On Wednesday night I went to see the stage adaptation of my novel “Tirza”.
A nine-year-old girl played the character of Kaisa.
At a certain point in the play the girl gets a pair of headphones. I thought that it was an aesthetic choice, but it turned out to be an ethical choice.
The director wanted to make sure that the kid didn’t have to listen to the monologue of the main character Jörgen Hofmeester. (I believe that at least nine different girls were hired to play Kaisa, so no kid has to perform in more than ten shows. This is in compliance with Dutch laws on child labor.)
Certain things are not meant for the ears of children.