From André Hazes to Disney princess: improvisation theatre group Rataplan plays a home match full of surprises

A magical broccoli that saves a Disney princess from her evil stepmother, or the origin of the Hazes classic ‘Bloed, Zweet en Tranen’ during the Dutch Golden Age: for improvisation theatre group Rataplan, no scene is too absurd. During a match night in the Blackbox, the improv games, plastic roses and energy come flying at you.

While the rest of Tilburg enjoys a summery Thursday evening on sunny terraces, the people in the dark Blackbox theatre are busy ‘wupping’. On stage stands tonight’s host, Huub Jansen (60). Though no longer a student, Jansen is still an enthusiastic Rataplan member. In the audience, people are swaying in their seats.

‘Let’s pretend we’re on a rollercoaster,’ Jansen calls out. ‘Bars down, make the sound of the rollercoaster going up… and to the left!’ The entire audience joins in with enthusiasm.

Rataplan is a student association for improvisational theatre – a genre you might know from the Dutch TV show De Lama’s. And ‘wupping’ is the theatre sports term for a warming up. Tonight, Rataplan is playing a home game: in front of an audience of about twenty people, they take on their sister association ‘Tegen Beter Weten In’ from Utrecht.

And getting the audience warmed up is important. In improv theatre, the spectators play a crucial role. During the evening, they provide input for the ‘games’ – short, improvised scenes of up to five minutes, each with its own setup and rules.

Plastic roses

Audience members also judge the games. On every seat lies a plastic rose and a double-sided sign bearing the names ‘Rataplan’ and ‘Tegen Beter Weten In’. ‘You use the sign to vote,’ host Jansen explains. ‘And the rose? You can throw it on stage if you think someone does a great job.’

On stage tonight are Rataplan members Harm-Jan Neutel (37), Ymke Uijtdewilligen (35), Job van den Bergh (27), and Yannick van Glabbeek (33). The jury – consisting of ‘the right one,’ Robin de Brouwer (27) and ‘the left one,’ Alex van Tilburg (24) – wears robes and scores the scenes on content and technique. As always, they’re welcomed with loud boos, prompted by Jansen.

Theatre sports, in structure, is surprisingly similar to football: teams play home or away matches, there are fouls, and anyone who overthinks or says something inappropriate can get a yellow or red card. The penalty? Singing an improvised ode on stage.

Post-its and Hazes

Twelve games are played over the course of the evening. Rataplan kicks off with a game called ‘The Chorus.’ ‘I need a song and an era,’ Van Glabbeek asks the audience. Suggestions come quickly: Bloed, Zweet en Tranen and the Dutch Golden Age. It’s up to Rataplan to show how this Hazes classic came to be in the seventeenth century.

What follows is an absurd scene in which exhausted explorers – after a grueling journey full of blood, sweat, and tears – arrive on an island where Van den Bergh and Uijtdewilligen, playing panicked locals, cry out, as Van den Bergh melodramatically puts it: ‘We’re out of cake.’ Luckily, the explorers brought plenty.

After each round, both teams perform a ‘tableau vivant’ – a living painting. That’s when the audience votes. Rataplan’s explorers win the first round.

After four games and even a red card for Tegen Beter Weten In, it’s time for a break. But not before the Utrecht team asks the audience to write sentences or words on post-its. These prove crucial in the second half: players must grab random cards off the floor and immediately incorporate the text into their scenes – no matter how absurd.

The magical broccoli

One of the final games is ‘Cinematic Mismatch,’ created by Rataplan’s own Van Glabbeek. In this game, the scene must include elements of two different film genres and one specific object. The audience provides the ingredients: film noir, Disney, and a magical broccoli.

A scene unfolds in which a Disney princess (Van den Bergh) is locked in a tower by her stepmother (Neutel). She’s ultimately saved by a bite of the magical broccoli (Uijtdewilligen), which has been sitting in the fridge for years. The broccoli gives her superpowers and a princess dress. When Van den Bergh jumps up and acts out transforming into a princess, the room bursts into laughter.

After more than two hours of improv theatre, the stage is strewn with brightly colored post-its and plastic roses. While the jury deliberates, both teams perform a musical finale as an encore. After a few minutes, the results are in. The margin is slim – just one point – but enough for victory: Rataplan wins the home match with 50 points.