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ACTUAL

All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.

Is Anne too big for reviews? 3 reasons why I find it hard to review Anne

Someone commented on Facebook that it looked a bit odd for a newspaper to hand out stars for a play based on The Diary of Anne Frank. Although I myself shudder to give out stars this early for a Godwin make, surely there is something to The Play and The Review. Indeed, reviews of The Play to The Diary seem superfluous. For how do you review such a play, with such a history? Isn't fuss about layering or no layering, adventurousness or no adventurousness in the direction even a little irreverent? So these are three issues, which led me to consider that maybe it shouldn't be possible at all. Anne review.

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We have tickets: you can tell us where to go in the Holland Festival

The Holland Festival, we have been doing that for years. It is definitely the highlight of the cultural season. At the Holland Festival, you see how the international art world hangs out. In recent years, under the skilful leadership of Pierre Audi, the whole thing has become a lot less elitist and pompous than it used to be. A ticket often costs a lot less than An evening of André Rieu in Maastricht, to say the least.

Read More "We have tickets: you can tell us where to go in the Holland Festival

Ironing or hitting

It will be difficult to choose how we will musically fill our next weekend: will we stay in Amsterdam for the Amsterdam Marimba Weekend, or do we travel to The Hague, where Day in the Branding is devoted entirely to the string quartet? In short: are we going to string or strike? Those unable to choose can visit later this month at Amsterdam Sinfonietta and Slagwerk Den Haag - they just both do it!

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You may ask 1 question to theatre legend Peter Brook, what will you ask?

I am going to talk to Peter Brook in Paris on 7 May 2014. For people who have studied theatre, this is something very special. The man once wrote a very clear and manageable booklet that is on the shelf of all theatre people: The Empty Space. But he was also the director of performances where more people attended than there were ever seats. In other words.

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Help! Find the Lost Painters Folding Bike!

In the art theft category, this is the lowest form: stealing an old folding bike outside the door of an expensive art fair. Then grab that redundant navigation system from that Porsche Cayenne, the Guccitas carelessly placed on the counter, or slide that triple-insured, diamond-encrusted iPhone from that coffee table under your newspaper and continue to enjoy your conscience outside.

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Concertzender fights for his life again

For the umpteenth time in its more than 30 years of existence, the colourful Concertzender going down. That is why there will be a benefit concert at the Amstelkerk in Amsterdam. Greats like Liza Ferschtman, Yuri Honing, Erik Bosgraaf and the Ragazze Quartet will perform for free, to support the station that broadcasts so many live recordings of their concerts. I myself started my career as a radio producer there in 1995, so I would say: come all, and donate generous! For less than two tonnes a year, the station will stay on air.

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Marketers, show us your soul

Pretty tricky, marketing in the cultural sector. In part, you work in a market where these days people think that what is beautiful will sell itself, and the rest of the time you have to compete with a plethora of suppliers. And this is despite the government's attempts to drastically decimate cultural offerings. Or perhaps thanks to it. The market... 

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Johan Simons receives 150,000 euros: 'I thought, that must be for Elsie'

This year's Prince Bernhard Culture Fund Prize goes to Johan Simons. At the announcement, in a meadow below Utrecht, the director was surprised: he suspected the prize was meant for his wife, Elsie de Brauw, widely regarded as one of the best actresses in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Read More "Johan Simons receives 150,000 euros: 'I thought, that must be for Elsie'

UPC in court: 'Writer is assembly line worker in peanut butter factory'

The noble art of cable pulling is one of the most profitable activities in Dutch media land. This was evident on Tuesday 15 April in the Amsterdam court. There, Dutch writers, represented by Lira, versus the major cable companies and producers, represented by some very expensive lawyers, from the office towers on Amsterdam's nearby Zuidas.

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The future of art and travel is 3-dimensional and virtual. Powered by Google.

Just think ahead for a short while and you are where Google wants you to be. All the art, accessible anywhere in the world through your screen, your tablet. Even the obscure art. Or stronger: to be experienced in your google glass or your Oculus VR glasses. You can already viewing art in museums, but without a tour guide telling you what to see. And as much as we do not appreciate that in daily life, sometimes it is quite nice to walk through unknown territory with a guide. Without spending your holiday money on it.

Read More "The future of art and travel is 3-dimensional and virtual. Powered by Google.

Tom Waits exists thanks to Partch. 7 reasons to go see Delusion of the Fury. And listen.

'Harry Partch knew exactly what he was doing. He chose very specific bourbon bottles to fill in those 43 steps in the octave. So he made music that is very accessible, but also very elusive. And that's what good art should do.'

Read More "Tom Waits exists thanks to Partch. 7 reasons to go see Delusion of the Fury. And listen.

'Already depressed when the sateh is finished.' Lineke Rijxman on 'The Freudjes' by Mugmetdegoudentand.

Update: performance The Freudjes has been postponed for now, until probably later this year.

'I think it's theatre. Psychoanalysis is theatrical.' Lineke Rijxman is fascinated by psychiatrists. Not because she walks through their doors herself, but because psychiatry is a rewarding subject for someone who makes theatre. That is why it had to happen: a play about Freud. But not about Sigmund himself, or his family. The play "The Freuds (No Family)' is about three sisters in today's busy life overflowing with pills and abbreviations. 'We talk about depression so easily. You already say you get depressed when you run out of chicken satay at the butcher's.'

Read More "'Already depressed when the sateh is finished.' Lineke Rijxman on 'The Freudjes' by Mugmetdegoudentand.

Ziggo and UPC sued. Writers to court because cable billionaires won't pay up

 Je zult maar scenarioschrijver zijn. Of journalist voor een documentaireprogramma. Dan krijg je in Nederland dus geen cent meer voor je werk. Echt. De omroepen zijn al niet scheutig. Maar dan.  Al het geld dat de kabelmaatschappijen verdienen aan de televisiekijkers van Nederland, verdwijnt namelijk in de zakken van een paar Amerikaanse bedrijven, die het weer delen met een paar omroepbazen, producenten en nog zo wat grootverdieners. Voor de mensen die dat allemaal bedenken en schrijven hebben al die bazen niets over. Zo wordt winst maken wel heel makkelijk.

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Read everything everywhere with 1 login. Book industry works on central ebook platform

It's still kind of a secret, but the website is already online. Without reference to the people behind it, but then again, we know that. So we can break the news: it CPNB (that book week club) collaborates with the booksellers and publishers on a revolutionary platform for ebooks. This project, titled 'Leesid' should put an end to the chaos of DRM-shit, lots of different readers and tablets and bizarre ownership rules the Dutch electronic book reader still has to live with.

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Sometimes a good story needs to be told, not just imagined.

Some art needs a story. Then a canvas on the wall with the caption 'Untitled' is not enough. The performance 'Laaroussa' (Bride) by French-Tunisian brother and sister Selma and Soufiane Ouissi falls into that category. As extraordinary as their physical presence on a dark stage is, without explanations beforehand and a Q&A afterwards, it all says precious little.

Is that bad?

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"Forbidden!" Or is it? Reinbert de Leeuw performance makes curious about biography

It is the kind of publicity even literary agency Sebes and Van Gelderen dreams of. An argument between biographer and subject that makes it into all the national newspapers. Especially when it is not a biography of, say, an ex-soccer player who squandered his fortune, but one of wayward composer and conductor Reinbert de Leeuw.

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Orchestra war escalates: Enschede's star orchestra has to hand in instruments

Seizure of the instruments of the former Netherlands Symphony Orchestra is imminent. The orchestra, which, since a lost legal battle with Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra is no longer allowed to use the word 'Dutch', so is not allowed to sell instruments or take them abroad. Pending a countermove from the former Orchestra of the East, they changed the name there to ***** Symphony Orchestra.

Read More "Orchestra war escalates: Enschede's star orchestra has to hand in instruments

Culture Council notes total destruction of amateur art. Minister worries.

Over 60 million has disappeared from the coffers of the Netherlands' amateur artists in recent years. That money from your daughter's dance class, the brass band and your son's hip-hop class has been spent by municipalities, which had to compensate for cuts elsewhere, and provinces that suddenly saw no point in amateurs. That the national government additionally took 200 million from professional arts institutions is added to that.

Read More "Culture Council notes total destruction of amateur art. Minister worries.

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