Lot Vekemans directs Blind with Helmert Woudenberg and José Kuijpers

Can you love someone whose ideas you reject? From 19 October to 15 December, tours Blind across the country. In the directorial debut of internationally lauded playwright Lot Vekemans, Helmert Woudenberg and José Kuijpers play a father and daughter who are diametrically opposed in everything. The premiere of this MATZER Theatre production is Saturday 21 October at the Bossche Verkadefabriek.

A father and a daughter have lived at odds for years. He is a proud, stubborn senior citizen, living in a secure enclave where people like him - white, successful and once influential - have retreated in response to a changing society. She embraces that new society, which she has fought for. Everything he stands for, she rejects. He accuses her of dangerous idealism; she accuses him of superiority thinking. In everything, they are diametrically opposed. The separation seems unbridgeable.

At Blind clash two worldviews in a once strong family bond. How do you deal with ideological differences? Can you love someone whose ideas you reject? In Blind Lot Vekemans sketches an enclosed universe, a metaphor for many enclosed places in the world. Places where some people are allowed in and others are excluded. But what happens when we cannot escape living together? Is there a possibility of approaching each other without agreeing?

Blind can be seen from 19 October to 15 December in Almelo, Amstelveen, Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Baarn, Blaricum, Den Bosch, Etten-Leur, Gouda, Groningen, Helmond, Lochem, Maastricht, Meppel, Nieuwegein, Oosterhout, Oss, Sneek, Tiel, Tilburg, Waalwijk, Wageningen, Weert, Wijchen and Zaandam.

Lot Vekemans writes novels, screenplays and plays. Her work has won multiple awards, been translated into twenty-two languages and performed in more than thirty-five countries. This makes her the Netherlands' most performed playwright internationally. Now, at MATZER Theatre Productions, she makes her directorial debut with a personal text, based on experiences with her South African family and the traces of Apartheid she encountered while travelling through South Africa. That confrontational world with harsh divisions was the inspiration for Blind. An interview with Lotte about the performance is online.

Helmert Woudenberg was one of the founders of the legendary Works Theatre. He acted in many plays and films there such as Recording and A balmy summer evening. Furthermore, over the past 50 years he has appeared in feature films such as Blue Movie, Max Havelaar, Amsterdamned and A little in love, TV series such as We are home again and Flikken Maastricht and many solo performances. Apart from being an actor, Woudenberg is a director, teacher and playwright. He has also developed a acting method based on the elements Fire, Water, Air and Earth, in which he gives training courses.

José Kuijpers played numerous theatre roles with companies such as Baal, Carrousel, Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the Paardenkathedraal, Theater van het Oosten, the Zuidelijk Toneel and the Onafhankelijk Toneel. At MATZER Theaterproducties, she previously played the solo performance No one is waiting for you. When the theatres closed because of corona, José worked at a large funeral home for a year, guiding families in designing the farewell ceremony.

MATZER Theatre productions, the company around artistic director Madeleine Matzer, creates accessible performances on current social issues. Theatre that makes people look at social issues in a different way and thus opens up patterns of thinking. MATZER makes, touches and connects.

MATZER Theatre productions website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube