Actor Sanne den Hartogh often plays the cynical, angry man: ‘I like being able to vent anger and sadness in a controlled circumstance’

In a red and black striped suit, a furious look full of (self) hatred, alternated with a touching urge for love from a bouncy blonde girl, Will, played by Sanne den Hartogh (42), stands in the circus-like setting of The Underground. Angry, full of sarcasm and cynical jokes, he declaims into the microphone: “I am a dirty, stupid, jealous, greedy cockroach. And yet I don’t let myself be discouraged, I keep trying. And I’ve had enough of that fucking hope keeps rising, right through the cracks of the mess.”

It is a text by playwright Rik van den Bos, based on Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky from 1864. A story of a man on the fringes of society who does not want to participate in bourgeois morality and the good nature of modern man, does not want to go along with expectations. The Groningen-based company Nite turned it into an incredibly musical, dark and light spectacle. Nite previously collaborated with music groups the Asko|Schönberg ensemble and Hiiit, dance company Club Guy & Roni, a clown and a krumper (hip-hop dancer).

Funnily enough, in Den Hartogh’s ground floor apartment – he is employed by Nite, but still lives in Amsterdam – you can also see some of the battle between the brave and the recalcitrant. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but Den Hartogh is still recovering from a heavy evening of partying after the film’s preview The White Flash by Laura Hermanides in which he will soon be seen.

It had been a while since he and his girlfriend had been able to let themselves go for a while: they have had a daughter for seven months. There is a playpen in the corner and a high chair behind him. The windows are open, because a diaper has just been changed, a big one. “That smell of poop had to be removed,” says Den Hartogh. That’s the other side of the story: a child keeps you structured.

Den Hartogh often plays someone with a troubled soul – unpredictable men with a dark edge. He always makes them look a bit light and amiable, only to then show the complete opposite. Are Hamlet at Theater Oostpool is unforgettable, brooding and searching, he was the main character in The Misanthrope with the same company and into the terrifying Kil The Family from Theater Utrecht. He was nominated three times for the important VSCD theater prizes, including last year for the Louis d’Or for his role inThe Underground.

In addition to dancers, musicians and actors, Bram De Laere, circus artist and clown, also takes part. Do you have a thing for clowns?

“I’ve played a lot of angry, sad characters and without being blasé, that’s not always a challenge anymore. So I thought: can’t we try something to counteract all that drama? I thought it would be interesting if the tragic comedy was explored and then we were lucky that Bram was found.”

“Clowns have a bit of a shitty image. And not all clowns are good, but a really beautiful clown triggers something in an audience that is about childishness. Just as young children are transparent in how they feel and what they think, clowns have that too. They can’t lie. For example, if a clown is unreasonable, you can also see his jealousy very clearly. That honesty is funny and comforting.”

“I also have The world improver by Thomas Bernhard – at Toneelschuur Producties with Erik Whien – and that was a similar character to Will in The Underground by Guy Weizman. Someone who has isolated himself, despises society and constantly points out the hypocrisy of everything. I stood in one place in a kind of dim light for an hour and a half just saying that text. That was really the most fleshed out version of such a character and felt like a culmination of those types of men.”

And yet again you play a gloomy, angry, cynical man.

“It continues to haunt me a bit, because afterwards I was asked to make a film about a man who wants euthanasia due to mental suffering. Then I started having doubts again and found it exciting to take on. Indeed, I haven’t closed it yet.”

What do people see in you that you often have to play these somber types?

“I do not know. I can play them, I can connect with that part of myself, but it’s not that I’m that dark. I actually really like comedy. It must have something to do with typecasting, but I think it is also like: oh yes, we can ask Sanne for that, she always plays those kinds of roles. While I can really do more.”

“But I also like being able to vent anger and sadness in a controlled circumstance. It is healthy flushing of yourself. It’s not my sadness, but it’s not completely dry or anything either. I definitely experience something about it.”

Do you also need acting?

“I think that’s one of the reasons I do it. I can express versions of myself in playing that I do not simply exhibit in everyday life. I think it’s so cool that there is a conditioned, controlled situation in which everything is possible and allowed. And that is why I dare to be open, which is not so obvious in everyday life. I am shy.”

You don’t seem shy.

“It has become less, but I am shy of myself. I’ve never been interested in acting for attention. I don’t know what that’s like for other actors, but I can imagine that there are actors who like to be seen, that’s not a judgement, but I can imagine that it is a driving force. And I don’t have that.”

“I think walking into the foyer after a performance to order something at the bar weird. That everyone is watching or wants to say something. And what comes to mind first is: ‘That you can remember all that text’. I have developed a friendly standard answer to that. Yet it is also a lot of fun sometimes.”

You took a break from acting a few years ago. Why was that?

“I had a burnout. I only move when I have to reach for something. The bar was therefore always high. I did three projects a year and for twelve years I was able to fit everything into them. But at one point I had learned to act and I wanted to get involved in directing, for example, even though I knew that I shouldn’t question everything all the time. So I kept it inside. And I’ve done that for too long. I imploded a little. I then canceled all theater for two years.”

Den Hartogh started doing volunteer work, including at a drop-in center for the homeless and worked for the Sina foundation (Together is not alone), where he could help children in poverty. “It was very nice to discover that I can do that too, and that I can get by without acting.”

He also started making art, large pieces of paper mache. He picks up a chicken wire statue, it looks like a crab. “At first I made large ones, but then I still had a studio.”

He points around the modest home, with some children’s toys here and there. “Now they have become smaller out of necessity.”

Did you long to get back to playing?

“During the time I wasn’t doing it, I suddenly had memories of performances that had really succeeded. The evenings when a performance takes off, when you really come together with your audience. Then the energy and attention become palpable and everything coincides with the matter. That happens maybe two or three times on a tour. A kind of lucidity and togetherness then arises – that is a really beautiful aspect of theater. And I wanted to experience that again.”

TheUnderground 13 to 15/5 International Theater Amsterdam

About the author: Lorianne van Gelder has been writing for Het Parool for over ten years, mainly about theatre, culture and media. She is also presenter of the weekly Parool podcast Amsterdam metropolis.