On the 28th of Octobre, we went to theatre ‘de Stoep’ in Spijkenisse.

We went there to interview Silvia

van der Meer who is the manager of promoting and marketing. De Stoep where we went was a
emergency building. This is not the official building. This building is here for 5 years but they are
realizing a new building in the centre of Spijkenisse.
When we arrived we didn’t dare to get in especially Jorien. But we overpowered our fears and walked
to the ticketservice.
Jorien asked: ‘‘hi, we have an appointment for an interview with.. (uh)’’
Ticketwoman: ‘’With Silvia van der Meer?’’
Jorien: ‘’uh, yes.’’
Ticketwoman: ‘’Okay, you can walk towards the door right there and Silvia will open it for you.’’
So we walked towards the door for the artists and Silvia opened it we couldn’t film because she didn’t
went to the hairdresser. That’s what she said, but we guess it was another reason. When we got in we
got a trip around the building. She showed us all the rooms and where they are for. We looked at the
preparing for a show that evening, and behind the scenes. We saw the dressing rooms and the music
control room. We felt like a V.I.P. After the trip, Silvia brought us to her office where we had the
interview:

What's your name?

My name is Sylvia van der Meer.
Do you have children?
What's your age? Yes, I have 2 wonderful daughters.
I’m 46 years old.
What's your function in this theatre?
What's your origin? I do the promoting and marketing for the
I’m totally Dutch. theatre.

Do you enjoy your job?

Where do you live?
Yes, I love it.
I live in Rozenburg.
What did you study?
Are you married? I did the MAO for 3 years.
Yes, I am.
How long are you planning to do this work?
I’ve rolled into it.

What do you have to do for your job?
Program mating, send the audience to the
play, manage the theatre and the selling of the
tickets.
When did you start to interest in the
theatre?
When I started to work here. I began as
secretary. Now I work here for 12 years.
What do you like the most about your job?
I think making the brochures. You have to
make from a lot of information you have, a
clear brochure with all the information for the
customer.
What means art in your 'eyes'?
When you get a special feeling by looking at it.
For example art on stage, I think it’s art if you
can play 10 roles in one play by only change
your attitude and look.
Do you have a favorite play? Which one is
it?
I don’t have a favorite play, I think I saw too
much so I can’t judge weather it’s better than
the other one, because you have a lot of
differences in theatre.
What was the first play you've ever seen?
Did you like it?
Before I started to work here I had never seen
a play or something in a theatre. I didn’t start to
work here because of the theatre but really
because of the secretary. Now I’ve seen a lot
of plays and I don’t know which one was the
first. I can see 3 or 4 plays per week.
Who's your favorite actor/actress?
I don’t have a favorite actor or actress.
Do you think theatre and films have
similarities?
They both tell a story but I think they are very
different from each other because in a theatre
you have to play a role perfect day after day,
and with film you can do it over and over and
you never have a perfect film in one time on
the video.
Have you ever played in a play yourself?
No. I never did that. I think I’m not that good
and I don’t like it as much as I love my job that
I’m doing at the moment.
What was your childhood dream?
Working as secretary. This was because of the
girl next door who worked as secretary and
everyday she went to work in a suit and
bearing a trunk with a type machine in it.
What makes an actor a good actor?
Like I said earlier, if you can be someone else
on the stage and make it a perfect play, and
like I said if you can play 10 roles by only
changing your attitude and look you are very
good, and of course if you can bring the story
at the audience.
Are there differences in plays when you're
in other countries?
Actually, Holland is an exception on all the
other countries, because we travel from theatre
to theatre and they don’t do that in other
countries. In other countries they stay for a
year in one theatre for example. That is
different per play, because if you have a play
where don’t come a lot of people to, you don’t
sell a lot and you can’t sell for a year tickets.
Is music important to the theatre?
Yes, it’s as important as acting. With the music
you can express the feelings and the
atmosphere even better.
Can shy people also become good actors?
Yes, sometimes they are even better because
they don’t dare to express themselves so they
can better play the role of a made character.
Is the crowd very important?
Yes, at a cabaret performance the first row is
very important and it’s also very import how the
audience react on a play. One time it
happened when school kids came and had to
see a classic dance performance, that they
were yelling ‘gay’ to the man who was dancing.
We quit the show immediately after the man
ran crying of stage. It’s very sad but sometimes
you have also very good reactions, and if
there’s no one in the audience it isn’t fun for
the actors either.
How can you write a good play?
You can’t just write a good play by instructions,
sometimes someone, who graduated from the
art school, writes a play and it’s very good. But
you can also have someone who just write a
play and is very creative and that play is also
good, and you don’t have a point when you
look at it and think; ’That part makes this play
really a good play’.
How long do you need to rehears for a play,
on average?
We don’t do rehears at this theatre. We do
have try-outs which are kind of rehearsals but
you already have a story and you know the
lines. A try-out is also cheaper, because things
can go wrong. For example sometimes at a
cabaret performance it’s even funnier.

How do you look at plays?

I think I look at plays just as you and all the
other people. But I think after I’ve seen a lot of
plays that I am more critic. Sometimes when
the play is over and we talk about it the staff
from the electronics does have a lot of critic
because the light wasn’t good, but I don’t see
that.

What do you like the best? A play or a

musical?
I think it depends on the subject.

Have you ever seen a perfect play?

99% of the plays who is performing for real
audience is perfect. They rehearsed so long
and so hard for it that it has to be professional
and perfect.
By: Jorien Cornelissen & Angela Bimmel.