This year there is no Leids Cabaret Festival in the Leidse Schouwburg. (Photo:Emile van Aelst).
“Is it that bad then?” Was the first reaction of Evert de Vries of the Paulvan Vliet Academy when he heard on Monday that the Leids Cabaret Festival haddecided not to organize the 44th edition in February. According to theorganization, there were too few good participants. De Vries: “Sometimes youhave lesser years, sometimes better years. You just have to deal with that.”
De Vries speaks from experience, because for thirty years he was director ofthe Amsterdams Kleinkunst Festival, one of the three important Dutch cabaretfestivals alongside the Leids Cabaret Festival and Camaretten. “It justdepends on what kind of talents sign up and whether they are ready for hispodium. Sometimes they are not yet ripe enough. We do have talents, but theystill need to develop. At a festival like this you have to be able to sit onseventy percent of your body.”
In any case, he sees ‘a few who could do well’ among the students of the Paulvan Vliet Academy. But he cannot give any guarantees either: “You have to gothrough a learning process. There is still something involved to make anevening-filling theater show. You really need to learn that. The problem isthat they are all soloists. No ensembles. Together you learn more and it iseasier to develop a vision.”
Gain experience The Leids Cabaret Festival itself does not want to point an accusing finger:“We do not want to blame corona for everything.” Nevertheless, De Vries doesnot rule out that this also played a role. “Due to the corona crisis, theplaygrounds for young, starting talent have shrunk. Because many performanceshad to be made up, there was less room for programming.”
Many theaters also play it safe and opt for big and well-known names, insteadof unknown and starting talent. And that is fatal for comedians who have justcome to watch and have to make a lot of progress. “You need a festival to putyourself in the picture,” says De Vries. “It really is a springboard. Youngcandidates can gain experience and develop skills during auditions andpreliminary rounds. Moreover, you will receive guidance and coaching, whichyou really need.”
Upturned joke tellers Another factor, according to De Vries, is that stand-up comedians are all therage these days. But that is really something different from cabaret:“Nowadays they are all upside-down joke tellers. That’s flat humor. Butcomedians have a whole story to tell. They really turn it into theatre.”
Are cabaret and cabaret festivals still relevant today? De Vries is convincedhe does: “Cabaret is the most popular form of theater in the Netherlands.Profitable if done right and more popular than football in terms of visitornumbers. Ballet, theater and music cannot do without a subsidy, cabaret can.They are all self-employed.”
Angry De Vries is therefore not worried about the future of the cabaret. Still, heregrets that the Leids Cabaret Festival skips a year. Not the first time, bythe way, because in 1980 and 2021 the organization also skipped a year. Whichreminds him that, as director of the Amsterdams Kleinkunst Festival, hecreated the Annie MG Schmidt Prize in 1991 for the best theater song.
In 1993 it was also decided not to award the Annie MG Schmidt Prize becausethe entries were not considered good enough. Much to the anger of the namesakehimself. De Vries: “Annie MG Schmidt became incredibly angry and said thatthis should never happen again. She believed: there is always a best. Anyway,songs are a bit different from comedians.”