As I already posted to the list, I went to see a theatre play based on Nick's And The Ass Saw The Angel.

The play was performed by two actors and one actress, who in turns, told parts of Euchrid's story. They took headlines of the story, of which every actor did a part. They were all dressed in short trousers. On the stage was a bathtub, filled with mud. One of the actors went deeper and deeper into the mud, representing Euchrid sinking down in the swamp. At the end of the play he stood upside down in the tub, with his head in the mud for over half a minute.

A short-haired lady dancer did some choreography in between the story chapters, including mute speaking gestures. She was a very well thought out representation of the mute Euchrid.

The chapters of ATASTA that were portrayed:

• Euchrid's education by his Mother and the home brewed liquors
• Cosey Moe
• Being beaten by the cane workers and his Mother getting his clothes back
• His Mother's death
• The different traps
• His Father's death
• Euchrid's death

Between the chapters there was some music and dance, in order to rest your mind a bit, and as a line between different stories. It can't be easy to bring ATASTA as a theatre play, and the fact that 3 actors play Euchrid was confusing in the beginning, but in the end it wasn't a bad choice at all: it brings variation and different views on the story, even if it's all Euchrid's view. A monologue would have been very hard to follow.

So my appreciation is positive.

In my previous mail I mentioned that it was to be accompanied by Nick's music, and Erik Arendonk mailed me the play was based on ATASTA and literature by Lautreamont and Herman Hesse. However during the writing and repetitions of the play, the director changed plans, and in the end the play was purely based on ATASTA and the music was newly composed. The text was based on the Dutch translation as published by In De Knipscheer.