Dutch film & TV star Minne Koole finds himself back at home on the stage
If you are a fan of Dutch cinema, the chances are this isn’t the first time you’re seeing Minne Koole’s face. The acclaimed actor has been a part of 30 film and stage productions including lead roles in Netflix’s Dirty Lines and Crypto Boy. Koole earned himself a Gouden Kalf nomination for the 2018 film Niemand in de Staad.
Koole sat down with the Dam Yankee podcast, confirming he just signed on to perform in the hotly anticipated Videoland series Basta, an episodic drama based on the well-reviewed autobiography from Dutch football legend Marco van Basten. In it, Koole will play a key advisor who gets into a heated conflict with the footballer’s financial decisions.
He took a brief respite from on-camera work after a series of hits, choosing to return to his roots and focus more on live stage performances. He has been a member of the International Theater Amsterdam’s permanent ensemble for the past three years, where he will appear in five different stage plays during the upcoming theater season, including Tijd voor Geluk, which premieres next week.
During the episode of the Dam Yankee podcast, in partnership with NL Times, Koole went on to discuss differences in theater culture around the world, developing panic attacks on stage, and growing up in a creative family.
Dam Yankee: How is it going from film sets where you can shoot take after take to performing on the stage where somebody in the audience is coughing or a cast-member flops their line?
Minne Koole: That's funny that you mentioned that, because like two weeks ago, we were performing a show in China, in Shanghai. The culture there is to come in late and chat during the performance, and to eat during the performance, and watch the telephone during the performance. But of course, you have to respect their culture of watching theater. So, that was exciting or challenging.
But, you know, in the time of Shakespeare, they would perform on stages and there would be a crowd just like a marketplace. It would be total chaos. I did a lot of shows for children, like for five-year-olds or for eight-year-olds. And that's also chaos. They're just screaming through it. And it's like you're fighting with the audience. And it also brings good energy, it can bring fun.
To perform in the Stadsschouwburg [in Amsterdam], where it's very serious and very quiet with very serious people, when there's one person who coughs—you immediately notice and it's breaking. So if it is chaos, it can help.
DY: You’ve spoken pretty openly about developing panic attacks on stage. What do you think caused that?
MK: Yeah. I had one a year ago. Yeah. That was interesting. The show was Ms. Julie during the second show. The first show went very well.
So I celebrated, I drank too much alcohol, and the next show I felt it. I drank a lot of coffee to bring myself back, but it was a bit too much coffee. And then like 30 minutes before the show, an actress and I started talking about the universe. So, I really zoomed out and my panic started.
I was really afraid that I wouldn't know my lines, or I would fuck up. And in the show I have to be on stage for two hours and I can't go off. So I really felt trapped and I couldn't perform. I think almost 80 or 90 percent of me was floating above, and this 10 percent was still working. And it went okay. Like, I did everything, but I was just watching myself.
And afterwards, the director came to me and she said, "This was the best show we had, and you did it perfectly." So that really shocked me, of course. And I felt like, okay, I have two decisions. I can decide I need anxiety to perform well, or, even though I was afraid, I still could manage. I chose the other. I chose that.
DY: Your father is in the same industry as you. He is a film director and documentary producer. Did he introduce you to entertainment, or was that your mother who’s a photographer?
MK: It's like a family that was very interested in art, but mostly in stories. So my father would tell me a lot of stories. But they didn't really introduce me to theater, so I feel like I discovered that myself. My father is not a theater director, but he is very interested in acting.
The love for film really came from him. We would watch a lot of films, and he would show me Kubrick. I would show him Tarantino, and he would bite his lip and really hate it. Then he would come back with Tarkovsky, and I would find it boring, and stuff like that. We would really take art seriously, and enjoy it and talk about it. Why is this working, why not?
We never worked together, but hopefully we will. We both would like to. Yeah. A lot of people would find that kind of difficult. I do find it difficult, but I also find it very challenging and interesting, I think.
In the years before, I really did not want to work with him because I wanted to prove myself. I think he's a very good director, but I don't want to work with him because I'm his son. I want him to work with me because I'm a good actor. I think I had to prove myself before I could do that.
Koole goes on to dish on a difficult director he worked with, using qigong as an acting technique, and explains why he’s taking a break from social media. Listen to this entire episode of Dam Yankee wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the full videos on YouTube.
Because of his social media break, the only place to catch Koole is in a live show. You can see him perform the titular role in Weg Met Eddie Bellegueule with the ITA. Tickets are on sale for between 10 - 42.50 euros, with the Dutch-language show also including English supertitling during several performances. There will also be a live production of the show at this year’s Lowlands Music Festival.
Koole will also perform with ITA in Tijd voor Geluk, premiering on June 12, as well as Kopenhagen Trilogie, De Wetten, and Oer en Andere Tijden.
