Cliënt. E. Busken ITA - Internationaal Theater Amsterdam

Against his will, E. Busken stays in the closed ward of an institution for the very elderly. He feels treated like a toddler there and refuses to speak. He surrenders to a stream of memories and observations of his fellow residents and the nursing staff. Is he rambling or is he - as he himself claims - still in his right mind? Is he recalling actual memories or fantasising a richly filled life together?

Ivo van Hove: 'Sometimes projects are too good to be long overdue. When Gijs came up with this very personal novel by one of the grand masters of the contemporary novel, I didn't hesitate for a moment. We have to do this and as soon as possible. We get a glimpse of what it's like to be old in our time.'

Maria Kraakman: 'It is a fate that awaits many of us: we grow old, we deteriorate, we become isolated and at the hands of strangers, and we wait for the end... Thank God we have Jeroen Brouwers! He creates a celebratory and razor-sharp monument to language that keeps even death at bay. It comforts us and makes us laugh, and shows that we are truly free in our thoughts. I am extremely happy that we get to shape this mind universe of Client E. Busken.'

Gijs Scholten van Aschat: 'The protagonist E. Busken can no longer do anything, everything has been taken away from him, he only has his thoughts left, which he shares with us. He is in the last phase of his life, where reality, dream and memory can no longer be distinguished. It is in this construct of language that we find ourselves. Because Jeroen Brouwers has, in the words of E. Busken, 'an almost religious sense of language with a variety of words like a flower garden', I longed for music while editing the book. To escape the language for a while. But also, through the music from the protagonist's childhood, to get closer to him. In this performance, I hope to combine my two great loves in my craft. Language and Music. For the head and the heart.