematic connections. I hope one shadows the other.'
Geert Sels, De Standaard

Driven boys and science
One duo designed delicate flowers in glass, the other man the atomic bomb. As separate scientists, the Blaschkas and Robert Oppenheimer are paired together in Trinity trip From Walpurgis.

The title refers to the first US test of the nuclear bomb, barely three weeks before Hiroshima. "Japan would have surrendered anyway, but the investment had to pay off," says director Peter Van Kraaij. "Oppenheimer got old overnight after that."

On stage, Van Kraaij therefore performs two versions of the atomic scientist. The young Oppenheimer (a role for Oscar Van Rompay) is an optimistic believer, his older variant (Han Kerckhoffs) a hurt man trying to come to terms with his guilt. "In all the testimonies you find that until late in his life he was an inspirational and charismatic personality, an eternal guy," says Van Kraaij. "So my hypothesis is that he had no maturity. All his life he put off the consequences of his actions. Only after the bomb did he make a completely pacifist switch."
In his text for Trinity trip Van Kraaij leaves any moral judgement to the public, but he does call his reading of the Los Alamos experiments quite shocking. "Even when Hitler surrendered, all those wise atomic researchers apparently couldn't go back mentally. They kept on working, wanted to see if it could be done. Politically, too. People always say Hiroshima and Nagasaki were one-offs, but 15 bombs were already planned for the first few months. You can compare that to Iraq now: when you've put so much money into it, you can't turn your cart."

He happened to see the documentary on Los Alamos that inspired Van Kraaij shortly after a Harvard Museum catalogue he remained equally fascinated by. The book features flowers. Only when you look closely do you notice that they are made of glass. "They served for botanical didactics at university, and were meticulously crafted between 1850 and 1895 by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, father and son. They did so in complete isolation, like Oppenheimer in the desert. Even when National Socialism broke through in Dresden after his father's death, Rudolf did not breathe a word about it. He was totally at the mercy of his vocation."

Just there, Van Kraaij found the link to perform the Blaschkas and Oppenheimer together. "Their whole lives are devoted to one dream, developed in a cocoon. That's how I translated it in the text anyway, because I don't pretend to bring the conclusive biography of these men at all. Rather, I am interested in the aspect of boys going for their ideal. Certainly how Rudolf (narrated by Michael Vergauwen, WH) uncritically followed in his father's footsteps is something we can no longer imagine today."
Another seemingly dated similarity is both their modernist belief in striving man and the makeable world. Is that the proposition of the show: going back for it? "I leave that to the viewer. If there is one thing I am looking for, it is a complexity of perspectives, like a Russian puppet that keeps opening up," says Van Kraaij. "But I do find Oppenheimer in particular very topical in his constant deferral of the consequences of his actions. You see this strongly today in our 'liquid society' as well: many avoid fixed commitments in their work and their relationships. Even apart from that, everyone will recognise themselves in the thought material we offer. Doing or thinking? To what limit do you follow your true nature? What is a vocation?"

Equally important in Trinity trip are the specially composed music of Bart Vanhecke and the contribution of soprano Judith Vindevogel, a regular member of the Antwerp musical theatre group Walpurgis. "I asked Bart, who I think is a very talented composer, to create music to a few short thoughts from the Indian Bhagavad Gita, which Oppenheimer sought solace in at the end of his life. His composition translates that inner world on clarinet, and occasionally takes on a comforting influence."
Wouter Hillaert, De Morgen

Oppenheimer torn apart
At Trinity Trip of Walpurgis, Peter van Kraaij links the ideals of Robert J. Oppenheimer with those of the phenomenal glassblowers Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. The confrontation of Oppenheimer's life's dream with its indelible consequences remains grim.

Robert J. Oppenheimer worked for years in strict isolation on his 'Little Boy'. Passionate and convinced, but at the same time hoping that his atom bomb would never have to be used. The Blaschkas also isolated themselves from the outside world and made thousands of breathtakingly natural glass replicas of plants and flowers over 40 years.

Director Peter van Kraaij brings together the drive of the Blaschkas and Oppenheimer in a story told by three men. Little action on stage, mainly lots of words, perfectly coloured by archive footage and songs (Judith Vindevogel, accompanied by Benjamin Dieltjens) from the Bhagavad-Gita, Oppenheimer's source of inspiration. The elder Oppenheimer's despair, strongly portrayed by Han Kerckhoffs, about choices and responsibilities in his life, overwhelms. The younger Oppenheimer (Oscar Van Rompay) and Blaschka (Michael Vergauwen) are less convincing, although their fragile interplay works complementarily.
Karin Vanheusden, Gazet van Antwerpen