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.
There is at least one reason to go see Porca Miseria, Trajal Harrell's latest work. The Holland Festival hosts the American choreographer best known for his Vogueing work this weekend, and the soundtrack to his trilogy is nothing short of stunning. Starting with Willie Nelson and ending with the Lamento della Nimfa with which Claudio Monteverdi...
If humanity goes extinct, there has been a woman somewhere who was the last not to have a child. To whom does that honour belong? At the Holland Festival, an ensemble of 12 performers now perform a requiem for that last non-mother. Actress and singer Joy Wielkens is the extraordinarily disarming high priestess in this at times quite heavy evening, in which the end of...
Het getuigt of van enorm lef, of van grenzeloze naïviteit, om een musical te maken waarin een slavenhandelaar in Afrika door een liedje bekeerd wordt tot een leven in liefde en respect voor de medemens. Toch is Yemandja, het stuk dat in een decorloze uitvoering werd gebracht in het Holland Festival, eigenlijk precies dat. Ik zou het ook kunnen uitleggen…
What does trauma do to people? A lot, I can say now, after hearing and especially seeing Le Moindre Geste at the Holland Festival. The performance is very special in its conception, and for that reason alone beautiful to experience, and confronting, for both the amateurs who performed it, and the fans who watched it. Le Moindre Geste can be...
Hoe speel je een regenwoud? Ik heb me ooit laten vertellen dat het regenwoud vooral snachts oorverdovend lawaai maakt. Op 7 juni kreeg ik dat ook te horen in de installatie Altamira 2042, dankzij het Holland Festival. De Braziliaanse kunstenaar, annex documentairemaakster Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha wist in die voorstelling het geluid van de tropen voelbaar te maken. In een…
It's quite something, what Sami Yusuf brings to the stage: his own accompanying group of seasoned pros, the heavenly voices of Cappella Amsterdam and the traditionally Mediterranean sounds of the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra. Together, this results in a sound experience that moves from calm ponds with a gurgling fountain, to dry steppes winds, raging seas and overwhelming mountains. There could effortlessly be a...
Yemi Alade. What a woman. Never heard of her until 3 June, the opening of the Holland Festival's anniversary edition. She was one of the guests of Angelique Kidjo, the Benin-born African singer who is one of the two associate artists of the country's most prestigious festival this year. And Yemi Alade, star from Nigeria, threw her full...
‘Wij hebben uitsluitend aangename, betrokken mensen ontmoet met het hart op de goede plek voor de Rotterdamse cultuur.’ Zo luidt de laatste zin van een rapport van het Utrechtse adviesbureau Rijnconsult over de toekomst van de Rotterdamse Raad voor Kunst en Cultuur (RRKC). Op basis van dat onderzoek heeft wethouder Said Kasmi (D66) deze week besloten de RRKC per 1…
Today in Trouw a few useful tips to culture bringers. They are responses to the reader question a few days back, about why the halls remain empty in our museums, concert halls and theatres. Five responses are included, and each one is excellent. They also show something, and that is that the eagerness, with which the halls are vacated by the directors...
In het Franse taalgebied heeft iedereen l’Étranger (De Vreemdeling) van Albert Camus gelezen. Het boek uit 1942, dat veel Nederlanders ook hebben gelezen, al was het maar omdat het lekker dun is voor de leeslijst Frans, verhaalt over een witte Franse inwoner van Algerije, een zogenaamde pied-noir, die zo overtuigd is van de absurditeit van het leven dat hij een…
Just for fun, name one literary or cultural classic Dutch work that you are sure people around you know about. And I mean a work, like a book or a play, that pops up every few years in the lists, on our stages, in our cinemas. Something that everyone, even now, is on...
It is obviously good news: the German federal culture minister is increasing the budget for culture by 148 million euros to 2.3 billion. At a time when cultural funding, especially in the 'developed West', has been steadily declining (since 2010), such an increase is of course wonderful. For the Dutch, who point out with some regularity how well the arts are doing in Germany: per head of...
From now on, can we agree to replace all DJs with real drummers? I mean, what I witnessed at the premiere of Eros, Schweigman&'s latest project, was so overwhelming that I can't imagine I've ever gone out of my mind on a drum machine. Two living drummers, splashing and at the same time individually starring at the...
In Vlaanderen, of liever gezegd, in de culturele hoofdstad ervan, Antwerpen, wankelt de theatersector. Het Toneelhuis, eind jaren negentig opgericht als fusie tussen de legendarische Blauwe Maandag Compagnie en stadsgezelschap KNS, is na het vertrek van Guy Cassiers in een crisis geraakt. Het verliest nu, na een vernietigend advies, meer dan de helft van zijn subsidie. De Vlaamse overheid stopt…
'For me, the world of Wotan equals the world of Putin.' Christopher Ruping, director of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen to be shown in Amsterdam in June, makes no bones about it: 'Siegfried [central character of Wagner's monster production, ws] is a very problematic character. He kills the dragon without asking questions. We give the dragon...
Who should apologise for the history of slavery and what happens when apologies are made? Theatre group Aluin and Raymi Sambo Makes are jointly creating the theatre performance Ik zeg toch sorry about the history of slavery. The premiere is next June during Oerol. After the summer, a theatre tour will follow from September to December 2022. I say sorry anyway is an exciting fusion...
The comparison with the Derksen affair cited in this article no longer holds true as of this date, as the TV personality has been restored to full glory by the television station that previously 'cancelled' him. From Monday, 16 May, he will return to his old role as a 'grumpy old man' in Today Inside. See the link here.
Once upon a time, Ben Frost started out as a composer of laden ambient music. Not necessarily upbeat, more contemplative and just a little depressing of the kind that can be used to add some colour to a dip. Take the piece "You, Me and the End of Everything," which can be found on YouTube. Compared to the score of The Murder of Halit Yozgat,...
Ok. Eén keer zal ik het zeggen. Dat Yara Piekema de dochter van Harry Piekema is. Je weet wel: die man die eigenhandig die Zaanse Grootgrutter een menselijk gezicht gaf. Harry was al een grote in het Utrechtse, en nu blijkt hij stiekem, jaren geleden, een nog grotere het leven gegeven te hebben: Yara Piekema, niet langer de dochter van,…
In the best-read newsletter of cultural Netherlands (on average 60 per cent open and 12 per cent click links, where the national average for peers is 30 and 2 per cent respectively), I wrote recently that the news, that visits to theatres and museums have not yet returned to precorona levels, seemed to come as a surprise to some. I mentioned...
How beautiful art for children can be when a real artist is involved. When themes like death, falling in love, loneliness and exclusion are made palpable in such a beautiful way that you step outside with a deeper feeling about life? With theatre-maker Moniek Merkx, you can. A year ago, she stepped down as artistic director of...
That you are suddenly back in 1996 at Black Snow, the television series in which actress Tamar van den Dop managed to hook an entire generation of viewers at the time. Since then, her raven-black curls have turned into a glittering cloud of silver, but those who go to see Het Nationale Theater's Leedvermaak trilogy suddenly see that young Tamar again. A miracle of talent in...
Babeth Fonchi Fothchind. Onthou die naam, want ze gaat groot worden, als ze het niet al was, maar dan buiten mijn zicht. Kan gebeuren, met al die bubbels en vinkjes waartussen we ons een weg door het leven banen. In juni 2022 komt haar debuutbundel uit, en dan kun je het zelf lezen. Ik zag haar op een dinsdagavond tijdens…
'For the first time in my life, I had the opportunity to play all the notes written by Chekhov. It was an intellectual and artistic challenge to really work with Chekhov. I could really let Chekhov be one of the authors of the play, which is very unusual for me. After all, I'm used to writing plays to...
On this website (and still read here), we posted a post that we had had artificial intelligence (AI) write all the way through for fun. The post looked real, had even included some relevant-looking information from the internet and made up some names that provided quotes. Brilliant, on the one hand, but also a bit scary. Rightly made...
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