This set travelled a lot, from Europe to America and back again. It's first trip was in the backseat and passenger seat of my rickety old Opel Kadett, the only car i ever owned. Then it toured with theater het Filiaal from Utrecht, NL through
The Netherlands and Belgium, more than 130 times it was performed. And finally: to St Louis where it was performed literally under the wings of the original Spirit of St Louis, the plane that made the first Atlantic flight. Afterward it was touring with Metro Theatercompany in the USA.
The materials were the ones i also used in wing 1 and 2
which were the reasons the director asked me to build this set. Added are lots of musical instruments, mostly percussive, of the percussionist and actor Gabe Tarjan. They were not happy, however, with the piece of concrete i added to give the centerwing some extra massiveness to enhance the effect of the kaboom, a tube that is bounced
on the floor and gives a special sound (all Gabes sounds were special and he got an award for the sounddesign). The show received a lot of good reactions, was nominated for the Hans Snoek award, and recently was performed again in Netherland, with a new cast, again by the Filiaal. And again people are delighted by the play and the ingenious set.
This set definitely was another important object for me. It served for years as a prototype of what i wanted to design: ingenious, poetical, to the point. And, as in Mountview, sometimes i deviated far away from that inspiration, but it always is there somewhere hidden in me. I only have to reach for it and give it time and attention to make it work again. So of course i'm proud it performed again so well last year.