Theatre show 'Two old ladies' by Toon Tellegen at Boulevard Theatre Festival 

Theatre collective Thomas, Sacha and Jos creates show about universal love

After years of fruitful cooperation with master storyteller Toon Tellegen and several performances based on his work, theatre collective Thomas, Sacha and Jos will play this summer Two little old ladies at Theatre Festival Boulevard. Tellegen's book consists of 43 love stories, each starring two old ladies. Thomas, Sacha and Jos made a selection from the stories and adapted them into a recognisable, primal and poetic performance about finiteness, loss and that love comes in many forms, but above all is universal. The festival version of Two little old ladies can be seen three times a day at Theatre Festival Boulevard in 's Hertogenbosch from Monday 7 to Sunday 13 August. The premiere is on Tuesday 8 August at 19:00h. In spring 2024, the expanded version - with even more stories - can be seen in theatres around the country. More information and tickets: thomassachaenjos.nl

A collection of love scenes

Two little old ladies is a collection of short love scenes about human desire in the waning days of life. The females love each other so much that it almost makes them unhappy. The various couples can't live without each other, but with each other every now and then, it's not everything either. They love and fight each other, they praise and despise each other. How they fare in each scene - full of longing and melancholy, humour and tragedy - is always surprisingly different. A recognisable, primal and poetic performance about lives that end, loss and that love comes in many forms, but above all is universal. Two little old ladies is a visual performance, played close to the skin, in which the slightest movement is visible and where seemingly ordinary situations sometimes take absurd turns.

Universal love

Thomas, Sacha and Jos is a queer collective. It is a fact with which the collective does not come to the fore, but it is an important part of their identity. This show is visibly queer, but queerness is never the subject of the drama, as it often still is in many books, series and films. Two little old ladies is about universal love in all its facets, regardless of age and gender, as everyone knows or should know love. The collective feels it is important to make this performance now, to let a wide audience see and feel how multicoloured love can be and to contribute to breaking taboos precisely with light-heartedness and humour.

Collaboration with Toon Tellegen

The collaboration between Toon Tellegen and Thomas, Sacha and Jos began in 2013, when Jos (Nargy) asked Tellegen if he would like him to make his book My Father was allowed to create a performance. It was through this performance, that the collective was born. In 2014, they created another performance based on work by Tellegen: The train to Pavlovsk and Oostvoorne. A year later, they asked Tellegen to write something for them. He immediately responded positively to this and so the show was born A past life, about the writer's first 12 years of life. A past life was later collected as a novella and released by Querido publishers. In 2018, they played a sold-out tour of Memories of my brother, a performance based on Tellegen's book The lilac tree. This time, it was the writer who asked the trio to bring his book to the theatre. In 2020, the collective decided on a new and expanded adaptation of My Father play, the Tellegen show it once started with. Due to the corona pandemic, the tour eventually lasted until 2022 and could count on full houses almost without exception. The kinship between the makers and the writer and the themes he deals with in his work is great. With Two little old ladies - the show that will be shown at Theatre Festival Boulevard in 2023 and tour theatres in 2024 - the collective chooses a work by Tellegen that is perhaps the most personal ever for them.

Especially for the occasion, publishing house Querido released the booklet originally published in 1994 Two little old ladies re-released. Available in bookstores since early July, it contains all 43 stories that Thomas, Sacha and Jos selected for adaptation for theatre.

About the makers

Thomas, Sacha and Jos is a collective of actor/theatre-makers: Thomas van Ouwerkerk, Sacha Muller and Jos Nargy. They create adult performances with a youthful outlook and youth performances that are very suitable for adults.Their work is visual and linguistic with a transparent acting style and playful energy.Sweet, without being sweet, and at the same time tough and smart.

Thomas van Ouwerkerk (1988) graduated from the HKU in 2011. He plays alongside 'Thomas, Sacha and Jos' with physical companies, such as Jakop Ahlbom, the Berlin mask company Flöz family and the international collective Troupe Courage. For instance, he toured with Jakop Ahlbom Company with the success performance Horror around abroad and in 2019 he performed at the Sydney Opera House. Since 2016, he has performed with Family Flöz in the show Teatro Delusio and was co-creator of the show in 2020/2021 FESTE. They are physical performances that do not involve text. The performances are sold worldwide, which is why he plays from Napoli (Italy) to Guangzhou (China). In Feb 2023, he was at the international Mime festival in the heart of London.

Sacha Muller (born 1983) graduated from HKU in 2007. He is an actor and theatre maker who has joined several companies in the theatre landscape. Starting at the Beumer & Drost theatre company, his first performance received Guests immediately the Silver Cricket in 2007. With this theatre company, he made several successful performances and developed as a physical and musical actor and creator. He played at a.o. Pied Dog, MaasTD, Ulrique Quade Company and theatre Artemis. In 2011, he joined the artistic core of Troupe Courage, with which he creates and performs shows at home and abroad. This season, he featured in the musical spectacle 12th Night from theatre group Alum and he makes The lamb that a pig is at Het Filiaal Theatermakers.

Jos Nargy (1987) graduated from the HKU in 2011. Jos is a performer who is a welcome guest in Zaal3, Theater aan het Spui and the Koninklijke Schouwburg in The Hague. Jos is not only a member of 'Thomas, Sacha and Jos', he also forms a duo together with Joep Hendrikx; 'the poetry boys'. They bring poetry back to the theatre and the world. Together, they create and perform for festivals and theatres. The performance Lorca was at Oerol this year can still be seen at theatre festival de Parade and theatres. They take a different poet each time and turn them into theatrical performances. In addition, Jos organises monthly poetry evenings in Zaal3 under the name Poetry bar and thus performed three times in a sold-out Royal Theatre with PoeziebarXL. November 2018, Jos won the Piket Art Prize in the Theatre category.

Game/Makers: Thomas van Ouwerkerk
Sacha Muller and Jos Nargy
Text: Toon Tellegen
Final direction: Ramses Graus
Text editing: Jos Nargy
Design: Hiske de Goeje i.c.w. Thomas van Ouwerkerk
Music: Arend Bruijn i.c.w. Sacha Muller
Dramaturgy: Ninke Overbeek
Technology: n.n.t.b.
Production support and business direction: 'n More (Lise van den Hout, Ellen van Bunnik)
Publicity: Dagmar Bokma
Campaign image and poster design: Guy Vording
Trailer: Mink Pinster / MILLK
Courtesy of: Publisher Querido, Sanne Meenink, Leo Sterrenburg, Seline Gosling, The National Theatre.

Made possible by: Gemeente Den Haag, Gemeente Utrecht, Gemeente Amsterdam, Fonds21, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Stichting Zabawas, Norma Fonds, Gravin van Byland Fonds.