Waanzee! When Religion Becomes Merciless

Abstract

The play Waanzee (Mad See) recently toured through the Netherlands. Based on the novel Waanzee by Robert Haasnoot, the play is a reconstruction of events in a small Dutch Protestant fishing community in 1915 and centers around the character of Arend Falkenier, a deeply religious man. Out at open sea he seeks to convince the captain and the crew that he received a divine message revealing that the end of time had come and that they were the only survivors and should head for the Eternal City of Jerusalem. To prove this prophecy he breaks his compass and cuts off the sails, claiming that God alone can lead them through him. He has three reluctant fishermen killed. A Norwegian freighter eventually finds the vessel and returns the surviving crew to safety. The stage version of Waanzee was performed in Arabic with actors from Morocco with supertitles in Dutch.