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Working for free has become commonplace in the arts. 4 bare facts by festival director Meulman

'The practice of payment by book voucher does not belong to a professional sector with substantial economic importance.' Jeffrey Meulman, director of the Dutch theatre festival, has learned to live with it. Against his will. As host of the annual Gala of Dutch Theatre, he has managed to organise that party again. Without money.

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.

Baldwin Live

On Wednesday 1 August 2012, the Performing Arts Fund will announce the results of the lottery that granting arts subsidies has now become. Huge cuts are looming: companies and makers that by now seemed to be a permanent part of the Dutch arts landscape will disappear. Exactly what it will look like, we know

Mayor Hoes provides proof: for the VVD, art is only about sport anymore

Anyone who was still left wondering what the vision of the governing VVD party on art is now out. For that vision is simple. Art is sport. According to the VVD. So said the alderman of Rotterdam, so said the spouse of top wrestler Albert Verlinde, the as mayor of Maastricht ancillary runner Onno Hoes. During the opening of the Dutch Dance Days, he gave... 

Ten theatre performances you should not have missed according to the jury of the Dutch Theatre Festival. Agree?

Of course, you were all lining up for that legendary Richard III by Orkater with music by Tom Waits. Or you had locked yourself in for Oostpool's small-room gem 'Till the fat lady sings', or you just didn't want to miss an episode of O O Cherso and The Voice of Holland. Anyway: now you know what you... 

Two idols and lots of cute girls at Saturday's Autumn Collection #njc10

It stood out: what a lot of cute girls in Theatre Kikker. Could it be because of the programming? Now there were a lot of cute men to choose from on Saturday night. The tough acting beasts of FC Bergman, for instance, or the androgynous Nik van den Berg, or perhaps the seemingly sweet Bert Hana. And if not, there was always DJ Oscar Kocken,... 

Juries TF and VSCD merge

It was actually typically Dutch. After all, we have more awards to give away here in all parts of the creative sector than there are artists. Almost. And so all those awards have their own selection committees, juries, committees and you name it. Not only costs hands full of money, it is also cumbersome. Which is why there is now at least one sensible... 

Getting a whiff of Lotte van den Berg's special approach, fresh back from Africa

What she does is vulnerable to the point of confrontation. Theatre-maker Lotte van den Berg has such a personal view of the world that, outside the safe context of theatre, it can come across as absurd. Or alienating. On Sunday 26 September, she returned with the members of her Dordrecht-based location theatre company OMSK back from a four-month stay in the Congo capital Kinshasa. A full house in Rotterdam's Gouvernestraat then got to be there when they unpacked their bags a few hours after landing.

Too much humour and not enough shuddering at De Warme Winkel's 'Poets and bandits' at Theatre Festival The International Choice #dekeuze

Snow has fallen, a thick layer of fresh snow. Fake snow admittedly, but real enough to imagine yourself in the middle of Russia. There, in the city of Sverdlovsk, or Yekaterinburg, once lived the man about whom the show 'Poets and bandits' is about. Boris Ryzhy (1974-2001) turned the raw realities of his hometown into poems. He left more than a thousand poems to the world. His breakthrough came at the Poetry International festival in Rotterdam, in the year 2000. A year later, he was dead. Boris Ryzhy, 26, had hanged himself.

Theatre group De Warme Winkel makes that link with Rotterdam if only because 'Poëten en bandieten' is played there. An old factory hall serves as a backdrop for the run-down working-class neighbourhood in which Ryzhy grew up. From behind a work table, actress Mara van Vlijmen calls Rotterdam residents. None of them are at home. But on their answering machine is now one of Ryzhy's poems, which must be a wondrous experience for the listeners. The Warm Shop does not show how the professor's son Boris ended up in that poor neighbourhood. Whereas he himself talks about an environment full of drab flats in his poems, the stage setting is more reminiscent of the outdoors, with all that vast snow. The atmosphere is cosy and warm. On a float decorated with candles, a folk ensemble comes on, singing Russian songs. Old-fashioned songs, and nothing pop or punk.

'I am Zutphenian, but also Turkish' actor Sadettin Kirmiziyüz gets jury nomination for Wilders, The Musical

Gijs Scholten van Aschat was so convincing that casting director Hans Kemna was a bit scared of him. Van Aschat did an original wilderness speech and shock went through the audience. Since he now plays the villain of villains with Orkater (Richard III), convincingly delivering a hate speech reasonably is a piece of cake for him. Two true Wilders fans found... 

True theatre is like Storm and Cappuccino: irresistibly sublime, says Adelheid Roosen on #tf2010

'It is a wonderful thing, for instance, that every day, my body exhibits the same eager desire for a keigoeie kappoetzjino. That every 24 hours the desire to 'want to taste' is born in me and wants to hit me again. And I don't have to do anything for that, that desire drags me into the shower and saliva starts foaming... 

NNT's 11 minutes not only makes you lose the desire to laugh, but all lust. My wife regrets that. #tf2010

Ola Mafaalani. That's a very fierce one. So you can never ignore that. The human is so full of passion and emotion that all her stage work, because she is a director, cannot possibly leave you cold. At least, so it was until recently, with me personally finding her last play at Toneelgroep Amsterdam 'Hemel boven Berlijn' the most beautiful, because it was also the most... 

Opening #TF2010: 'Theatre should be at the forefront of discussion on society, instead of being dictated to by prevailing mores.'

On 2 September 2010, actress, writer, theatre and television producer Joan Nederlof opened the Dutch Theatre Festival with a speech that was as entertaining as it was provocative. As it was her turn to pronounce the annual 'State of the Theatre', Nederlof, born in 1962, seized the opportunity to call on her own generation to take a stand in the social debate. She did so in her own relatable way, known for her roles on TV (Deer Park) and in the theatre (Inside Out):

Drama is much more suited to interpret history than film. @RvanH writes essay on Hannah and Martin at #TF2010

Hannah and Martin by Mugmetdegoudentand is not only a heartwarming performance, played by one phenomenal actress and one inimitable theatre personality, it is also a brainteaser. Trouw reviewer and theatre scholar Robbert van Heuven felt challenged to write a short essay in response to this performance.

Benjamin Verdonck opens Flemish Theatre Festival: artists must be environmentally aware #tf2010

We had completely forgotten about the environment. While the streets in the Netherlands are flooded and some Dutch people are already talking about Pakistani conditions, here the talk is mainly about looming austerity measures and disintegrating Christian Democrat power blocks. 'Artists of today must relate to environmental issues' is therefore a comment we do not expect to hear from an artist in the Netherlands. We... 

On to Theatre Festival TF and International Choice Rotterdam Theatre

  The Dodo has had its baptism of fire. We now know what the basics are, and therefore what can be improved. and of course there will be others with even more suggestions. We're going to take all that into our tents this July, think and sleep on that and then go with the new insights.... 

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