\Me & Mr. Jansen
Raphael Rodan and
Titus Tiel Groenstege
One day Raphael Rodan comes across a black and white photo from 1943. In the photo he recognizes his house, in the heart of Amsterdam. He also sees in the photo how an old couple is dragged out of the house by men in what appear to be white coats. They turn out to be SS officers and the image in the photo is an image of a raid.
In his solo performance 'Me and Mr. Jansen' master storyteller Raphael Rodan takes the audience in a story that goes beyond “good” and “evil”.Is there such a thing as innocence and can we choose for ourselves which role we take on in a narrative? Does a person learn from history or are we doomed to repeat our mistakes? What lessons can we learn from history? As Raphael delves deeper into the past, he comes across Mr. Jones; a hairdresser who lived on the ground floor at the time. He decides to talk to him about forgotten secrets, distant memories and forgotten sins.
After the great success 'Donkey's Jaw', Raphael once again joins forces with comedian, actor, director and theater maker Titus Tiel Groenstege. Together they make 'Me and Mr. Jansen' into a piece that transcends both theater and storytelling.
Performed by: Raphael Rodan
Written by: Raphael Rodan and Titus Tiel Groenestege
Directed by: Titus Tiel Groenestege
Writing advice: Sahand Sahebdivani
Producer: Storytelling Centre
Production: Storytelling Centre
Publicity: Renske Ebbers
* This is an English-language performance
Titus Tiel Groenestege's(1959, Angerlo, The Netherlands)graduated at the Akademie voor Expressionie, a Theater School in Utrecht, in 1981. In the same year his career really kicked off, as he joined forces with Bavo Galama: the duo became known as 'Frisse Jongen' and won two prices at the Camarettenfestival , a cabaret festival in the Netherlands. Together, Titus and Bavo made several shows in the eight years that followed and in doing so they conquered Dutch theaters – and Titus didn't stop there. Titus's career as an actor and director stretches over 4 decades, in which he won several more awards and prizes. Arguably, his most renowned work is 'False Waltz', a trilogy depicting a couple going through three stages of life: love, marriage, and old age. The trilogy was a collaboration with Ria Marks and was well received by audiences. The production toured all over the word, was made into a movie, and even got nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007. Although Titus sometimes still works as an actor, he now mainly focuses on directing. As a director, he draws from his own diverse acting experience in all kinds of theatre, cabaret, slapstick, classical orchestras, bands, and dance.
Raphael Rodan (1980, Jerusalem, Israel)is an award-winning theater maker and storyteller. His artistic training lasted for over ten years. After graduating drama school, he started taking private lessons with Israeli master of theatre: Hillel Neeman. After that he emersed himself in the Meisner technique at the Actors Temple in London. When Raphael moved to Amsterdam, he scored hit after hit with storytelling shows, like “When Abel met Cain” about the duality of men, and the winner of the Amsterdam Fringe Gold Award in 2017 “My Father Held a Gun”, about the nature or confused. His work has received international recognition, playing in theaters and festivals all over Europe, including a prestige run at the National Theater in Brussels. Apart from writing and performing, Raphael also teaches storytelling at the Mezrab Storytelling School, which he founded in 2014, together with Farnoosh Farnia and Sahand Sahebdivani. Since 2018, he and Sahand Sahebdivani have been working as the artistic directors of the Amsterdam Storytelling Festival. As creative directors, together they link the ancient art of storytelling with today's most current burning questions.