ABOUT PRRRRT PRRRRT FLAP FLAP

The new Maas production PRRRT PRRRT FLAP FLAP premiered in September 2024. The title was invented by none other than the makers of the show Sara Giampaolo and Esther Schouten. It is a musical performance, with few words and a lot of flapping, in which two bird watchers start a competition in search of that one lucky bird. Except, nature will not be commanded and forces our watchers to wait, wait and wait just a little longer. 

Suppose I am a bird watcher. How could I spot you in the wild?
Sara: Esther can be recognized by her brown hair, a face full of freckles and a sizable beak. She is known for her loud laugh and hoarse sound. She is often spotted in the education department of Maas. In the period from June to December she moves to a rehearsal studio, where she creates a performance for three-year-olds together with other strange birds.

Esther: Esther likes to fly with Sara. Sara has beautiful dark curls and often walks on strikingly brightly colored, sometimes golden or silver stilts. Sara and Esther like to share their theater breeding ground and you can recognize them as a couple by their bad dances.

That sounds like a nice pair. Why do you want to make this performance?
Sara: I think it is important to teach children that not everything is always available. Certainly something like happiness. Sometimes you have to wait for something to come to you. Or maybe it doesn't come at all and the waiting turns out to be more valuable than receiving it. And I love bird watchers, so that seems like a golden combination to me.

Esther: Yes, my children are growing up in a world where everything seems accesible and immediately available. Watching television has become a kind of punishment, because they have to watch something completely through. They prefer to choose videos or series themselves and click through when it gets boring. They can't do anything about that, they are growing up in a world full of on demand. On the other hand, they are happiest when they play outside. Nature and a child are truly a match made in heaven. Fortunately, sand, twigs, water and animals still beat the screens in any form.

That's nice to hear. Can you tell us what you are most looking forward to?
Sara: I'm looking forward to rooms full of three-year-olds again. I would also like to see whether - even though it involves waiting and silence and the audience always has to sit quietly - we can let the children participate interactively. Maybe they will become the bird spotters again, with binoculars around their necks. Of course, they can also flap along in the stands.

Esther: Yes! I really love performances that use the energy of children. That they can dance along, sympathize and respond. I also understand that we sometimes make it difficult for teachers with this, because when is it too much and do you have to intervene? Now we know very well how to keep everything on track and if things don't go well, it always yields something.

Sara: I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to practice my bird sounds PRRRRTTTTT...