Theatre Rotterdam's new season - the maker community travels the country with 9 productions 

A season full of cross-pollinations, collaborations and the entire maker community on stage

In the coming theatre season, Theatre Rotterdam will tour the country for the first time with all its makers from the makers' community. More than ever, the various makers of Theatre Rotterdam seek each other out, with collaborations in which they enhance each other's work, from co-creations to directing each other's work. Glen Faria joins next season as a guest maker and makes the performance Malebox at Theatre Rotterdam. The performances, projects and exhibitions can be seen in Rotterdam and go on tour throughout the country. 





With this season, Theatre Rotterdam underlines its choice to work with a community of makers, in which a diverse group of makers together represent the full breadth of the performing arts. What unites them is a strong commitment to current social issues and to each other's work. This translates into a season full of cross-pollinations, collaborations and new artistic forms - inside and outside the theatre.  

“For me, theatre is where worlds touch. Where stories that sometimes seem too big, too painful or too complex for everyday conversation can exist together. Next season, we show the full breadth of our community of makers, in all its polyphony and multiplicity. An important thematic line is family relationships and how they affect the larger world around us.” - artistic director Alida Dors 

Glen Faria 

This season, Theatre Rotterdam welcomes Glen Faria. This versatile creator, known for his personal and musical signature, will next season produce the performance Malebox. In doing so, he is assisted both musically and theatrically by the ZO! Gospel Choir, in a cheeky, fast-mounted direction by Priscilla Vaudelle. His arrival further enriches the community with a voice that explores current themes around identity, masculinity and fatherhood. 

Productions from the maker community 

Alida Dors - (Sur)render - Explore Spaces 

Alida Dors, artistic director of Theatre Rotterdam, is creating this season's exhibition (Sur)render - Explore Spaces. An immersive route at the intersection of visual art and performance. Who dares to descend into themselves to admit new worlds from there? 

On view between 17 Oct - 17 Jan at Kunsthal Rotterdam

Dalton Jansen / BLACKBIRDS - Fear Me 

Dalton Jansen makes this season's show Fear Me, a physical performance about fear. 
Fear settling in and taking over you. About wanting to stay in control when in your body all the alarm bells are already going off. About a system that is constantly on edge. About thoughts that keep intruding. Fear Me does not romanticise fear. It shows the exhaustion. But also the strength that comes from keeping moving - even when everything inside you tells you to stop. A powerful urban contemporary dance language creates a physical dialogue, where bodies speak where language fails. 

Premiere 4 Dec  On tour from December to February 

Erik Whien - Mary Jane 

Erik Whien makes this season's show Mary Jane, a loving portrait of parenthood and hope. 
After the acclaimed performances A Case for the Existence of God and Hamlet Director Erik Whien brings the acclaimed play Mary Jane to the theatre, translated by Kim van Kooten, starring Charlie-Chan Dagelet. A single mother, Mary Jane, cares for her chronically ill son Alex. Between the beeping monitors, sleepless nights and hospital visits, she endures their daily reality with unwavering dedication. A performance about resilience, unconditional care and the importance of compassion. 

Premiere 13 Mar  On tour from March to May 

Glen Faria / Priscilla Vaudelle / ZO! Gospel Choir - Malebox 

The show Malebox by Glen Faria is about the question: what do you pass on as a man?  
Glen Faria was shaped by the city, a strong mother, an impressive brother, tough cousins, adventurous friends and well-spoken girls. And always there was the shadow of the flats where you could take shelter from the sun or accidentally find yourself in a nasty situation. Glen's father gave him a box on his path, filled with the mindsets, life lessons and experiences you need to be a man. When his own son turned 21, Glen wanted to pass the box on to him. But he took another look and thought: ‘this box needs to be cleaned up’. Malebox takes you on a rhythmic journey through the choices Glen Faria made - choices that shape him into the man he is today.  

Premiere 27 Dec On tour from December to February 

Grande Loge - AZC Golden Mountains 

Grande Loge makes this season AZC Golden Mountains At Brutus, Rotterdam. 
AZC Golden Mountains is a large-scale immersive theatre experience by Grande Loge, in co-production with Theatre Rotterdam. The performance is set in a pop-up departure-AZC where people are waiting to be admitted to a new country. In this upside-down world, it is not people who want to come to Europe, but rather people who want to leave the horror of Europe. 

On view from 16 to 20 September 

Mathieu Wijdeven - Helstone in The Pledge of the Gods 

Mathieu Wijdeven tells in his performance Helstone in The Pledge of the Gods The story behind Suriname's first opera. 
What does it mean to make an opera on Surinamese soil, shaped by European classical traditions and rooted in Surinamese stories? Theatre-maker Mathieu Wijdeven dives into The Pledge of the Gods (1906), the first Surinamese opera by J.N. Helstone. Wijdeven's own great-great-grandfather G.G.T. Rustwijk designed the scenography for the work at the time. After its premiere, the opera disappeared from view for more than a century, until a rerun evoked diverse reactions. 

Premiere 13 Jun on Oerol  Rotterdam premiere 11 Sep On tour from September to October  

Nastaran Razawi Khorasani - Heartbeats (reprise) 

Nastaran Razawi Khorasani goes into reprise with the performance Heartbeats: “A ritualistic celebration of life.” - Theatre newspaper  

With her performance Heartbeats Nastaran Razawi Khorasani brings an intimate and poignant story about life and parting. A performance that touches and upsets, but also offers space for comfort, imagination and what makes life valuable. At the centre is the story of Dian Sahertian-Boers, a young woman who was told in the middle of life that she was incurably ill. Her words resonate with openness and a zest for life. A performance that does not shy away from death, but rather shows what gives life meaning.  

On tour in October and February 

Romana Peace / Bureau Vergezicht - A Bigger Story 

This season, in co-production with Theatre Rotterdam, Erik Whien directs the performance for Bureau Vergezicht A Bigger Story, an theatre solo with the peerless Romana Peace. 
What do our history of slavery and melting ice caps have to do with each other? The answer is: everything. During colonialism, it was about exploitation of people, animals, lands, seas and skies. And although slavery has been officially abolished, it lives on in our culture. As the shelves empty, we try to preserve our lifestyle with technological solutions. A Bigger Story searches for what a decolonised earth looks like. Not through outrage, but with humour, imagination and rich language. 

Premiere 31 Oct  Tour dates to follow later 

Wunderbaum & Nastaran Razawi Khorasani - To Do 

Wunderbaum and Nastaran Razawi Khorasani, both part of the maker community, are joining forces. Together they will make the play To Do, About love in times of control anxiety and about holding on in an increasingly demanding world.  
Theatre-makers Nastaran Razawi Khorasani and Matijs Jansen write a long and candid to-do list through which they try to make sense of their lives, optimise their happiness, balance their relationships, take care of the children as best they can, reflect on the zeitgeist and not alienate themselves from the country they live in. 

Premiere 9 Jan Tour dates to follow later 

Wunderbaum / NTGent - People with problems 

Wunderbaum, together with NTGent, makes a tragicomic attempt to live life in four acts in the performance People with problems. 
Acting group Wunderbaum and NTGent present a translated cycle by German-Swiss author Sibylle Berg for the first time in the Netherlands and Belgium. People with problems follows in four parts the lives of four women at different stages of their lives. They are young. Their hopes are high, their actions stormy. They are no longer so young. Their bodies and adolescents protest. Nature disappoints. Things are suddenly moving at breakneck speed. They seek an alternative, at any cost. A tragicomic cycle about four women at different stages of life. A sharp and witty reflection on expectations, ageing and failure. 

Premiere 12 Dec NTGent Schouwburg On tour from December to March, May and June 

About Theatre Rotterdam 

Theatre Rotterdam stands for leading and multi-voiced theatre. Through storytelling, Theatre Rotterdam brings people, perspectives and ideas together. With ‘I am because of you’ as its motto, it is fully committed to connecting. A place is created where people see and hear each other. A place for dreams and comfort, beauty and enrichment. Together, people celebrate, try, and visitors and makers make each other think. And while that is happening, everything comes to life. Theatre Rotterdam gladly invites you to this dance.