British director Katie Mitchell is the 'arsonist' at Amsterdam's Stadsschouwburg this month. With performances that are as scintillating as they are transgressive. The forbidden zone is about areas long forbidden to women: science and war. The performance follows two women who violated that prohibition (and who actually existed): scientists Claire Haber and Clara Immerwahr. In the process, Mitchell combines film, stage and performance. Three days later, her staging of Bach's cantatas can be seen.
#1 Salzburg Festival / Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz / Katie Mitchell, The forbidden zone (theatre/performance) - Dutch premiere 11 February, Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam
British director Katie Mitchell is 'arsonist' at Amsterdam's Stadsschouwburg this month. With performances that are as scintillating as they are transgressive. The forbidden zone is about areas long forbidden to women: science and war. The show follows two women who violated that prohibition (and who actually existed): scientists Claire Haber and Clara Immerwahr. In the process, Mitchell combines film, stage and performance. Three days later, her staging of Bach's cantatas can be seen.
More than Miss Saigon, that other successful musical based on an opera by Puccini, Rent quickly becomes a dragon of a musical. But leave it to M-:Lab to give it a contemporary twist. Not tuberculosis in the Paris of more than a century ago, but Amsterdam at the time when the HIV virus was still a death sentence. Faced with poverty, creativity, relationships, addiction and loss, eight friends each in their own way try to capture the essence of life in images, words and music. Expect musical most Angels in America.
#2 M-Lab, Rent (musical) - premiere 13 February, Theater M-Lab, Amsterdam
More than Miss Saigon, that other hit musical based on an opera by Puccini, will be Rent soon become a dragon of a musical. But leave it to M-:Lab to give it a contemporary twist. Not tuberculosis in the Paris of more than a century ago, but Amsterdam at the time when the HIV virus was still a death sentence. Faced with poverty, creativity, relationships, addiction and loss, eight friends each in their own way try to capture the essence of life in images, words and music. Expect musical meets Angels in America.
A decade on the tube: the marmot race in AVRO's Wee-kent-kwis. What we saw, however, was a race between guinea pigs. Theatre Sonnevacnk gives a modern twist to the battle between guinea pigs. At the back of the pet shop, three guinea pigs are waiting for someone to buy one of them. Fierce competition, in other words. Because each guinea pig considers itself the hairiest, the toughest and the funniest.
#3 Theatre Sonnevanck, Guinea pig! (youth) - premiere 15 February, Theater Sonnevanck, Enschede
A decade on the tube: the marmot race in AVRO's Wee-kent quiz. What we saw, however, was a race between guinea pigs. Theatre Sonnevacnk puts a modern twist on that battle. At the back of the pet shop, three guinea pigs are waiting for someone to buy one of them. Fierce competition, in other words. Because each guinea pig considers itself the hairiest, the toughest and the funniest.
#4 South Pole, Empedokles (stage) - Dutch premiere 20 February, De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam
An unfinished tragedy by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843). His set-up foundered in three unfinished versions. From these, Vlaamse Zuidpool put together a fourth version, with live music, a major role for video projections and top actors. In the original German, with Dutch surtitles.
Who did this director who came over from the Netherlands think he was? At Drottningholm's baroque theatre, rediscovered in 1921 - the only baroque theatre in the world with original theatrical technology - director Pierre Audi abandoned tradition and barely used the standard decors built into the theatre He even showed a bare stage in Handel's Tamerlano and Alicna. Worse, he broke the theatrical illusion and made the eighteenth-century mechanics visible. To be seen in Amsterdam back in 2005 with great success, ten years later a more than wellome reprise with a top cast.
#5 The National Opera, Tamerlano / Alcina (opera, reprise) - premiere 24 and 25 February, Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam
Who did this director who came over from Holland think he was? At Drottningholm's baroque theatre, rediscovered in 1921 - the only baroque theatre in the world with the original theatrical technology - Pierre Audi abandoned tradition and barely used the standard sets built into the theatre. He showed in Handel's Tamerlano and Alicna even a bare stage. Worse, he broke the theatrical illusion and made the eighteenth-century mechanics visible. Already seen with great success in Amsterdam in 2005, ten years later a more than welcome revival with a top cast.
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