Skip to content

Wijbrand Schaap

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.

Five quarters of an adolescent brain. Jetse Batelaan makes growing pains hilariously palpable at Theatre Festival Boulevard.

When you make theatre for children and young people, you tell stories to children and young people from your adult existence as an adult. You can do that. You can get funding for that. Artemis, previously named the second-best theatre company in the Netherlands here, is such a company. But, because this youth theatre company is led by Jetse Batelaan, Artemis likes to do things differently. Stronger... 

Read More "Five quarters of an adolescent brain. Jetse Batelaan makes growing pains hilariously palpable at Theatre Festival Boulevard.

Impressive Minaret shows at Theatre Festival Boulevard that art survives disasters. (And check out what Miet Warlop pulls off with Dervishes)

Miet Warlop has exciting ideas, and carries them out. Now she is not unique in that. More artists do that. What makes Miet Warlop special is that it invariably leads to really special work. Take her latest creation, to be seen at Theatre Festival Boulevard, 'Ghost Writer and the Broken Hand Brake': she puts three people on stage and... 

Read More "Impressive Minaret shows at Theatre Festival Boulevard that art survives disasters. (And check out what Miet Warlop pulls off with Dervishes)

Colson Whitehead writes gripping book on cruelty in US juvenile justice: 'The system is still intact'

With his slavery novel The Underground Railroad, American writer Colson Whitehead broke through worldwide. His impressive new book The Nickel Boys is once again about a gruesome page in recent American history. Torture, rape, even murder: at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, it was the order of the day. For as many as 111 years, the... 

Read More "Colson Whitehead writes gripping book on cruelty in US juvenile justice: 'The system is still intact'

Why youth is the future and fake art does not lead to real art at Theatre Festival Boulevard.

Bossche Theatre Artemis is, after International Theatre Amsterdam, the best theatre company in the Netherlands. The company owes this to an illustrious past (Pauline Mol!!) and to Jetse Batelaan. This director recently received the prestigious Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale for his disruptive oeuvre. This consists largely of performances in which children take power, without... 

Read More "Why youth is the future and fake art does not lead to real art at Theatre Festival Boulevard.

In search of pleasure and secret spots, you sometimes stumble upon very special things during Festival Boulevard

The central character in theatre-maker Marijn Graven's Lo Lie Taa was there early. At least, so he tells the mirrored floor and the audience in his monologue Lo Lie Taa. As a nine-year-old, he was already madly in love with his mother and not long after, his life was defined by pursuing as many splashy results of his... 

Read More "In search of pleasure and secret spots, you sometimes stumble upon very special things during Festival Boulevard

White wine and black pain at finely diverse Theatre Festival Boulevard

One of the benefits of advancing secularisation is that beautiful buildings are becoming vacant in more and more places. You can do things with those buildings. With art, for example. So this week, Studio Orka from Belgium did something beautiful in the Maria Church in Vught. They turned the empty neo-Romanesque building into, yes, an empty church.... 

Read More "White wine and black pain at finely diverse Theatre Festival Boulevard

Boulevard opens with great ambition. It will be exciting regardless.

The Theater aan de Parade is slowly but surely starting to become the blot of cultural politics in Den Bosch. The outdated theatre has too low ceilings, too much plush, asbestos and past to still be a credit to the Brabant provincial capital. Viktorien van Hulst, director of the now 35-year-old Theatre Festival Boulevard, made a point of saying during her opening speech on 1 August that the... 

Read More "Boulevard opens with great ambition. It will be exciting regardless.

At last. Interest groups arts and creative industries seek collaboration

It is actually a footnote in the press release that lobby organisation Kunsten '92 sent out into the world today. But, as always with footnotes, it did contain the most important news. Because Kunsten 92, the club in which organisations in the arts sector polder, is "exploring cooperation" with the Creative Industry Federation. The latter is the Arts '92 of everything that is also culture and creativity,... 

Read More "At last. Interest groups arts and creative industries seek collaboration

Jeremy Dutcher on Amsterdam Roots: 'I think we can expect something very beautiful in the generations to come, as long as we keep singing our songs.'

It is, so in his normal clothes, a cheerful, spontaneous guy who walks up to me in the hotel lobby where we have arranged to meet. Jeremy Dutcher the Canadian singer who is one of the main guests at this year's Amsterdam Roots festival, hardly shows any traces of the jet lag he must have undoubtedly sustained from his flight, which took off a few hours earlier... 

Read More "Jeremy Dutcher on Amsterdam Roots: 'I think we can expect something very beautiful in the generations to come, as long as we keep singing our songs.'

The Netherlands' Flemishest festival. Theatre festival Boulevard sees artists searching for a way forward

'As programmers, we are more often in Ghent than in Amsterdam,' says Viktorien van Hulst, director of Theatre Festival Boulevard. The Bossche arts festival, which this year takes place from 1 to 11 August under the Sint Jan and at unexpected locations around the North Brabant capital, has for years stood out for its close ties with our southern neighbours. 'The Dionysian artists are sitting... 

Read More "The Netherlands' Flemishest festival. Theatre festival Boulevard sees artists searching for a way forward

No one in the art came up with a plan B. (Why the current chaos was caused by lobbyists)  

‘Hier ga ik niet iedereen blij mee maken.’ Deze woorden sprak minister Ingrid van Engelshoven uit tijdens het debat over haar uitgangspuntennota, vorige week donderdag. Ware woorden. De glans van haar ministerschap is er inmiddels inderdaad wel af. Van Engelshoven is, na Bussemaker, de tweede cultuurminister die Mark Rutte’s cultuurbeleid moest uitvoeren, en niets anders te bieden had dan een… 

Read More "No one in the art came up with a plan B. (Why the current chaos was caused by lobbyists)  

Culture Council advisory committee chairman steps down: 'Nobody checks state museums anymore'

Wim Hupperetz, director of Amsterdam's Allard Pierson, has resigned his position as chairman of the museums and heritage advisory committee to the Council for Culture. In protest, he says, against the irresponsible way in which the minister is now implementing the Culture Council's advice. 'If this continues, we will soon be giving millions of euros to a few... 

Read More "Culture Council advisory committee chairman steps down: 'Nobody checks state museums anymore'

With a cohesive team you win the World Cup. How the Holland Festival gagged all the cynics this year.

The 2019 Holland Festival was the best in decades. At least in the 25 years I have consciously witnessed it, I cannot recall a national festival that coupled so much impact with so much prestige. Whether visitor targets were met or not will be of no concern to me in this regard. It is, as Volkskrant colleague Hein Janssen once remarked,... 

Read More "With a cohesive team you win the World Cup. How the Holland Festival gagged all the cynics this year.

Colin Benders plays Concertgebouw flat on closing night of memorable Holland Festival 2019

Stereo is primitive. Cinema operators have known that for a while, and so has anyone with a 7:1 set to go with their TV. Two speakers, no matter how good and big or small, remain two speakers. Now, of course, we also only have two ears, but they can place 360-degree sound thanks to some clever ribbing and our own smart brains. So sound should be... 

Read More "Colin Benders plays Concertgebouw flat on closing night of memorable Holland Festival 2019

Pity the Poles! Intense suicidal sadness in stage adaptation of Kafka's 'Trial'.

You must be a Pole. That, as the Dutch premiere of 'Process' at the Holland Festival showed, is no laughing matter. This performance, an adaptation of Franz Kafka's famous novel of the same name, conveys that feeling very poignantly. Five hours long, interrupted only by two half-hour intermissions, during which a mackerel sandwich can be eaten. Or a bowl of mixed nuts. Observant... 

Read More "Pity the Poles! Intense suicidal sadness in stage adaptation of Kafka's 'Trial'.

Art is totally useless, and politicians need to make that clearer. (Why Mark Rutte should go out more often)

Vanmiddag is er een hoorzitting in de Tweede Kamer over de uitgangspuntennota van Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven. Die nota waarvan iedereen inmiddels doorheeft dat het een sigaar uit eigen doos is. Insprekers hebben hun mooiste speeches voorbereid, en er zal na afloop zeker het een en ander viraal gaan binnen de verschillende culturele social media-bubbels. Ik werd een beetje moedeloos… 

Read More "Art is totally useless, and politicians need to make that clearer. (Why Mark Rutte should go out more often)

Tryptich by Bryce Dessner is just a little too perfect to really hit home

The Americans have a word for it: production value. By this you can indicate that a performance is technically perfect. The sound is right, the stage setting is excellent, the costumes are all right, the lighting brilliant and the actors, singers and musicians: top notch. Even the extras are at their best. So a show with high production value can rely on little... 

Read More "Tryptich by Bryce Dessner is just a little too perfect to really hit home

ITA's Cherry Garden delivers neat play in theatrical no man's land

It must have started with a big plan in Simon McBurney's head. The Brit, a master of mathematically precise text theatre full of technical gadgets, saw the amazing floor of the Rabozaal of Amsterdam's Stadsschouwburg and his brain started working. Something about a backcloth covering the full width of the hall, something about a doll's house, something about... 

Read More "ITA's Cherry Garden delivers neat play in theatrical no man's land

'Congo' is another highlight of one of the most meaningful Holland Festivals in years.

'I think they understood.' Faustin Linyekula says it, very quietly, a little apologetically almost, to his fellow actor at the end of the performance Congo. A slightly relieved laugh can be heard in the main auditorium of Frascati, where Princess Beatrix is also seated. Shortly before, Daddy Moanda Kamono had erupted in an increasingly desperate tirade against our shared past.... 

Read More "'Congo' is another highlight of one of the most meaningful Holland Festivals in years.

From now on, mandatory for every theatre talk: a blank sheet of paper.

If a Nobel Prize for brilliant innovative festival ideas is established, the first may be awarded to whoever came up with the solution to 'the festival conversation' yesterday. You know, that ever-necessary conversation with the important guest or guests. At a table. On chairs. On television, such a setting is already problematic, live in a theatre usually lethal. A currently anonymous... 

Read More "From now on, mandatory for every theatre talk: a blank sheet of paper.

More French-language rap please.

French is made for rap. Forget all that American-English mincing, listen to the rhythmic drone that good French-language rap offers. One of the possible benefits of a self-absorbed US and a post-Brexit Europe is that we might start hearing that beautiful language of our southern southern neighbours a bit more often. 'Speak French to me, darling!' Macron will be delighted. Wednesday... 

Read More "More French-language rap please.

New arts plan cabinet-Rutte III: 25 million less arts supply. (But more happy artists)

How harrowing the payment of artists, musicians and theatre actors, screenwriters and all those other 'creators' is, became clear again in recent weeks. In newspaper Trouw, a musician - finally - came out of the closet of poor working conditions. Against the prevailing mores, she revealed how much she earned. What transpired: top national institutions like the Concertgebouw allow musicians to perform for free, orchestral musicians... 

Read More "New arts plan cabinet-Rutte III: 25 million less arts supply. (But more happy artists)

Does blood have to flow then? (How much art you can make about art not hurting)

Why do we actually want to see blood so much? That's what I wondered during the performance Roughhouse. This American-German piece is showing in the Holland Festival (Wednesday 12 June still) and in it, so no blood flows. That's also what it's about. That blood no longer flows anywhere, in the media, in art. That everyone always gets up again, that... 

Read More "Does blood have to flow then? (How much art you can make about art not hurting)

Why, as a total layman, I did three days AUS LIGHT. And came out as a different person.

Music critics were unabatedly enthusiastic. And even opera lovers came, saw and were pleased. Of course, there was the chorus of monuments, led by a Flemish antiquity, who liked Maria Calllas better seventy years ago, but its members are only the necessary minority needed for something as unprecedented as AUS LICHT, the Magnum opus of the 72nd Holland Festival. Beforehand, it seemed... 

Read More "Why, as a total layman, I did three days AUS LIGHT. And came out as a different person.

Pipi Longstocking rules in Zwolle. (Why everyone who cares about learning should go to Festival Woest)

Put 15 or so bouncy balls from the first grade of primary VMBO in an antique cabin of a few square metres and you can be sure there will be a hundred of them. Music they will make and they themselves had thought it should be about a forest. Protoon's accompanist is going to arrange that for them. There are pads ready,... 

Read More "Pipi Longstocking rules in Zwolle. (Why everyone who cares about learning should go to Festival Woest)

Small Cultural Membership
175€ / 12 Months
Subscribe
For turnover less than 250,000 per year.
Posting press releases yourself
More details in the confirmation email!
Most Popular
Cultural Membership
360€ / Year
Subscribe
For cultural organisations
Posting press releases yourself
Collaboration
In the confirmation e-mail you will find the details for press release forwarding
Private Membership
50€ / Year
Subscribe
For natural persons and self-employed persons.
Exclusive archives
Own mastodon account on our instance
en_GBEnglish (UK)
nl_NLNederlands fr_FRFrançais en_GBEnglish (UK)