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Frans van Hilten

I am a freelance cultural journalist. Because I think an independent cultural voice is important, I enjoy writing for this platform.

Carlo Boszhard as a gnome: 3 reasons why 'Maestro' does suck

by Frans van Hilten
18 December 201430 March 2022
5 min read
For members only, MEDIA, MUSIC, TELEVISION

Tonight (Thursday 18 December), the second season of TV programme 'Maestro' will have its finale. Dutch celebrities such as schlager singer Frans Duijts and presenter Sylvana Simons try to conduct a symphony orchestra under supervision. They will be judged by conductor Otto Tausk, violinist Isabelle van Keulen and double bassist Dominic Seldis. Letter writers and columnists tumble over each other in condemning the programme. 'Maestro' would be a knee-jerk...

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Glazen hanger in de vorm van een gezicht (4e-3e eeuw v.C.)

By the way, that city did not need to be destroyed at all: 7 myths about Carthage debunked in Leiden

by Frans van Hilten
2 December 201430 March 2022
6 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, VISUAL

The bad news is: most myths about Carthage are nonsense. The good news is, the reality is at least as fascinating. Until 10 May 2015, the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (RMO) in Leiden is showing the multifaceted history of a port city in present-day Tunisia, and once formidable rival of the Roman Empire. It simultaneously offers a glimpse...

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Stefan de Walle en Ariane Schluter in Vrijdag, foto Kurt van der Elst

Living on with indigestible guilt to each other's ruined existence: National Theatre plays Hugo Claus' Friday

by Frans van Hilten
30 November 201411 July 2016
4 min read
THEATER

Georges Vermeersch comes home early from prison, where he was serving a sentence for incest with his daughter Christiane. In the meantime, his wife Jeanne has had a child by younger neighbour Erik. So how to move on? Casper Vandeputte directed an intense, haunting version of Hugo Claus' play Friday at the Nationale Toneel. Lead actors Stefan de...

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Plastic Junkies van Antonin Comestaz, foto Robert Benschop

Squeaky plastic and schizophrenia in Here We Live And Now by NDT and Korzo

by Frans van Hilten
21 November 201430 March 2022
5 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, DANS

Among the audience at Korzo theatre in The Hague at the performance 'Here We Live And Now' are a striking number of dancers from Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT). No wonder, as many of their colleagues are involved in this performance. This annual programme featuring young choreographic talent is a co-production of NDT and Korzo. The addition 'Hague' talent, by the way, may be taken with...

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Keeping is no good, throwing away is wrong: comical lesson in self-reflection from Firma MES

by Frans van Hilten
7 November 201430 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, THEATER

Twenty-five per cent of people have a room they can no longer enter because it is too full of stuff. This is oppressive and it is no wonder that some resort to the other extreme: radical consumerism. In TROEP, theatre group Firma MES follows Barbara, a woman who wants to live with no more than eight objects. Just like Buddhist monks. This results in a delightful, witty play that is seriously thought-provoking and shows how giving up can become just as oppressive as keeping it.

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Sallie Harmsen en Joris Smit in Tasso (foto Kurt van der Elst)

Drama about art: to do or not to do? Ivo van Hove and Sallie Harmsen think so.

by Frans van Hilten
28 October 201429 March 2022
9 min read
For members only, THEATER

The National Theatre will premiere Blueprint for an Even Better Life on 8 November 2014, which addresses, among other things, the position of artists in society. A theme that also featured in their recent Tasso, and in Toneelgroep Amsterdam's successful The Fountainhead. Is the subject of art back on the theatre agenda due to the changed cultural politics of the past...

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