Gertrude #1: Don’t Laugh at the Sunlight Upon Me

Gertrude #1: Don’t Laugh at the Sunlight Upon Me
A play by Adrian Bridget, with Michael de Roos and Vincent van Ommen

Don’t Laugh at the Sunlight Upon Me is an experimental one-act play for two actors. The play is written and directed by Adrian Bridget. Referencing the myth of Icarus, it narrates the longing struggle of a mad servant, who has made his master a hostage to his private psychological delirium. Through an effervescent use of language, the play deals with the themes of individual truth and brotherly love in an attempt to reconcile theatrical tradition and contemporary audiences.

Adrian Bridget (1990), born Adrian Mazzarolo, is an Amsterdam-based artist and writer operating in the fields of poetry, film and theatre. Following his graduation from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, his works have been featured in TENT (Rotterdam), Impakt Festival (Utrecht) and Dürst Britt & Mayhew’s opening exhibition Urbi et Orbi.

Don’t Laugh at the Sunlight Upon Me is the first event within the framework of GERTRUDE, the gallery’s interdisciplinary side-programme. In between exhibitions, Dürst Britt & Mayhew will invite makers from other cultural cultural fields to activate the gallery space through for example dance, theatre, literature, music or fashion. These makers can be upcoming or established, but what they share is an experimental attitude. By offering them a space to develop and present new productions, we aim to create a platform where different cultural disciplines can meet. The name of this side programme is inspired by Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), legendary writer and patron of the Arts who became well known for organizing salons at her Paris apartment that were frequented by artists, composers, writers, musicians and choreographers.