Last week “Een groene harts droom” finished its course.

6 months of work, 15 performers, 20 people backstage, 6 shows, and now..it is all finished.

Costumes are back to the closet, props are dismantled, everything is back to where it belonged.

Music sheet is collected and archived.

The practical things are pretty much sorted. The emotional ones,well…those take time.

Making a show is something special.

You talk, think, scream the show. You eat, sleep, poop, breath the show.

It is a rollercoaster, up and down til the day you hit rock bottom, and that`s the day in which you watch a rehearsal and you think: “This thing…as it is…sucks”.

You spend so much time with people you hardly know. All kind of people. Mostly people you will never randomly choose to be in your life 🙂

You love them, you hate them. They love you, they hate you.

It is like that Xmas dinner with your relatives.

You all know what I am talking about, right? : a big, huge, noisy family around the show table: the black sheep, the spoiled brat, the wannabe mama of all, the “whatever” teenagers, uncle who can not hear, grandma with the Alzheimer, and that idiot of your cousin who always pretends to forget your name.

You look at them and you swear God, never again, never, never again, I can not wait to be done with all of them.You see your reflection in their eyes and they, as well, swear God, never again, never never again, I can not wait to be done with her.

So far, so good, just normal routine of show making:-).

Then the shit hits the fan, hell breaks loose: he wants more money, she wants less clothes; he forgets his text, she forgets her notes; he is ahead of his time, she has no time; he forgot his stuff, she never had her stuff to begin with.

No stuff, no props, no time, no brain, no voice. No sleep, no fun, no food (or too much of it).

Whatsapp here, there, everywhere.

A shoulder to cry on, a face to smash your fist against. Hysterical laughter, uncontrollable crying.

Whatsapp here, there, everywhere.

With God`s help and lots of wine, we make it to the premiere, to the show after that, and the show after that.

And before you know, the Xmas party from hell transforms itself in a cool hang-out, kind of Woodstock 30 years later.

Everybody is there, with money, with clothes, with text, with notes, is there, on time, before time.

They don`t hate you anymore, no, they don`t, they send you hearts and kisses and whatspp, and goodnight and see you tomorrow.

You do the same, you can not finish the day without calling, texting, being there for them.

You want to protect them, you want them to shine.

Everybody is on drugs, showbusiness drugs that is, and rehab is not even in the plan.

We are a big,huge, singing family…when suddenly curtain closes on the show 🙁

And now comes the weird part: finishing a show is like a burial.

It is like having a limb leg…you still feel it, even if it is gone.

Still whatsapp here, there,everywhere. Still thinking tomorrow, new town, new show.

Still same faces, same love, same energy. Everybody is missing it. You miss it and, incredibly…them.

It hits you: it is finished, time to bury it and start rehab.

Time to take all this love, this adrenaline, and this incredible energy and pour it in something else.

A new show. Soon.

(to the amazing cast and crew of EGHD, love you forever )