 | Dood PAard |
The Dead Horse
1. Oh, a poor old man came riding by,
And we say so, and we hope so.
Oh, a poor old man came riding by,
Oh, poor old horse.
2. Says I, Old man, your horse will die,
Says I, Old man, your horse will die,
3. And if he dies we''ll tan his skin,
And if he don''t we''ll ride him again,
4. For one long month I rode him hard,
For one long month we all rode him hard,
5. But now your month is up, old Turk,
Get up, you swine, and look for work,
6. Get up you swine and look for graft,
While we lays on and drags ye aft,
7. He''s dead as a nail in the lamp-room door,
And he won''t come worrying us no more,
8. We''ll use the hair of his tail to sew our sails,
And the iron of his shoe to make deck nails,
9. We''ll hoist him up to the main yard-arm,
Where he won''t do sailors any harm,
10.And drop him down to the depths of the sea,
And drop him down to the bottom of the sea,
11.We''ll sink him down with a long, long roll,
Where the sharks have his body and
the devil have his soul.Creating brisk, unconventional works stripped of theatrical pretense, Amsterdam''s trailblazing Dood Paard (Dead Horse) has made its mark in Holland and beyond as a thrilling new voice in contemporary European theater.
Told mainly from the perspective of the chorus, this inspired, postmodern take on the ancient Greek tragedy follows the story of a woman so consumed with love,passion, and betraual that she is driven to an unimaginable act of horrifuing revenge. Set against a stylishly minimalist backdrop of projected shadows and evocative images, three plain-clothetd actors assume various roles, alternating between narrator, commentator and the story''s main characters. The poetic, often humorous text is interlaced with lyric from American and British pop songs (by groups randing from The Doors and Joy Division to Twisted Sisters and Public Enemy) to evoke, like Greek mythology, modern society''s collective memory. A startling and timeless commentary on a woman''s status in a male dominated world.