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PODCAST: Theatre Festival 2018 opens with punishment.

1On 6 September 2018, Chokri Ben Chika left his sense of humour behind in Belgium. He trekked to the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg with a filled jerry can and committed a criminal offence. He threatened a Rabo Hall filled to the brim with an indistinguishable fake weapon. He said he admired the anonymous Tunisian who, with his self-immolation ... 

Why Noorderzon is the Groningeniest festival in the Netherlands.

Sometimes there is a gap in the strolling crowd in Groningen's Noorderplantsoen. Often this is due to a local resident with muscle-dog, who continues to make his daily round despite the crowds. It is one of those funny things that give Noorderzon its very own character, as the most Groningen-like of all summer festivals in our country. There is... 

Paradiso debate 2018: Optimistic arts sector wants less supply and better pay

Less supply of subsidised art is good for the country. Antoinette Laan, culture spokeswoman for the governing VVD party, has thought so for at least eight years. Back in 2011, then still as alderman in Rotterdam, she stated that she did not understand why art institutions were open on weekdays. After all: everyone was at work then and so couldn't come and have a look anyway. Listen here... 

Planet Tim Burton lands in Flanders: 'A pressure cooker full of bizarre and disruptive ideas'

The Flemish waffle baker at the Willy Wonka Wafl Factory in the Burton Cafe has seen all the Tim Burton films, he says from between a sleek hipster beard. 'Especially since you had to prepare the menu,' I say. The menu at the - temporary - Burton Cafe in exhibition space C-min includes: Charlie Chocolate Wafl, Scissorhands Wafl, Oompa Loopa Wafl, Beetlejuice... 

A plea for watching and guessing @tfboulevard

This edition, Theatre Festival Boulevard invited the audience to reflect on the two sides of identity: its immutability but especially its malleability. All this under the heading what you see is what you guess. If there is a performance to which this applies, it has to be Goat Song. A fascinating fifty-minute wordless performance by... 

Gender krijgt Japanse touch op Theaterfestival Boulevard @tfboulevard

‘Geen kwaad woord over Lego of Knexx. Maar identiteit is het meest opwindende bouwpakket.’ Zo opent het voorwoord van Theaterfestival Boulevard in Den Bosch. What you see is what you guess is deze keer het motto. Het verwijst naar de kloof tussen hoe de ander je ziet en hoe je je zelf voelt. Identiteit in de breedste vorm: van gender… 

Why I suddenly missed the writers in Den Bosch @tfboulevard

Usually when I speak to someone who calls themselves a playwright, they say they are 'only' a supplier of a 'half-product'. I never get that answer from a young actor, and certainly never from a director. It is they who make theatre out of the half-products supplied by writers. Actors and directors prefer to be addressed as 'theatre-makers'. Nothing wrong with that.... 

Writer A.L. Snijders: 'While my wife was dying, I unsuspectingly wrote a piece'

His short stories look deceptively simple, and every word is weighed as if on a gold scale. So he basically writes his very short stories from A to Z, without changing anything else. Portrait of writer A.L. Snijders. 'While my wife was dying, I unsuspectingly wrote a piece.' Elaborate You wouldn't expect it from... 

Discomfort delivers little, so look for vulnerability on @tfboulevard. There is plenty of that.

Speaking of bubbles. In the middle of Den Bosch, on the parade square, there are three mega-play blocks you can enter. They are mini theatres, brainchildren of designer Theun Mosk. In one of them, you come across a very large plastic bubble in which young, mostly naked, people move. The audience stands on either side of the bubble feeling uncomfortable. Partly because the naked young people... 

Come watch world freestyle champion Nasser El Jackson transform into a dancer on @tfboulevard.

It started three years ago. Guilherme Miotto, working as a dance maker in Tilburg, was asked by a good friend of his. Whether he wanted to come and have a look in Noord. There, in that rather notorious slum, there were some fantastic freestyle footballers running around. YouTube runs with them, and the best one, Nasser El Jackson, is even world champion. A ball wizard. That is. 

The uncomfortable truth of the paraglider. What I took away from the opening performance of @tfboulevard

About 18 years ago, while on holiday in the Auvergne region, my wife and I picked up a paraglider that had ended up rather unhappily in a meadow full of indignant cows. We were happy to do something. The paraglider looked grateful, although he was a little worried about the car in which we were going to take him back to... 

Those who know how to find Toost Foodtruck Festival experience small-scale magic

With Toost, the Netherlands has gained a food truck festival that does not visit the capital cities but rather the smaller towns. This sometimes causes local friction, but almost always gratitude. And for a consumer who feels not stripped down but taken care of for a change. Halfway through our conversation, Toost Foodtruck Festival organiser Kris de Pee (30) is tapped on the shoulder by the... 

‘Nederlandse cultuurwereld zit vol met gelukkige vrijwilligers.’ Waarom de Cultuurindex de plank mis slaat.

Afgelopen dinsdag, 24 juli, in een week waarin heel Nederland vrijwillig voor pampus of elk willekeurig ander eiland ligt, kwam de Cultuurindex met een belangrijk stuk. In ‘Vijf vragen over vrijwilligerswerk beantwoord’ beantwoordt de Cultuurindex inderdaad vijf vragen. De vraag is echter hoe relevant deze vragen zijn voor de staat van de professionele cultuur in Nederland. En, nog belangrijker: speelt… 

Just a few reasons to come to @tfboulevard in Den Bosch in early August.

If the weather holds up a bit, the upcoming edition of Theatre Festival Boulevard will be the most tropical in history. The smart ones among us, who opted for a staycation in West Balkonia this year, can indulge their cultural heart in Den Bosch. Not for nothing regularly called 'The Avignon of the Netherlands'. Theatre festival Boulevard is unpacking 2018 with a truly overwhelming... 

Dusty Woo Hah! gets off to a slow start, but after that the audience is overwhelmingly eager

The hip-hop festival Woo Hah! nearly burst at the seams at its fourth edition last year. For its fifth edition, it diverted to the Beekse Bergen in Hilvarenbeek. We walked around there for a day. 'Make that circle bigger, make it bigger! Grooooter!' Speaking is Dutch chart topper Ronnie Flex. If you don't know him from his gigantic hits, then... 

Major concerns over fate of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov - eight weeks on hunger strike in Russian captivity

Human rights organisations from around the world and thousands of filmmakers and artists express support for Oleg Sentsov, sentenced to 20 years by Russia. This Ukrainian filmmaker has been on hunger strike since 14 May. His life is in serious danger, according to the European Film Academy.

The songs that slap you in the face rock hard in an unguarded moment

In 2016, I was unexpectedly struck by a Beatles classic. So what are the ingredients of perfect pop music? It is August 2016. I am standing with my friend at a ticket office in Liverpool, the British port city that is just as much an open-air museum. It is rather rubbed in on us that this city gave birth to The Beatles. In the harbour, tourists spend the night in a yellow submarine, equally... 

Lakedance is well organised: 'You don't have to walk around lost, nice and handsome people everywhere, no complaints anywhere, clean toilets!'

"In the Netherlands, we are actually on holiday," Daphne (40) and Ilja (26) say with a laugh. They are travel experts, with Japan as their core destination. "I visit a few festivals every summer, but whether I'm really a festival-goer? Not so much, I think." Seven years ago, Daphne was last to Lakedance, now she is "getting up to age" and got to go for... 

Dancer disappears into black hole with 'From Molenbeek with Love'

You'd better live in Molenbeek. For years, tensions have reigned in this Brussels neighbourhood. The no-go area is even directly linked to the Paris and Brussels attacks. Relations among themselves will not be gentle there either. Dancer/choreographer Yassin Mrabtifi is from there. He must be a dented personality. When I read the cheerful title of his... 

Anna Enquist: 'I wish I could be a bit angrier'

Because Evening, Anna Enquist's new novel, is a book full of pent-up exasperation and anger. Never before has she written so freely as with this book, without knowing where the story was going. "I would like to be able to be a bit angrier myself." After the poetry collection Hoor de staden and her memories of Gerrit Kouwenaar, A Garden in the... 

How drinking beer and Haute Couture go together just fine at the Fashion + Design Festival Arnhem

When I thought of fashion, I pictured an elite group at the catwalk: catty models and hostile designers. After my visit to the Fashion + Design Festival Arnhem, all those images have been completely adjusted. In the month of June, everyone in fashionable Arnhem seems to be working together. Fashion designers walk fraternally with each other in a fashion parade, sharing studios, catwalks and celebrating... 

The Basel Miracle: "YES!" the petty people said en masse by referendum in 1967 to the purchase of two expensive Picassos.

This is an extraordinary story about crowdfunding avant la lettre and an urban 'bourgeoisie' that for once does not vote by refendum against throwing money at modern art. In Switzerland, no less. Kunstmuseum Basel made a small, fine, incisive exhibition about it, on show until 18 August, 2018. Ideal for a stopover on the way to Italy. If you do have a moment... 

Amsterdam has the @HollandFestival. Ask yourself why that is. And whether that's ok.

Last week, while walking the dog, my neighbour Stefanie asked, "What is that anyway, this Holland Festival?", and I almost caught myself wearily going to explain that it was the most important performing arts festival the Netherlands and its environs and that everyone with a bit of education should know it. But I held back. And wondered: how... 

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