'Through the Dust' could just become Enschede's own Gijsbrecht.

Are there any reasons not to go to Enschede on a Saturday night? The city is pretty buzzing, with its central square full of terraces where something with pop and rock bands is going on every time I visit. That could also be a motivation not to go, because all those people who go there drink beer and cocktails and have to supplement that on the last intercity back to the west with lots of chips and more, very loud and usually incoherent, talking. 

In terms of timing, that return trip was still possible after visiting 'Door het Stof', the latest locally rooted quality play from the stable of the Wilmink Theatre. In that Enschede theatre, lifelong musical producer Gerard Cornelisse (once bv Pluk van de Pettenflat) has been inspiring a whole new generation of creators to regionally rooted public theatre for a few years now. First in the surrounding area, where the Almelo location shows now have legend status, later in their own theatres, with especially the Christmas productions, which you would expect to see in England rather than in Calvinist Holland. 

Sly monkey

But Enschede is not Calvinist, of course. The city has been predominantly Roman Catholic for 700 years, and that is a theme of the latest production from the heart of the Wilmink team: Door het Stof. The performance tells in a very special way the story of Alphons Ariëns, the Utrecht priest who intervened in Enschede during an uprising of textile workers against the 'barons'.

The role he played was, and still is, controversial: were we dealing with a sly monkey who led the workers up the garden path, or a compassionate believer who stood up for the lumpenproletariat? The fact is that he managed to prevent all too much bloodshed in a city led by a trigger-happy Indie vetarist while at the same time being at the cradle of the Catholic Worker Movement.

Two locations

The very well-intentioned hearer sees in this the outlines of a story of Gijsbrecht van Aemstel allure. That was a medieval local Amsterdam akkefietje that, since Vondel dedicated a play to it in the 17th century and mixed it a little creatively with Homer, has defined Dutch theatre for centuries. 

Who could be the new Vondel who could turn the local Enschede story into something of national allure? Behold Jibbe Willems, the man who writes plays faster than his shadow. Cheered on by Gerard Cornelisse's daring to think big, he wrote a musical play that takes place simultaneously on two locations and yet can be seen by everyone. 

Current impact

The show, which can be seen at least until 12 July in the large halls of the Wilmink Theatre and the Muziekcentrum Enschede, has the audience changing places one and a half times and Danny Westerweel and colleagues dozens of times. So that happens between the place where the capitalists sit at a richly filled table and the working-class pub that sets the stage for some wonderful scenes in which the ensemble of ripe and green musical and cabaret talent gives things an upside that is sometimes reminiscent of Les Misérables.

The theme remains of all times, and we can still read the power games in the newspapers every day. It is only to be welcomed that author Willems does not push those references to the terrible present too emphatically. They have more impact that way, and that was palpable this Saturday, July 5, 2025, the day after Christian-political The Hague stumbled over the last moral boundary. In fact, when reality becomes so theatrical, the playwright must control himself. 

As hilarious as it is tragic

Whether everything comes off equally well doesn't really matter. There is sometimes spoken in dialect that reaches too far east even for the Enschedeans in the audience, and the line of the 'love interest' is a bit too thin story-wise. Nice though that this is played so convincingly by Alexander Schuitema and Julia Lammerts as Enschede's Romeo and Juliet that their expected but raunchy ending is as hilarious as it is tragic and moving. 

That this double reaction, of a roar of laughter with wet eyes, came this way, could also be due to the feeling of hunger that was present at that moment, around 9.30 p.m. I had remembered that this time it would be theatre with food. Coming from Utrecht to Enschede, I had imagined that this time, as so often with the big Wilmink performances, it would be theatre with food. Which was not the case this time.

If you go, so go a bit earlier, the local, quite good, catering establishments offer nice packages. That will prevent you from attacking the trays of egg salad a little too eagerly in the last break of the evening, where the audience gets something to snack on from sponsor Johma. 

Thanks to those feeding frenzy I could handle the smell of chips and beer a bit better on the last train back west. Nor could it spoil the aftertaste of this quite legendary evening of theatre.