John Jansen is squatting in front of his immense printer. Holding his breath, he very carefully places a piece of paper in just the right place. The inlay for the black metal band's new cassette Northward. Black typography on black board. Monk's work. He sighs with relief. "And so I have to do 88 of those. All by hand. Do you understand how many hours go into a tape like that?"
De grote theatermaker Johan Simons heeft laten weten dat hij naar Rotterdam wil komen, om een groot Europees theater op te zetten. Hij ziet zijn kans schoon nu er over twee jaar een plek vrijkomt in de artistieke leiding van het stadsgezelschap van de Maasstad, het ro theater. Wanneer ze Simons aanstellen, kan er groots gedacht worden, zegt Simons. En…
He is the greatest director in the Netherlands. But also the least honourable theatre-maker we know: Johan Simons. The man whose star has been rising since the 1980s is now in Munich. But he is not staying there. After putting the local company Kammerspiele even more firmly on the map internationally, he is looking for new challenges. Den Bosch earlier reported...
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.
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'.
Susanne Marx is at Oostblok, the former Muiderpoort theatre in Amsterdam, for two days with the performance 'Meisje Loos'. You could call 'Meisje Loos' a critical family performance: for young and old, about growing up and playing with compulsory roles, male-female, white-black, dancer-rapper, harp or beatbox. Genderbending as a theme for the whole family, with a fringe programme featuring Karin Spaink, Linda Duits, Machteld Zee, Rickie Edens and Alex Bakker perform and engage in conversation.
Topical again, now that Toneelgroep Amsterdam is reprising the show, 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.
Language is music. Sometimes we forget that. Then we think language is a way of conveying objective meanings. Bit silly. Language is food for all the senses. No strumming is needed under that. That's pure opera without frills. 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.
The dance course at The Hague Conservatory has exploded. Sort of. Nancy Euverink, director of dance education is in fact stepping down from the Royal Conservatoire (KC). And not only that. Deputy director Tom Bosma is not staying on either. Who will take over after the final performances and in the new season is still unclear. An international vacancy has been posted.
Even before the Holland Festival had begun properly, all tickets for the three performances of Handel's Orlando sold. What a crisis. However, it is not hard to guess why.
The Holland Festival presents Abel Gance's restored film epic on Sunday Napoleon, with live orchestra. A rare event, for the first time in this form on mainland Europe. In 1927, Gance had performed with Napoleon delivered a groundbreaking and monumental piece of work that made unusual demands on the projection (three canvases) and went out into the world in a variety of severely shortened versions after the first performances.
Napoleon at Ziggo Dome promises to be spectacular, but who was That ambitious loner Abel Gance?
Dutch museums do not pay for the art they present. Cable companies stick money from writers in their own pockets. Spreading new journalism platforms without permission and without paying the work of small independents. Libraries are closing, and are being replaced by private libraries or school libraries.
Like many of my contemporaries, I have played Jeff Buckley's CDs grey, but know next to nothing about Pakistani Sufi music. Except that it's great. And that Abida Parveen is the queen of that genre. Tonight, this Voice of God and her ensemble are on stage at the National Opera & Ballet.
It seems like a statement, opening the latest Holland Festival under Pierre Audi's direction with 'Vortex Temporum'. The collaboration between the two top Belgian ensembles Rosas and Ictus does everything that is scarce in the present day.
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français