Marjon Brandsma (1943-2024) had tragedy in her voice; when she said her text, it arrived immediately

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Marjon Brandsma Image ANP

It must have been extremely honorable for Marjon Brandsma that Judith Herzberg wrote a play especially for her. It was in January 1988 that the monologue De Caracal premiered at Toneelgroep Amsterdam. The first solo performance by Brandsma, who had previously performed in a piece by Herzberg, the legendary Leedvermaak (1982).

Marjon Brandsma passed away on January 19 in her hometown of Amsterdam at the age of 80. She had been struggling with her health for some time. In 2012 she played her last role, that of the old mother in Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, directed by Gerardjan Rijnders, who also directed De Caracal at the time.

Rijnders: ‘She was not only a very good actress, but also a idiosyncratic woman, and I liked that. I already knew her from the early days of Toneelgroep Baal. I had made a rather free adaptation of The Lady with the Camellias for that company, but they didn’t like it at all. So after a week of rehearsals she left.’

After Brandsma completed the Theater School in Amsterdam, she founded Toneelgroep Baal with, among others, Kitty Courbois, Hans Dagelet and director Leonard Frank. There she played one role after another, including in Leedvermaak, a family chronicle about which the shadow of the Second World War hung.

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Judith Herzberg: ‘Her acting was never indiscriminate, everything she did was well thought out, well thought out. No fluff ideas. She always immersed herself in the role she was playing. The role of Dory in Leedvermaak was close to her heart, as a spectator you started to believe in it, you even got her nervous twitches.’

At Toneelgroep Amsterdam she became one of the defining actresses, who was also not afraid of an adventure. For example, she played in Rijnders’ then controversial performance Bakeliet. Rijnders: ‘As an actress she was a tragédienne, and that tragedy was also a bit in her voice – when she spoke a text, it arrived immediately. But she could also play comedic roles; then she just widened her eyes. She was very intelligent and broadly oriented.’

One of her most beautiful roles was that of the young woman in Het Wijde Land by Arthur Schnitzler at the Publiektheater in 1987, also starring a very young Pierre Bokma. In 1982 she won the Theo d’Or theater prize for her role in Lies under the rose at De Haagse Comedie.

In De Caracal Brandsma played a somewhat peculiar, lonely woman who only talks on the phone. Herzberg wrote it partly because there were few pieces for women around the age of 40. ‘Women in the theater always have to be young and hot, or old and impressive and scarred by life. Marjon played that role beautifully. I think partly because she was a complicated woman herself, at least not a simple one. Which must have been interesting for her work, but confusing for her private life,” says Herzberg.

Rijnders last directed her in 2012. She had difficulty remembering the text and decided to stop. After that farewell she more or less withdrew. Rijnders came across her not so long ago in the local Albert Heijn. ‘Suddenly an old lady with a hat stood in front of me. But I didn’t recognize her at all. After that painful moment of silence, she gave me a push, just said ‘Brandsma’ and walked away.’

Brandsma’s cremation took place on Friday, January 26, at the Zorgvliet cemetery in Amsterdam. Herzberg and Rijnders were present. Herzberg: ‘I saw all kinds of people from the stage there, white-haired people. There’s a play in there, I thought at that moment, a play about white-haired people. During that meeting there was a lot of love and attention for Marjon. I missed her terribly and will never forget her. Until I forget myself.’