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Ça Ira: political theatre with the allure of House of Cards #HF16

Over four hours long Ça ira (1) Fin de Louis, a performance by French director Joël Pommerat, to be seen this weekend at the Holland Festival. He reconstructed events in France between 1789 and 1794, better known as The French Revolution. What begins as a sometimes difficult-to-follow, animated history lesson culminates in an impressive 'whodunnit', balancing between re-enactment and live television.

Is stage poetry inferior, or do we then exclude large groups? #pifr

Verslag van een verborgen slagveld. Poetry International in Rotterdam heeft een nieuwe, informele locatie betrokken. Het huis van het Ro theater in de William Boothlaan, net iets meer basic dan de Schouwburg aan dat rare plein. En het terras tussen geraas van motoren is levendig, vol oude en jonge liefhebbers van poëzie. Of van spoken word, of van slam. Wie mocht denken dat Poetry International een elitair dichtersfestival is, komt op deze zonnige donderdagmiddag bedrogen uit. Een stenografisch ...

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Atelier Infini. Bosquet

Peerless: 15 stories about refugees, in 49 draws and old set paintings

This is a review of a performance that is already over, and which, moreover, I participated in myself. That's not allowed at all. But it's also a story about refugees in Europe, a theatre floating above the clouds, a church made of marzipan, tunnels in Palestine and 49 draws. So I'm doing it anyway.
Afgelopen weekend, tijdens het Kunstenfestivaldesarts, voltrok zich een mirakel in de Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg te Brussel. Scenograaf Jozef Wouters en zijn ploeg waren neergestreken i...

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Conductor Han-Na Chang: 'Music never offers just one answer'

'She is the embodiment of the incredible lightness of existence, agile, alert and precise on the beat.' So says one critic about Korean-American conductor Han-Na Chang (Suwon, 1982), who led just about every major orchestra after her debut in 2007. In 2014, she scored highly at the renowned BBC Proms with her fresh interpretation of the Fifth Symphony.... 

Movies that Matter: 'feel bad' films make a 'feel good' festival together

These are bleak times. A few days after the opening night of the Movies that Matter festival (MTM) in The Hague, the world was rocked by the attacks in Brussels. For an event that focuses on human rights issues, a sign that the violent consequences of international conflicts seem to be getting closer. This raises the question of whether an audience that is... 

Stefan Hertmans: 'Poetry is my way of digesting the world'

The Flemish author Stefan Hertmans (1951) is best known in the Netherlands as a novelist, especially since he won the AKO Literature Prize and the Gouden Boekenuil Publieksprijs with his beautiful autobiographical novel Oorlog en terpentijn (War and turpentine). But besides being a writer of novels, collections of short stories, essays and theatre texts, Hertmans is above all a poet. He wrote the Poetry Gift for the upcoming Poetry Week, which starts at the end of January.... 

A weekend in Brussels: This is our culture too

‘Nou, als we niet heelhuids thuiskomen, weet dan dat we van jullie hielden,’ grapten we tegen onze familie vlak voordat we zaterdag naar Brussel vertrokken. We zouden daar een interview hebben met de Amerikaanse schrijver David Vann, en de dag erna een wandeling maken door Brussel in de voetsporen van de schrijfsters Charlotte en Emily Brontë. Er zou wel wat… 

Loïc Perela and Jan Martens: As a spectator, you are finally faced with a question again

As I wrote in my earlier article about the Nederlandse Dansdagen, choreographer Loïc Perela won this year's Nederlandse Dansdagen Maastricht Prize. It earned him 12,000 euros to put into his new project HASHTAG. The award has helped some previous winners on their way (Monique Duurvoort, Joost Vrouenraets, Erik Kaiel, Muhanad Rasheed, Joeri Dubbe,... 

Chantal Akerman: 'I cannot see myself, because I am myself'

Not many directors have become very iconic very young. Chantal Akerman was, both for experimental film and feminist. She broke through in 1975 with Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, a film that is as disruptive as it is understated. It is her most important work, and also her most radical. The protagonist leads an existence of... 

Italian grandfather of arthouse cinema

With Michelangelo Antonioni - Il maestro del cinema moderno, EYE has once again managed to put together a flawless and solid film exhibition. George Vermij visited the exhibition on the Italian master filmmaker and looks back on his influential oeuvre. In Dino Risi's road movie Il Sorpasso (1962), the passionate and extroverted Vittorio Gassman takes on a young and reserved Jean-Louis Trintignant... 

passions humaines, guy cassiers, photo Kurt van der Elst

Hidden lusts of Belgians lead to great art on #HF15

2014 was the year of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, award-winning stage adaptation by Ivo van Hove. This year, that performance has been outstripped by 'Passions Humaines', written by Erwin Mortier, magisterially designed by Guy Cassiers. Again at the Holland Festival, confirming its place as a stage for the great debate on art. Two plays in which architecture, artistry and... 

Provincial millions for HET Symphony Orchestra evaporated without results

What happened to the five million Overijssel gave the orchestra in 2011 to 'get more money from the market'? This was also what councillor Van Abbema wondered, and the answers the province gave her mostly raise more questions. What is abundantly clear is that the province wants to keep the orchestra no matter what and of no merger 

'A drunken panda who wants to have a tussle' - The Loom of Mind on HF15

In The Loom of Mind, Icelandic folk singer Mugison, his bosom friend Pétur Ben, and Flemish baroque ensemble B.O.X. join forces. What does that sound like: melancholic Icelandic blues with 17th-century instruments? Like a stand-up storytelling concert performance? Or like a drunken panda who wants to have a game? How did you find each other? Pieter Theuns, lutenist and founder of B.O.X.: "I found Mugison... 

Encounters with Matisse at successful exhibition at Stedelijk

With 'The oasis of Matisse', the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam has put on a magnificent exhibition. Sixty years after there was last a major retrospective of Matisse in the Netherlands, his work is back on display in all its glory. So alongside 'Late Rembrandt' at the Rijksmuseum, there is another blockbuster in the capital. The thousands of visitors who attended the... 

photo Filip Van Roe

Appointment of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui turns ballet world upside down  

Contemporary choreographer Sibi Larbi becomes the new director of Ballet Flanders in Antwerp. A striking and unorthodox choice. Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, meanwhile, may stay away from De Munt in Brussels. What's up Belgium?

Geld is wat op is in België. De laatste ontwikkelingen, mede vanwege bezuinigingen ingezet, doen stof opwaaien in de Belgische danssector. Protest bij de Keersmaeker enerzijds en vrees bij pure balletliefhebbers anderzijds. De wijziging zou vertaald voor Nederland zoiet...

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Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Brian Eno during rehearsals for Golden Hours, 12 December 2014, photo © Anne Van Aerschot

Rosas away from Brussels? The political game has begun.

Choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker sends out an alarming press release. Following the decision by the Brussels theatre De Munt/La Monnaie to stop programming dance, she wonders whether Rosas is still welcome in Brussels. "The news that the management of La Monnaie is scrapping all dance fills me with disbelief. Historically, ... 

Amsterdam art is doing great. Unless you are a (young) artist.

Two corpses. Despairing bystanders. A blood-red photo. The cover of the Exploration, released by the Amsterdam Arts Council, makes one fear the worst. A massacre has been committed. Even if it is a scenic photo of a performance by Toneelgroep Amsterdam. Or is it all different? Are only two dead, and the rest live on? Something about shows that on must go?.... 

House of Eutopia: haunted house of an ideal society

'Eutopia komt uit het Grieks en betekent zoveel als 'Goede plaats'. Met deze installatie wil ik de mensen laten nadenken over wat dat is: een goede plaats.' Architect en beeldend kunstenaar Filip Berte werkte zeven jaar aan zijn 'Goede Plaats' en het resultaat ervan is nu te zien in het Utrechtse Zijdebalen Theater. Zijn 'House of Eutopia' staat opgesteld in de grote loods van een oude houtzagerij aan de rand van het stadscentrum, een gebied dat bij de fans van Kyteman ook bekend staat als Kytop...

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As gentle and intelligent as the very young dancers are handled, reactions to Boris Charmatz's 'Enfant' #HF12 are often wild.

Youth these days mostly evokes the thought of danger. Society suffers from a distorted ideal image that leaves real children little room to play. Eventually, therefore, they rebel in Enfant. But until then, the very young performers still mainly have the role of adjunct or capstone, complement or extension of the nine adult dancers. The new... 

Unforgettable stage version of Man Without Qualities gets undeserved dessert from Yves Petry #hf12

Maybe it is also just the wrong choice to see part three immediately after the first two parts. Maybe after a day of you or some settling down you will be able to appreciate Petry's text, on its own merits. Imagine a three-star dinner. A sensuous succession of small and medium-sized dishes, prepared with the... 

Wednesdays winner of Dutch competition Go Short

Gisteravond zijn op festival Go Short in Nijmegen de prijzen voor beste korte films uitgereikt. Winnaar van de Nederlandse competitie is Woensdagen van Aaron Rookus, een kleine speelfilm waarin het zwaar beladen onderwerp van seksueel misbruik op de meest subtiele manier wordt benaderd. Woensdagen – foto: Robbie van Brussel Wat begint als een gevoelsmatig verbluffend goed getroffen impressie van het… 

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 at Rotterdam's Gouvernestraat then got to be there when they unpacked their bags a few hours after landing.

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