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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.

scene photo by Camilla Adams

'Drive Your Plough...' - Masterful narrative theatre by Simon McBurney is a lesson for every viewer #HF23

A word says more than a thousand images. This may seem strange in a world that thrives on visual culture, but it is a truism. If you have yet to see cows of all shapes and sizes, let the Holland Festival convince you. Yesterday, I saw the opening performance 'Drive Your Plough Over The Bones Of The Dead' and... 

ANGELA (a strange loop) 1 © Julian Röder

In Susanne Kennedy's Angela, you have a say as a spectator. #hf23

Not much happens in Angela (A Strange Loop) by Susanne Kennedy. That is not a bad thing; there is more art in which little happens. Beckett, for instance, was a master of it. Just as he caused confusion in the 1950s with pieces like Waiting for Godot, viewers and critics alike get a bit thrown off by Susanne... 

cover report Shadow Dancing

Border crossing in the dance world: excellent research leaves out elephant in the room

Dansen, van superamateur tot wereldklasse professioneel, gaat gepaard met grensoverschrijding, machtsmisbruik, fysieke aanslagen en seksueel wangedrag dat in stand wordt gehouden door een hardnekkige zwijgcultuur. Het langverwachte onderzoek door Marjan Olfers, ‘Schaduwdansen’, naar grensoverschrijding in de danswereld, had nog schokkender resultaten dan iedereen vooraf vreesde. De cijfers zijn inmiddels genoegzaam bekend: een meerderheid van de dansers heeft grensoverschrijdend gedrag aan… 

vake poes; or how god disappeared, lisaboa houbrechts Photo by Kurt van der Elst

Vake Poes by Lisaboa Houbrechts at the Holland Festival: in search of beauty in a very dark story

'Sometimes people come to me crying to tell their stories, things they have experienced.' Theatre-maker, author, director Lisaboa Houbrechts has stirred things up with Vake Poes, the theatrical family epic she created with the Flemish company La Geste. The fierce performance, in its lyricism fitting into the oeuvre of Alain Platel's Les Ballets C de la B... 

Elon Musk's exploding rocket

What the Culture Council can learn from Elon Musk

Nieuws van de Raad voor Cultuur: ‘De vier teams ontwikkelden diverse bouwstenen, die ze verder geconcretiseerd hebben. Daarnaast hebben de teams elkaars ideeën getest en verrijkt. Aan het eind van de dag presenteerden ze aan de hand van visualisaties hun bouwstenen aan leden van de raad.’ Dit citaat is, met de titel ‘Laatste bijeenkomst designteams nieuw cultuurbestel‘ afkomstig van de… 

Scene image Bacchae by Alex Kat

The Bacchae at the Holland Festival: Nietzsche, rock-hard beats and beautiful operatic voices in a wild plea for queerness.

'Simplicity is the problem of our time. Simplicity is labelling. It should be about fluidity and confusion.' Greek opera-maker Elli Papakonstantinou, whose star has risen rapidly in recent years, is performing a contemporary version of Euripides' classic tragedy 'Bacchantes' at this year's Holland Festival. In that 405 BC play, wine god Dionysus (also known... 

The Dry Piece, Keren Levi, photo © Anna van Kooij

Take your time with The Gaze of Anna

In the world of culture inside, but also outside Utrecht, you cannot ignore Anna van Kooij. I got to know her early this century as an always attentive, but never intrusive photographer, who could look sharp and gave all her portrayed subjects an empathetic glow. Anna has been ill for some time, and recently it became clear that she will not recover.... 

Susan Neiman (Image provided by Publisher Lemniscaat)

Susan Neiman: 'I see the woke as people with good intentions and confused theory'

'People who consider themselves traditionally on the left don't want to criticise woke because they are afraid they are aiding and abetting the right, and they certainly don't want that. And yet they feel that there is something wrong, something not really left-wing about woke discourse. That's what I'm trying to untangle.... 

Scene from Bros, photo by Luca del Pia

'Bros', Romeo Castellucci's theatrical liturgy of violence by men in uniform. To be seen in the Holland Festival

About 30 men in American police uniforms on stage, the kind we know from TV. But in Romeo Castellucci's show Bros, to be seen at the Holland Festival in June, you don't get to see chases and interrogations, but brutal violence. The show is about the anonymity offered by a uniform, in this case especially... 

Mores.online logo

Conflicts of interest in culture sector affect mores.online. What about subsidies?

This weekend, Mariëtte Hamer came out with a strong recommendation for the hotline mores.online. The club where cross-border behaviour within the arts and media world can be reported had itself become discredited. For example, the chairman, as partner of the discredited Tom Egbers at NOS Sport, had not reacted skilfully to the fuss. It did not contribute to the trust... 

Pr-picture The Toneelmakerij by Rachel Schraven

Paul Knieriem on his Hamlet for Amsterdam youth: 'Here you feel what representation and recognition does to a room'.

In mid-March, I went to see the Toneelmakerij's Hamlet, a performance specially made in and for Amsterdam-West. I had some questions about that performance, I wrote in the review, and we would discuss those questions in a podcast with Abdelkader Benali, the adaptor of the text, and Paul Knieriem, the director. An hour and a half before the recording... 

Yara Piekema and Roan Ten Cate answer questions from the audience (Photo: author)

Go see good youth theatre if you no longer believe in the adult offerings.

We have a huge need for magic and a miracle in our time. Some people think you lose that when you grow up and/or have children, but nothing could be further from the truth, of course. And in case you had any doubts, I'd give it to us if more theatre-makers for adults would once again revisit the magic you still had in your childhood... 

What Lies Beneath - photo Niels Knelis Meijer

The future is moving, the question is: how?

When the difference between the performer during the performance and afterwards is at least a thick metre, you know you are dealing with a great artist. Australian dancer Olympia Kotopoulos is a great artist, because on stage she fills the space, while in real life she barely counts one and a half metres. Art is, literally, larger than life.... 

Scene image of Hamlet by Sanne Peper

Why is this fascinating play, about the world of Amsterdam West, called Hamlet?

I had to think for a while before I wrote something about the Hamlet performance that is now showing to an audience of mostly high school students in Amsterdam West. That was because I was sitting in the auditorium, on a legendarily uncomfortable stand in a fine frayed-edge breeding ground, among a schoolchildren's audience that sat watching in full attention for almost two hours, while at... 

Still from trailer Carmina Burana

A Ukrainian Carmina Burana with an Amersfoort touch, thanks to Gerard Mosterd.

'Carmina Burana is the first project in Ukraine where I had a free hand to really turn it into something completely different. I didn't have to adapt an existing production, but could create a whole new performance from scratch.' Gerard Mosterd (1964) has a long career behind him as a dancer and choreographer. Now he is also a producer of... 

Source: Rijksmuseum. CCO

'Drawing lots for subsidy might be fairer': listen to podcast with Renée Steenbergen and Ellen Hardy

'We have had the Top Income Standardisation Act since 2013. That means that in the semi-public sector, the highest in an organisation are not allowed to earn above a certain standard. There are conductors who earn as much in the evening as the entire orchestra costs. That, of course, is bizarre. Then I always wonder how it is that they can escape the dance.' This... 

Debate point during the Authors' Union's symposium on diversity. flnr: Gustaaf Peek, shariff Nasr, Canan Marasligil and Chris Kelemand

Dare to ask. 4 lessons in diversity&inclusion for the Authors' Association

Diversity is a fact, inclusion an act. Simple statement, if you come upon it, and Jenny Mijnhijmer, actress and writer, came upon it. She was asked during the pandemic to chair a committee for the Authors' Association to figure out how that advocacy group for writers could become more inclusive and diverse. She didn't really feel like doing that at all. After all, we already talk... 

This is how to make heartbreakingly beautiful theatre about bureaucracy in healthcare

Het Houten Huis, a youth theatre company from Groningen, portrays the issue of bureaucracy in healthcare in a poetic and moving way with the performance 'If it goes differently'. This performance demonstrates that art is a powerful tool to raise important social issues and thus contribute to a more inclusive and just society.

Amare, the home of NDT and others in The Hague

Nederlands Dans Theater confesses colour in dog poop case. Why only after exceptional pressure from the dance press?

Whether I was on champagne. Just a question from an acquaintance in the dance world. The occasion was Nederlands Dans Theater's announcement that it does not want to continue with top choreographer Marco Goecke until he really apologises for his assault on dance critic Wiebke Hüster of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. After all, the company had previously taken up the mantle of... 

Lidewij Gerits and Erik Siebel

Mahler 11: Song of Desire. Gustav and Alma Mahler come to life in successful piece by Bart Vieveen

Zo lang is het dus nog niet echt geleden, dat een wereldberoemd componist tegen zijn 20 jaar jongere geliefde kon zeggen dat zij moest stoppen met componeren, omdat hij niet tegen competitie kon. En dat ze dat dan ook doet. Het is een detail uit de geschiedenis van Gustav en Alma Mahler, die bij ingewijden allang bekend was, maar die… 

Anne Fay Kops Source: DOX website

Anne-Fays Reaspora makes tangible how the slavery past still echoes in our generations

Ooit komt het wel goed met de diversiteit van het theater en het publiek dat erop afkomt. Donderdag 16 februari zat ik in het Haagse Theater aan het Spui in een zaal die gemiddeld 50 jaar jonger was dan het gemiddelde toneelpubliek en ook nog eens alle kleuren van de regenboog had. U raad het al: jongerentheater. Het theater waar… 

3 dachshunds

Scheissegate #5: Hanover contract with assailant and choreographer Goecke dissolved. Nederlands Danstheater continues with him.

It was announced at a press conference at the Hanover State Opera this afternoon that the contract with choreographer Marco Goecke has been 'permanently terminated'. In addition, he has been denied access to the Opera's premises. This sanction follows a serious incident last Saturday at the premiere of a choreography by Goecke in Hanover, where he is ballet director. Because he behaved ... 

screenshot instagram account Goecke

'Marco Goecke fired from State Opera Hannover'

The Hannoversche Allgemeine, a local Hanover newspaper, has just announced that Marco Goecke, the dog-eared top choreographer, has probably already been fired by the prestigious Hannover Staatsoper company. An announcement on website T-Online reads: 'The dismissal of Hannover's ballet director Marco Goecke at the Hannover State Theatre may already be a done deal. According to the newspaper "Hannoversche Allgemeine... 

Dog poo ban

Scheissegate III: Poopsmith Goecke says no sorry, but NDT thinks it's best

'If an NDT dancer had done this, they would have been thrown out on the street immediately.' Much anger and incomprehension on the Instagram account of leading Nederlands Dans Theater, after the company announced it was continuing its collaboration with Marco Goecke. Goecke, an associate choreographer with the The Hague company for many years, was discredited for leaving a reviewer from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung... 

Mega pack of poop bags

Scheissegate II: Albert Verlinde finds Hannover poop incident 'kind of funny'

'We all shouldn't make it too big a deal.' Dixit musical producer Albert Verlinde, this afternoon (14 February) in the Max programme Villa VdB on Radio 1. He is referring to the commotion in Germany - and the Netherlands - over the mistreatment of a dance critic by star choreographer Marco Goecke. Verlinde: 'I actually liked it.' With this... 

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