The Square Theatre celebrates 80 years of peace on May 3, 4 and 5

During the weekend of 3, 4 and 5 May, you can visit the PleinTheater and its surroundings for various programmes in the context of 80 years of peace. As a theatre in Amsterdam Oost, in the middle of a neighbourhood full of history and trip-stones, we commemorate and celebrate together with the neighbourhood and the city every year.

We will present special theatre programmes, serve free soup from Peggy's Kitchen all three days on behalf of the Amsterdam 4 and 5 May committee, engage in conversation, connect in a meditation session for peace and join the Table of the East in the Oosterpark! On the walls of our café is the photo exhibition Cas Oorthuys: The Hidden Camera to see.

Below you will find more information on the programme components for each day.

Saturday, 3 May

Drowned Freedom

Phaedra Haringsma in conversation with Noris Bannafoo
Location: PleinTheatre
18:00 - 19:30 Soup (from Peggy's Kitchen) & Talk

Journalist and photographer Phaedra Haringsma this evening will engage in conversation with Noris Bannafoo (via a video-call with Suriname) a Saamaka spoken word artist and environmental activist - with whom she co-founded the story collection Drowned Freedom wrote. This evening is part of the National Commemoration Dutch Colonial Past and is dominated by resistance - the thread running through the programming. 

Trace

Sylwia Niekolaas
20:00 - 21:00 Theatre

In the puppet theatre performance Trace, Does Sylwia follow the trail of Her grandfather, a Polish resistance fighter. Sylwia uses homemade dolls as a medium to explore Grandpa's story layer by layer.

Sunday 4 May

Eye in Eye

Nilay Ceber & Youth
Location: PleinTheatre café
17:00 - 17:20 Theatre After Dam Young

Oog in oog will be a show about the photography of Cas Oorthuys. With a hidden Rolleiflex laid Oorthuys secretly captured what Amsterdam looked like during World War II: at the risk of his own life, he photographed the occupation, the organised resistance and the suffering of the Hunger Winter.
What gave him the courage to resist so actively And to keep shooting? How can his work teach us to keep looking closely at those around us? Director Nilay Ceber: "Cas had a camera. He recorded the war when no one dared to look. Now young people in Gaza are filming their last words. On TikTok. Do you see it? Or do you scroll through? I make a show. About then. About now. About images that hurt and stick."

17:30 - 20:00 Soup (from Peggy's Kitchen)
20:00 - 20:02 Two minutes of silence

Nelly's Locket (premiere)

Bitter Sweet Dance | Liat Waysbort
20:30 - 21:30 Dance

In 2021, Nelly Aman, born 1934 in Arnhem, gave her grandmother's Locket to The World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, the last place after a long journey full of hardship. The time capsule in this locket formed the inspiration for the dance performance Nelly's Locket.

The year (2025) marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, we live in a complex reality in which the effects of that war still reverberate. In the show, memories of events from the distant and recent past intertwined giving viewers the chance to learn about and from the past in order to thereby be able to create a better present and also influence the future.

Monday, 5 May

Immersive Sound Movement Healing Experience

Dayna Martinez Morales, Gizzi Geetha, Sunni Lamin Barrow
Location: PleinTheatre
11:00 - 12:30 Meditation session for peace
Afterwards, free soup (from Peggy's Kitchen) in the PleinTheatre café

A warm welcome to a special session with Dayna Martinez Morales, Dizzi Geetha and Sunni Lamin Barrow - in celebration of 80 years of Peace. We invite you to stop, feel and connect with yourself, each other and the moment together. In a warm, safe atmosphere, you will experience meditation, movement and sound. A loving invitation To completely land, connect and Celebrating what makes us human.

The Table of East

Location: The East Park
13:00 - 18:00 Liberation celebration

On Monday 5 May, Oosterpark will celebrate 80 years of liberation with the event 'The Table of East'. A festive and colourful day with performances and speakers, and Square Theatre slides in!

From 1pm to 6pm, the large field in Oosterpark of everything to do. From researcher and publicist Pieter Hilhorst to a cello performance, from dance and spoken word From Amsterdam's Kids, to Job Cohen and Theatre after Dam. A varied programme, everyone is welcome!