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.
Door Wijbrand Schaap Eens in de zoveel tijd staat er een theaterregisseur op die de leegte om zich heen aan de kaak wil stellen. Dat het om de leegte in hem (of haar) zelf gaat, daar komt deze jonge regisseur meestal een jaar of twintig later achter, als die eenmaal wat minder leeg geworden is. Zo gaan die dingen. We…
The Russian soul. So there is something about that. And you get something from that when you see a Chekhov play (if done well), or read one of his short stories. Or when you read the works of Tolstoi, Dostoevsky or any other inhabitant of that vast nothingness east of Poland. Or seeing the paintings, which a few...
Above, fun audio from the Holland Festival. We went to watch and listen at this performance. Afterwards, we talked to actor Sabri Saad el Hamus and reviewer Martin Schouten. They had their own views on this play, which was announced as follows: Cairo is the city with thirty thousand minarets. Here you can hear five times a day above the...
Fortunately, there is a considerable time difference between Santa Monica and Amsterdam, but for a while there was a threat of considerable confusion when the organisers of the three-day Harmony Festival thought they could reserve the hashtag #hf10 for themselves. However, since the first twitters, yesterday, things have been quiet in California, as they have discovered that Holland Rulez where trending topics are concerned....
Not all was negative around Sam Mendes' Bridge Project, which was received rather sparingly by us at The Dodo, and a few other media outlets. Apart from a few positive Twitter reactions, the performance of The Tempest also garnered a pretty nice review from Volkskrant reviewer Karin Veraart, who admired music, directorial discoveries and acting performances by Stephen Dillane in particular and the fresh couple...
By Wijbrand Schaap (photo by Arno Declair) Since Wednesday 9 June 2010, the Netherlands has resembled Austria a bit more, although with us the mountains are in the southeast, instead of the west. And there's another difference: we are still allowed to see the stage work of Austrian Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek, while the stern writer's work in her...
Martijn Padding has done something special with Beethoven's 10th. He turned the piece that the deaf composer never really wrote in its entirety into an experience that, as Volkskrant reviewer Frits van der Waa put it, made you feel what it sounded like between Beethoven's ears. According to the NRC, it sounded Impressive: the sphere of creation stripped of all heroism, as if you were passing through two centuries of...
By Wijbrand Schaap (photo by Joan Marcus) You can have Bach's St Matthew Passion performed by 15 canaries, an electric guitar, a drum kit, a ukulele and a accordion, and it will still be beautiful, because it is Bach. Similarly, you can have Shakespeare's up-and-coming British plays performed by a group of Americans, and it will...
By Wijbrand Schaap, Photo Joan Marcus So we don't have that. In the Netherlands. So many good actors of name and fame to fill an entire Shakespeare comedy with top actors, right down to the smallest edelfiguration. Ok, we come a long way with our Pierre Bokma's, our Gijs Scholten van Aschats, a Lineke Rijxman, Mariek Heebink and Ariane Schluter, and flat Elsie de...
State visits are hard to adjust to the cultural agenda, and when the Queen then misses her opening of the Holland Festival because of a visit to Norway planned years before, it is force majeure. And not anything else, though of course in these politically confused times it remains delightful to speculate on other reasons why the Majesty was absent from Amal...
Valhalla. Someone called it, and indeed: Valhalla. I don't mean the Teutonic version of the Eternal Hunting Fields then, but Miss Asterix and Obelix. Egyptian style. You may colour in the picture yourself with dark curls, unimaginably flawless skin made of very creamy milk chocolate, and that then set on a pair of hidden heels and strapped into a corset that accentuates everything of value. So Amal Maher is one of those women for whom a man will gladly put his chimes at the disposal of science, if it gives him the privilege of being around her for a few moments.
The Telegraph stresses the importance of being Dutch, while the Holland Festival lets the Dutch sing along with the Arabs
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