The Point: Fighting as a father is

Through the theatre production *Fighting as a Father*, Het NUT explores what it is like to grow up without a role model and what it means to become a parent oneself.

From 14 October, Het NUT will be staging its twentieth performance, followed by a dinner, at a special venue in Utrecht. In 2026, the theatre company will explore the future of masculinity. Not as a fixed concept, but as something fluid, multifaceted and something that concerns us all. Because ultimately, the question is universal: what can masculinity be if we no longer confine it to a single form?

In *Fighting Like a Father*, that question shifts to a personal level. What if the person who is supposed to teach you how life works has never really been there? How do you grow up without a role model? And what does it mean to become a parent yourself, with questions that have never quite been answered? For three weeks, NUT will be taking up residence at De Paardenkathedraal in Utrecht city centre, searching for answers to these questions.

*Fighting as a Father* is about the courage to carry on. A thirty-year conversation told in a single evening. Between a mother and a son, a son and his lover, and the owner of a night shop. A story about the absence of a parent and becoming a parent oneself. About growing up with loss, tears, the smell of care homes and lobster.

A quest without a compass

Telemachus grows up without a father. He’s there, but not really. Some losses begin long before anyone has actually gone. For Telemachus, this makes for a difficult journey. After all, how do you grow up without a role model? Who teaches you the rules of life? Which urinal do you choose in a public toilet? What’s the difference between knights and pirates? And when is it okay to fight back, and when isn’t it?

The author, Hendrik de Pecker, draws on his own childhood and weaves it into the story of Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. Precisely now that he finds himself at a stage in life where questions about parenthood, responsibility and the passing on of traditions are becoming ever more pressing, he takes a fresh look at the absent father of his childhood. The result is a production that is at once documentary and myth. A story about absent fathers, sons seeking answers and the people who try to move on despite something being missing.

“This show is for all the lads who learnt to shave by watching YouTube videos. For those who are trying to figure out how to stay gentle whilst the world expects them to be tough.”
– Hendrik de Pecker

Beneath a cloud of light

The performance takes place on a raised stage beneath a sea of hundreds of light bulbs. The audience sits on all four sides of the stage and watches up close as the story unfolds over three decades.

For the twentieth time, Het NUT is organising an evening event at the venue, complete with dinner. Seated at long tables within the set, whilst enjoying large platters of crayfish, the audience and the creators discuss what they have seen and felt. An evening to loosen what is stuck and offer a sense of stability when everything is in flux.

About the makers

Joep Hendrikx plays the role of Telemachus. Ellen Goemans plays both Penelope and Circe, Telemachus’s lover. Hendrik de Pecker has written the script and Greg Nottrot is directing. Together, they have created a relatable production about family, loss and the question of how to carry on when the answers are missing.

Practical information