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Arab women conquer Eye

A special film programme opens at Eye on 5 June: Where do we go now? Arab women behind the camera. Those who think of the Middle East and North Africa may think of conflicts and IS, perhaps of the origins of algebra, but probably not of women filmmakers. Yet they are rising considerably. In 1994, Moufida's Les Silences du Palais was... 

Provincial millions for HET Symphony Orchestra evaporated without results

What happened to the five million Overijssel gave the orchestra in 2011 to 'get more money from the market'? This was also what councillor Van Abbema wondered, and the answers the province gave her mostly raise more questions. What is abundantly clear is that the province wants to keep the orchestra no matter what and of no merger 

Lulu and Kentridge's clothes

Lulu, the opera that Alban Berg left unfinished on his death in 1935, is considered an undisputed masterpiece, which is frequently performed. The opera is at the Muziektheater for the third time this millennium, but for the first time with the third act completed by Friedrich Cerha. South African artist William Kentridge will direct. He and the performers were honoured after the... 

Self-assembling in van der Aa's multiverse: The Book of Sand

A young blonde woman climbs a staircase in a round, windowless room and emerges into a desert. She runs laps around a red cloth, singing "everything's repeated many times". Or: the same young woman lies in the same windowless round room, but now in a different dress and with a curious machine. "everything's repeated many times". Or: the same... 

Scene photo La Fura del Baus, M.U.R.S. Photo Josep Aznar

La Fura dels Baus pushes you into a haunted house of play and seriousness in M.U.R.S.

Stepping into M.U.R.S. is a treat. This is the smart city, the city of our near future. Communication electronics and fun rule. It resembles a fairground or a huge disco. Exciting voices welcome you. You whirl in with the crowd. Everyone joins in. Your phone is in touch. Cheerleaders stand on a stage,... 

New annual figures show: THE Symphony Orchestra is virtually bankrupt

THE Symphony Orchestra is as good as bankrupt. The 2014 figures show that. So it is total nonsense that responsible minister Jet Bussemaker reported in her answers to questions by MP Jacques Monasch less than a month ago that the orchestra was well within the own income norm of 21.5%. Not only did she already use incorrect figures in her answers, now... 

Turkish toppers play the roof off Carré: fresh wind through Holland Festival #hf2015

Stars, we don't really do that in the Netherlands. Our ground level does not allow diva behaviour. In our lowlands, you get a plus if you have stayed so nicely ordinary despite your success. Even if you stand in the Arena with your songs, like the Toppers, this weekend. How different it is in Istanbul. There, you are allowed to be shamelessly famous. Like. 

The seven performances you must see this Holland Festival

As Big as the Sky I am looking forward to Arnoud Noordegraaf's new multimedia project, As Big as the Sky, with sets by Ai Wei Wei. Noordegraaf is a master at blurring the boundaries between film and reality. His music is elegant and appealing and serves the story. As Big as the Sky, op... 

JSF Fort Asperen by Stefan Gross. Photo Wijbrand Schaap

Gimme Shelter: impressive sculptures in unused war machines

Fort Nieuwersluis is the biggest surprise of the art event Gimme Shelter. Until a year and a half ago, the defensive work was a no-go-area. The BB ('Bescherming Burgerbevolking') sat there until 1989 to protect telephone lines during, but especially after World War III, when the rest of the Netherlands would be hiding under the kitchen table from the H-Bomb. When the atomic-proof fortress became permanently obsolete, the... 

Movie theatres get extra room online

Summer at home. Six film theatres are experimenting with an extra room online from 4 June. Here's how it works. Suppose you would like to see Summer. The modest but atmospheric coming-of-age drama that earned Sigrid ten Napel a Golden Calf best actress nomination. About a summer in which, for a 16-year-old village girl, everything changes. But you are unlucky. Your favourite movie theatre does show Summer, but just not on that night... 

Holland Festival - Back to the future with Metropolis

During the Holland Festival, theatre company La Fura dels Baus lets us experience the city of the future with the interactive performance M.U.R.S. As an overture, HF has programmed the film Metropolis, Fritz Lang's magisterial 1927 dystopian vision, which rightly became known as the mother of all future films. Iconic imagery, biblical influences, Marxist dialectics and actually still surprisingly modern. New York,... 

Ritual dance around digital Calf: M.U.R.S. by Fura dels Baus at Holland Festival

Zonder de app op je smartphone M.U.R.S. bezoeken is een uitdaging. De voorstelling van het beruchte theatercollectief uit Barcelona is een commentaar op de manier waarop mensen via allerlei gadgets ongemerkt onderdeel worden van een door internationale bedrijven gerunde SMART-society. Doe je mee of niet? Valt er eigenlijk wel wat te kiezen? Volgens Jürgen Müller, een van de oprichters van… 

City of the Blind is ethical research and sensory experience in one

An old man strolls into the infirmary with a transistor radio. 'Where did you go blind?' the already present blind ask the newcomer. 'In a museum,' he replies. A moving conversation then unfolds about what was the last painting he saw, and the possibilities are projected onto the wafer-thin canvas that separates the audience from the sick room. This tot... 

Q61-Cemetery-Bart-Grietens-4kl-1030x685

Cemeteries actually want more theatre. Get used to it.

Last week, the planned dance performance Q61 Cemetery at a cemetery in Alkmaar caused a stir. After threats, it was cancelled. Still, we have to get used to theatre in the cemetery. Because it is changing. A reaction from a bereaved person and the cemetery manager. It was big news. And it started with summary proceedings. Relative Leen Spaans objected to a dance performance at... 

How do you remove the negative sound around 'amateur art'?

A tricky question, but Festival Havenwerk director Erik-Jan Post has an idea and likes to bad some sacred cows. About arts education. About the concept of 'amateur'. About how big you should want to be as a festival. 'We are much less a festival in the classic sense. Havenwerk is more of a meeting place, with the participants at the centre. This year, therefore, the entrance fees are... 

'A drunken panda who wants to have a tussle' - The Loom of Mind on HF15

In The Loom of Mind, Icelandic folk singer Mugison, his bosom friend Pétur Ben, and Flemish baroque ensemble B.O.X. join forces. What does that sound like: melancholic Icelandic blues with 17th-century instruments? Like a stand-up storytelling concert performance? Or like a drunken panda who wants to have a game? How did you find each other? Pieter Theuns, lutenist and founder of B.O.X.: "I found Mugison... 

Advertising column Three Sisters

Chekhov's helpless, poetic creatures - three actresses on Three Sisters

Three Sisters by Chekhov directed by Theu Boermans is back with the Nationale Toneel. Two and a half years after its original performance, the play will play nine times exclusively at the Royal Theatre in The Hague. There is news about all three "sisters". Anniek Pheifer (Masja), Ariane Schluter (Olga) and Sallie Harmsen (Irina) talk about their careers and about Chekhov.... 

A dozen questions to Vis à Vis

Theatre group Vis à Vis, based at Almere Strand since 2007, has been around for 25 years. In all these years, the group has mainly created accessible, successful open-air theatre performances such as PICNIC, Silo 8 and HaRT. Visual comedies with lots of spectacle, where solid themes are treated in a light-hearted way. EXIT is their anniversary performance. A dozen questions to Arjan Anker, artistic director of Vis à Vis:... 

Dutch Theatre Festival selection: a splendid list that makes no sense at all

A beauty list. The Dutch Theatre Festival's official jury selection cannot be described any other way. Neatly divided into large- and small-screen productions, with a mime and a location production as well. At the same time, the selection makes no sense at all. Because yes, the Theatre Festival admits that it looks mainly at theatre. And after all, aren't there all kinds of awards for opera, youth theatre,... 

Theo Verbey: 'A composer is first and foremost a songwriter'

Dutch composer Theo Verbey (Delft 1959) writes music of lush tonal beauty, in which the achievements of centuries of musical tradition resound. He made his name with works such as Triad (1991) for orchestra and Expulsion (1988) for large ensemble, and with orchestrations of pieces by composers such as Modest Mussorgsky and Alban Berg. For the closing concert of De Vrijdag van Vredenburg, he wrote Traurig wie... 

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