“While drifting about on the ocean / I started feeling lonely,/ and to do away with this sentiment / I began talking to myself’ . These are the opening lines of New Crusoe, TUSK’s latest theater production, yours to grab and unravel, here in town, in English.

If asked to tell what the play was all about, I’d have to think a bit – I was gripped by the sophisticated wealth of ideas, my thirteen year old son was impressed with the rap and the break dance elements, my slightly younger daughter loved the female performer’s necklace but loathed the bleeding body at the end and we all agreed that seeing it on a 17th century galleon creaking in the wind at night is a rather cool experience.

New Crusoe is a play that adapts to its surroundings: the opening night took place at the High Court in The Hague; for a few performances it moved to the VOC ship in Amsterdam, only to come back to The Hague’s Beelden aan Zee museum, to host the last remaining performances in a real dune, sea, sky and stars included, separated from the spectator by a mere sheet of glass.

Inspired by Hugo de Groot’s groundbreaking principle published 400 years ago, that the sea was international territory and all nations were therefore free to use it for trade and travel, the play was recently written by a Dutch philosopher, Ton Theo Smit and was commissioned by the city of The Hague.

It builds upon the ‘old’ Crusoe situation – what are the survival chances of a man pushed into the sea by pirates, stripped of all the modcoms of the first world ? In the 21st century, Hugo, the middle aged lawyer and philosopher, ends up stranded on an island, in the company of his sea-proof Samsonite and the many voices in his head. In defeat of loneliness, some of these voices materialize – into Osman, the breathtakingly beautifully built Somali pirate, Razi, the smoothly talking, in-control Kurdish refugee and Belle, the woman in red, apparently in search of a nudist beach. The voices soon turn into real flesh-and-blood characters; confined to the exclusivity of their own companies they fight – with words, with thoughts, with knives, keeping up appearances as best they can.

At times, Razi-the-refugee disappears, only to return with delicious food and wine which he shares gracefully. At some point, Osman-the-pirate, bursts into an uncanny rap song on the advantages of being convicted and taken into custody by a first world tribunal. And Belle ? Belle is beautiful… and blind at times. She could easily be seen as the embodiment of noble Justitia, as she tries to teach three quarreling men some manners….was she not scantily dressed in flaming red, the red of blood, of sin, of hooking.

Their meandering dialogs compete to get to the bottom of it – whose views and deeds are worthier, better and ultimately right ? Amidst a lot of bickering, the hot topics are justice, freedom, security, peace, some issues of human dignity thrown in for good measure…and it is disturbing to witness that no one rushes to stop the bleeding of the victim, continuing the debate on the right course of action to be taken.

It has been a while since a play kept feeding me thoughts for days after seeing it… This slow-release theater experience must be taken in carefully administered doses and you have shared responsibility for the success of your own entertainment. All the ingredients are at hand – an excellent cast performing a provoking, rich text in a staging laden with symbolism and suspense.

I’m considering seeing it again, in me- time and no kids…to dive into it all over again; a bit stranded and lonely, amidst my uncensored curiosity for more of my own thoughts.

New Crusoe: Edmund Dehn, Lionel Leeuwin, Philippe Rachid Ivanov, Emmeline Prior. Directed by Ellis van Maarseveen

New Crusoe plays in The Hague on 24th, 25th and 27th November at Museum Beelden aan Zee and the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. For tickets and more information please visit www.theenglishtheatre.nl / tusktheatre.net