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THEATER

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O(h) that sea. OK. But which of the two?

The difference is just an 'h'. But confusing it is. This week, the rock opera 'Oh That Sea' premieres in Zeeland. In a month's time, the spherical location performance 'Oh Die Zee' will launch in The Hague, just as the Zeeland show is having its final weekend. The performances are both also about the Odyssey, the classic Greek epic about a Greek hero who, after destroying the city of Troy, takes 10 years to return to his own city, where he then has to kill 100 more lovers of his wife.

Read More "O(h) that sea. OK. But which of the two?

Matthias Mooij (1976-2014): a career that should have been there.

He could have become an important director, but was at the wrong time, in the wrong place. In the end, his illness fatally bothered Matthias Mooij. Yesterday, this still young theatre-maker died of lung cancer, more than a year and a half after the premiere of his first large-venue production: Mogadishu. With that performance, of a play written by the English writer Vivienne Franzmann, Mooij put a new tone in the theatre: no longer did he fall back on theatre-familiar, mainly German and Austrian repertoire, opting instead for British authors.

Read More "Matthias Mooij (1976-2014): a career that should have been there.

Silent hakas, blood and grim nudity at The Crimson House

Princess Beatrix can take a punch in contemporary theatre. Just two years ago, she was in the audience (as queen) at The Life & Death of Marina Abramovic, and this year at The Crimson House by Lemi Ponifasio / MAU. Just about one of the most radical - because loud, raw and rather unfathomable - performances of this edition of the Holland Festival. We didn't quite get there, by the way, but

Read More "Silent hakas, blood and grim nudity at The Crimson House

Ayn Rand was haunting Dutch theatre as early as 2006.

Ivo van Hove has not only a play made based on Ayn Roland's novel of ideas The Fountainhead. In 2006, the artistic director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam even wanted to base a whole new design of the theatre system on it. Eight years later, we can see that only the negative aspects of Van Hove's vision have been realised.

Read More "Ayn Rand was haunting Dutch theatre as early as 2006.

Spaghetti 'Thyestes': classic roots work fiercely in a new preparation

In Rome, they have known what good food is for 20 centuries or so. Bloodletting is everything. Seneca, a Roman of the better sort, wrote plays in which bloodshed was elevated to an art. Audiences feasted on them, just as they feasted on Seneca's recipes in Shakespeare's time, 1,500 years later, and as we feast on Game of Thrones on TV now. It can't be gory, can't be cruel enough. We like that.

Read More "Spaghetti 'Thyestes': classic roots work fiercely in a new preparation

How it feels to single-handedly make a decision that turns the world upside down

That Serbian Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Austrian crown prince in 1914, thus triggering World War I, was until recently in the Netherlands no more than a dry historical fact. But now that it has been a century since this attack, this young freedom fighter is still getting a face in our country. But what De Warme Winkel is doing in the performance 'Gavrilo Princip' is much more than 'giving a face'.

Read More "How it feels to single-handedly make a decision that turns the world upside down

Audience put in their place

Hoewel beide voorstellingen op een heel andere manier ontstonden, zijn er toch paralellen te trekken tussen ‘Romeo en Julia. Naar Romeo en Julia‘ van Karina Kroft en ‘Crastest Ibsen II – Volksvijand’ van Sarah Moeremans / Noord Nederlands Toneel. Regisseur Karina Kroft en acteur Joep van der Geest in gesprek over de relatie die zij aangaan met een klassieke toneeltekst en hun publiek.

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Isabella Rosselini is endearing with her animal stuff. 4 missed opportunities in Bestiaire d'amour at @hollandfestival

Every Holland Festival there is at least 1 performance which a lot of people wonder why it is programmed. This year, that honour falls to 'Bestiaire d'Amour' by and starring Isabella Rosselini. We take a moment to look for answers.

Read More "Isabella Rosselini is endearing with her animal stuff. 4 missed opportunities in Bestiaire d'amour at @hollandfestival

7 confusing reasons why the stage version of The Fountainhead rattles, but you should still go.

Topical again, now that Toneelgroep Amsterdam is reviving the play, my review from 2014. This week, the stage adaptation of The Fountainhead premiered. The book is terrible, the performance rattles, the actors win only narrowly. The content, however, creates even more confusion, which is why I won't stop you from going to see it. And Hans Kesting, of course. I put it this way.

Read More "7 confusing reasons why the stage version of The Fountainhead rattles, but you should still go.

Wandering through the dunes with literature @Oerol Festival

Literature is starting to conquer its place at Oerol, which makes sense because poetry and prose are everywhere. The landscape inspires writers and poets to write beautiful texts and at the same time, through literature, visitors take in the environment in a poetic way. What forms of literature can you encounter on Terschelling? 

Read More "Wandering through the dunes with literature @Oerol Festival

Bitter tears, screaming loneliness. Kušej does Fassbinder @HollandFestival 2014

Nice 'old-fashioned' Holland Festival: a special set-up that confronts the audience with the implications of their own position and viewing behaviour. And that's just as well with Fassbinder's 'Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant'. Melodrama was no stranger to the German theatre and film wizard. The bitter tears are of a fashion queen and her entourage, clinical is the setting, wafer-thin the story, and yet unusually exciting how this lady drama develops.

Read More "Bitter tears, screaming loneliness. Kušej does Fassbinder @HollandFestival 2014

Tis Pity! Holland Festival brings the best show to the smallest audience.

Language is music. Sometimes we forget that. Then we think language is a way of conveying objective meanings. Kind of silly. Language is food for all the senses. No strumming is needed under that. That's pure opera without embellishments. The English-language performance 'tis Pity she's a whore' I saw at the Holland Festival yesterday proves that. Even if you don't understand the seventeenth-century phrases, it is a joy to listen to.

Read More "Tis Pity! Holland Festival brings the best show to the smallest audience.

Warhorse is almost perfect: 6 reasons to go. Or stay away.

Saturday, June 14, went off in a flood of evening gowns, dinner jackets, Dutch celebrities and Gooische Tanks War Horse premiered. A play about a war in which the Netherlands was neutral, and of which there are memorial stones in every village in the rest of the world. You can go and see it. Or not. We have listed six arguments.

Read More "Warhorse is almost perfect: 6 reasons to go. Or stay away.

On M2M and genius theatre makers who completely miss the mark

One of the rules of thumb of contemporary theatre art reads as follows: There is no middle ground in a production with an insanely long title. Such a production is either fantastic or dies of its own pretensions. At Judson church is ringing in Harlem (made to measure) / twenty looks of paris is burning at the judson church (m2m) is the latter.

Read More "On M2M and genius theatre makers who completely miss the mark

4 ways to quiet a room: Jelinek strikes at Holland Festival

This year's trip will go to India and Nepal. Because that seemed nice to him. Visitors to the Dutch premiere of Jelinek's Die Schutzbefohlene were looking forward to the summer. Next year they would visit a friend in Vietnam. Little hassle to get a visa. As a white European, the whole world is yours. You can go anywhere. The man did not realise how privileged he was.

Read More "4 ways to quiet a room: Jelinek strikes at Holland Festival

Legendary director Peter Brook (89): Theatre is the field given to me

The Valley of Astonishment. Titles don't come much prettier than that of 'The Valley of Astonishment'. Theatre legend Peter Brook's tentative last play is coming to Amsterdam. The Holland Festival gave me and two journalists from Parool and NRC, respectively, the opportunity to talk to the already legendary director when he was alive. Pretty special, because the man who enchanted an entire generation of theatre-makers and audiences with performances such as the nine-hour Mahabharata in Avignon, is considered a deity among theatre connoisseurs and enthusiasts.

Read More "Legendary director Peter Brook (89): Theatre is the field given to me

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.

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

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.

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

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'

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.

Jeroen Willems (1962 - 2012)

The Netherlands' greatest artist is dead. Can happen. But can I then also curse heartily? Because Jeroen Willems is irreplaceable. As a journalist, you know the drill: of actors over 60, or of otherwise fragile stature, you have a necrootje ready. If you are well-known and meet the requirements, count on your friends and acquaintances to... 

Read More "Jeroen Willems (1962 - 2012)

Ivo van Hove is God. According to New Yorkers.

Anyway: while Amsterdam's city newspaper Parool was embarking on a campaign against the Dutch capital's city company at the behest of the Flemish publishing board, the same Toneelgroep Amsterdam was winning the hearts of New York audiences with a production of the already years-old 'Roman Tragedies', which a few here did not even like overall: http://www.wijbrandschaap.nl/2007/06/romeinse-tragedies-hf2007ta/

Read More "Ivo van Hove is God. According to New Yorkers.

Order of the Day renews theatre

I did it just like that. Proclaimed a show as the most important theatre innovation for 20 years. That's daring. Even though I made the term a bit more vague in a subsequent tweet, because, yes, there has been quite a lot of innovation in recent years, left and right in theatres. So let's stick to 'the last few years'. And then... 

Read More "Order of the Day renews theatre

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