Cultural journalist since 1996. Worked as theatre critic, columnist and reporter for Algemeen Dagblad, Utrechts Nieuwsblad, Rotterdams Dagblad, Parool and regional newspapers through Associated Press Services. Interviews for TheaterMaker, Theatererkrant Magazine, Ons Erfdeel, Boekman. Podcast maker, likes to experiment with new media. Culture Press is called the brainchild I gave birth to in 2009. Life partner of Suzanne Brink roommate of Edje, Fonzie and Rufus. Search and find me on Mastodon.
Sunday is the Gala of Dutch Theatre. In a sober yet festive setting, the theatre sector celebrates the fact that it still exists. Quite an achievement, even if the minister doesn't think so. Be that as it may. We are going to present awards. And not Oscars, Olivers, or Césars, but Louis, Theo, Colombina and Arlecchino. How that came about? Tradition....
Drama reviews mainly fill a need among artists and journalists. Newspaper readers hardly use them. In London, this has been studied. Only 36 per cent of theatre-goers say they read reviews. Much more value fans place on tips from friends and family. Last Saturday at Amsterdam's De Balie debate centre, there was a discussion between theatre-makers,...
"Grand opening, right?" Jeffrey Meulman, the man who as director of the ailing Theatre Festival gave the word "inspired" a new dimension, was delighted. It was Thursday night, September 4, 2014. Shortly before, I had seriously considered jumping from the 1st balcony of the Stadsschouwburg, rather than applauding Tauerbach, the opening performance of The Theatre Festival. It is...
Art has rapidly become unimportant. Artists have been effectively dismissed by populists as subsidy-addicted scum. Media leaves no opportunity to downplay the consequences of the cuts that followed. Putin is about to bring a third world war to Europe. In Amsterdam on Saturday, September 6, three of the Netherlands' last daily newspaper critics talk to artists about...
"Art is about personal development. It's not that Friday afternoon fiddling". Barbara Visser, artist and board member of the new Academy of Arts had an argument that was factual, and can be summarised briefly. We can attribute all sorts of things to art, but let's especially not. Learning about and experimenting with taste and creativity...
Since the Amsterdam Uitmarkt is no longer run by the Uitburo but by a separate foundation, things have become a tad more commercial. The folder-fair-with-bands that has become the national opening of the cultural season over the past decades has to. The government has found art scary for a while now, usual suspects are pulling out as sponsors, and malaise is hitting...
Culture minister Jet Bussemaker can again make up for the cultural devastation caused by her predecessor Halbe Zijlstra. As promised earlier, money will be freed up for talent development. This was a demand of the chamber and a wish of the country. Are we happy? Of course. Although happy, there are also a few things that remain troublesome. [Tweet "1 Develop...
Update: Meanwhile, the Culture Council has picked up the gauntlet. Melle Daamen posted his pieces on Culture Press, and Joop Daalmeijer has agreed to give a comprehensive interview. More news soon, then. 'Melle is a member of the Supervisory Board. You have nothing to do with that. So that's why NRC anyway?' Dixit Joop Daalmeijer, the man who since he became chairman there...
We reported on it earlier. Because it was too crazy for words. Cable companies refused to pay writers since 2012. They did pay broadcasters, producers and men in suits like that with a BMW out front, but not writers. And neither did journalists. While a large part of those clubs' billions in profits comes from the very makers of the...
I had promised to check out a session with Benjamin Zander. Me as a non-expert, together with someone who finds classical music downright soporific. To see if Zander works, as he promises to work: "Everyone loves classical music, they just don't know it yet". The man is in the Netherlands and that doesn't happen very often. Not for very long...
Met 6,4 miljoen views op TED ben je iemand. En Benjamin Zander is dus enorm iemand, want een klassieke dirigent die dat voor elkaar krijgt: dat maak je niet vaak mee. Sinds dat legendarische optreden is Zander dus ook inhuurbaar spreker. En schrijver van een boekje. [bol_product_links block_id=”bol_53f85f2c62b17_selected-products” products=”1001004001757262,1000004001281876,1001004010676431″ name=”zander” sub_id=”” link_color=”003399″ subtitle_color=”000000″ pricetype_color=”000000″ price_color=”CC3300″ deliverytime_color=”009900″ background_color=”FFFFFF” border_color=”D2D2D2″ width=”250″ cols=”1″…
So the building is a bit redundant, well considered. After years of drawing, tug-of-war and plans for a new venue complex in the city centre of The Hague, local politicians blew off the Spui Forum earlier this year. Now, I'm sure there will have been all kinds of criticisms of that building plan, but the consequences of the lokalos blowing it off are not...
Het levende bewijs is te zien vlak voor het je van de sokken rijdt, of voor je ogen onder een bus terechtkomt: mensen met een koptelefoon op in het verkeer bevinden zich niet op hetzelfde fietspad als waar jij rijdt. Zelfs niet in hetzelfde universum. Ook al zijn hun ogen open. We hebben zelf niet door hoe effectief geluid is…
De grote theatermaker Johan Simons heeft laten weten dat hij naar Rotterdam wil komen, om een groot Europees theater op te zetten. Hij ziet zijn kans schoon nu er over twee jaar een plek vrijkomt in de artistieke leiding van het stadsgezelschap van de Maasstad, het ro theater. Wanneer ze Simons aanstellen, kan er groots gedacht worden, zegt Simons. En…
He is the greatest director in the Netherlands. But also the least honourable theatre-maker we know: Johan Simons. The man whose star has been rising since the 1980s is now in Munich. But he is not staying there. After putting the local company Kammerspiele even more firmly on the map internationally, he is looking for new challenges. Den Bosch earlier reported...
This is rather fantastic. The Tate Museum in London offers the opportunity to wander the halls at night, in the dark. To view everything on your own time. By controlling robots from your couch. Viewing artworks online in museums has been possible for a long time. We have the Google Art Project, we have our own Rijksmuseum that...
Culture Press follows cultural policy closely. Culture Press dares to put its finger on the sore spot where it is needed. Culture Press is the indispensable source for cultural reporting. Culture Press provides interpretation with daily background articles, reviews and opinion pieces on theatre, dance, film, theatre, music, opera, visual arts, literature and cultural policy. All affiliated authors are specialists in their fields, deeply...
We are talking about the summer of 2015. Then Benedict Cumberbatch will play the title role in Hamlet, to be seen at the Barbican Centre in London. For the show, which plays for 12 weeks, 214% more tickets have already been sold in the first few hours after ticket sales opened yesterday than for Jay Z and Beyoncé's tour, which is on the same...
Er is al heel veel gezegd over Robin Williams. En waarom het erg is dat hij dood is. Blijft over het beeld dat de beste humor niet zonder een inktzwarte achtergrond kan bestaan. Humor is dan een ideaal middel om je duistere kant de baas te kunnen. Hoe duisterder, hoe meer humor, dus. Stephen Fry spreekt over de extremiteiten van…
Flemish actors can speak. Flemish actors usually don't need microphones to make themselves understood over a storm, or from 100 metres away in the open air. Charlotte Caeckaert is one such actress who can do all that, and such technique is a joy to witness. She also writes lyrics, and that's where things go a little wrong....
Two actors who, together with their director, want to create a performance about loss. Or rather: our fear of losing things, or people. The makers are not quite there yet, it turns out at Theatre Festival Boulevard. From numerous conversations with thinkers and (experiential) experts, they have distilled characters while improvising, which they - separated by a thick...
Nerd theatre with electric dings and funny little mechanisms. I love it. Seen something on a construction scaffold in the last century with a starring role for taunting bench sanders and droning derricks. I was hoping for something like this with Studio Gebroed's 'Days', but was a little disappointed. The premise is fun, of course: we follow a creator who, in a few days like this, creates a very nice...
There were people who simply looked in the kitchen cupboards even though the guide expressly forbade it. That type of person, who probably also asks for ketchup at every meal, was one of the more interesting discoveries during the walk you could take in den Bosch, titled 'Peeping'. The performance is an example of 'experiential theatre': theatre without a clear storyline or message,...
It is the most ambitious summer festival in the Netherlands: Festival Boulevard in Den Bosch aims to showcase not only the finest theatre theatre theatre in the low countries, but also the fattest shows, and youngest new creators and the merriest bus drivers. And all that in 10 days, in once tad where the local newspaper does its best to promote culture as scary as possible to make. We briefly summarise it for you in eight enticing words.
Het verschil is slechts een ‘h’. Maar verwarrend is het wel. Deze week gaat in Zeeland de rockopera ‘O die zee’ in première. Over een maand gaat in Den Haag de sferische locatievoorstelling ‘Oh Die Zee’ van start, net als de Zeeuwse voorstelling zijn laatste weekend beleeft. De voorstellingen gaan allebei ook nog eens over de Odyssey, het klassiek Griekse epos over een Griekse held die na het verwoesten van de stad Troje tien jaar over de terugreis naar zijn eigen stad doet, waar hij vervolgens nog 100 minnaars van zijn echtgenote moet omleggen.
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