User:Bertbarten

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Bert Barten is born in the city Oss in the south of The Netherlands. After a couple of years in Groningen he now lives in Amsterdam since 1985. He studied directing for movie and theater and also piano and compositions. In the years afterwards he experimented several times with intergrating different disciplines, of which video productions and visual arts were a part as well.

Since he arrived in Amsterdam the Dutch press calls him ‘directing artist’. A directing artist who combines together theater, film, visual arts, music and dance into a ‘gesammtkunstwerk’.

Bert Barten now has a wide range of experience in theater starting with the rock opera “Tussen Chaos en Kater” (“between chaos and hangover”) in 1983 and disco opera “Nuwa Kojeha” in 1985. After a break in the theater Bert Barten returned to the theater in 1991 with “Bekende gezichten, gemengde gevoelens” (“familiar faces, mixed feelings”) by Botho Strauss. The plays “Spooksonate” (1992) and “Onweer” (1993) by August Strindberg gave him the nickname ‘Son of Strindberg’ for some time.

However Bert Barten got most famous with his big open air theater events. This started in 1997 with “Storm” (“The Tempest”) by William Shakespeare in the waters around Slot Loevenstein, the castle of Hugo de Groot. His works “Dante” (Dante’s Divine Comedy) in 2001 and “Faust” by Goethe in 2002 really got the attention of national and international press.

In 2003 to 2006 Bert Barten returned to the basics of theater, storytelling, with Homer’s “Odyssee”. With minimal use of seting, but on unique locations he managed to let the audience get carried away in the story of Odysseus.

At this moment Bert Barten is preparing two major open air theater events. One in 2008 in Rhenen in The Netherlands about the old myth of Cunera. And one about Henry Hudson and the founding of New Amsterdam playing in 2009 in Amsterdam and New York.

“There is only one story: Leaving home, the adventure and the homecoming.”

“Eventually it doesn’t matter to me what medium I use. I care about the emotional experience of the spectator.”

Also check Bert Barten website to see more of his work: http://www.bertbarten.com