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Peter Brook

Los Incontados: a bizarre terrarium of small-human suffering in a cloud of cocaine and confetti.

Colombia's biggest export not only allows Urk fishermen to work long hours, or Amsterdam Zuidas lawyers to keep up with the global 24-hour economy. The white gold also dissolves the nasal septum of the cream of world culture, and costs thousands of lives in the country itself. That had to lead to a theatrical performance, and it did 

Peter Brook: everything in the universe can be extraordinary.

In the early 1990s, I am sitting in a small auditorium at The National Theatre in London. Before the performance starts, someone on stage asks if you want to greet the visitors next to you. This immediately creates a different, more intimate dynamic in the auditorium. On a sleek stage with only a few props are four actors and an Arab musician. Yoshi Oida... 

Our readers' list. What we should all never forget from 2017.

Well, we're not big on hypes and traditions here, but still. The dark days around Christmas are very dark this year, so why not something with lists. This year, no list of toppers from the editors, but random entries from random readers, in random, if slightly alphabetical order. Motto of the reader question was: which things... 

Setan Jawa daagt je uit. Dat alleen is al reden om te gaan kijken #HF17

Wat krijg je als je schaduwspel, Weimar cinema, gamelan en Javaanse mythes combineert? Een mix die veel vraagt van het publiek, maar die een genot is als je je er aan over wilt leveren. De Indonesische regisseur Garin Nugroho maakt geen gemakkelijke films. Vaak zijn ze visueel prachtig, zoals Opera Jawa, maar zit de plot een beetje in de weg… 

Ariadne auf Naxos by the Nederlandse Reisopera is making history.

Many a director is at a loss when it comes to Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. This is not surprising. In the prologue, about three quarters of an hour long, the composer is told, via the 'Haushoffmeister' of Vienna's richest man, that he is supposed to perform his opera buffa simultaneously with the opera seria of the commedia dell'arte-like dance troupe of Zerbinetta.... 

This is more than a review of the opening of the Holland Festival

On Saturday 4 June 2016, I attended the royal opening of the Holland Festival and was able to attend no review write about, because I was sitting in the front row of the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg. As the stage was elevated, I was looking against a black wall, above which only the front actors were visible. The back and lower half of the stage were completely eluding me.

Me wrote that on, and the Holland Festival generously offered me the opportunity to go and see the performance again, from a better seat. At the same time, the organisers told me that the first three rows of the Stadsschouwburg would be compensated at this performance. So I went to Amsterdam one more time, on Monday 6 June.

Before the performance, while not eating a blackened hamburger in theatre restaurant Stanislavski, I heard from the neat people at the little table next to me that the front seats were offered at a sharply reduced rate, and that people like them who had already bought tickets had the choice of thus getting a partial refund or going on the waiting list for a seat with better sightlines. Whether they eventually managed to get one of the spots with better visibility, I don't know. The performance

Legendary director Peter Brook (89): Theatre is the field given to me

The Valley of Astonishment. Titles don't come much prettier than that of 'The Valley of Astonishment'. Theatre legend Peter Brook's tentative last play is coming to Amsterdam. The Holland Festival gave me and two journalists from Parool and NRC, respectively, the opportunity to talk to the already legendary director when he was alive. Pretty special, because the man who enchanted an entire generation of theatre-makers and audiences with performances such as the nine-hour Mahabharata in Avignon, is considered a deity among theatre connoisseurs and enthusiasts.

Je mag 1 vraag stellen aan theaterlegende Peter Brook, wat ga je vragen?

Ik ga op 7 mei 2014 in Parijs praten met Peter Brook. Voor mensen die theater hebben gestudeerd is dat iets heel bijzonders. De man schreef ooit een heel overzichtelijk en handzaam boekje dat bij alle theatermensen in de kast staat: The Empty Space. Maar hij was ook de regisseur van voorstellingen waar meer mensen bij geweest zijn dan er ooit stoelen waren. Ofwel.

One hundred and thirty thousand visitors for the Cultural Press Office in 2011. The bar for 2012 is high.

That frightens us quite a bit ourselves. We knew that the Cultural Press Agency was doing quite well, but we didn't really think a reach of more than 100,000 people was possible. After all, we had done nothing in the way of marketing. Just posting content and not giving away free tickets. And only once something with a bare female breast in it. Enfin.... 

Successful Holland Festival closes record edition amid uncertainty over future

Photo: Pierre Nydegger To conclude. The 2011 Holland Festival could well be historic. Not only was it the festival that attracted the most audiences for years, it was also the festival that took place while a minority government of populists, nationalists and materialists proclaimed the end of art subsidies. We therefore look back on a festival in which we were able to meet with... 

#HF11: We chat with Jeroen Stout, Daniël Bertina, Fransien vd Putt and Wijbrand Schaap.

  In conclusion. The 2011 Holland Festival could well be historic. Not only was it the festival that attracted the most audiences for years, it was also the festival that took place while a minority government of populists, nationalists and materialists proclaimed the end of art subsidies. We therefore look back on a festival in which we had a great time with our new... 

Week two of the Holland Festival (#HF11) brings a nice mix of highlights and questionable choices.

Dat de Off Broadway-musical Fela! Een succes was, konden we eigenlijk wel verwachten. Voor De Dodo hebben we er daarom ook niemand heen gestuurd: er zijn al genoeg kranten en andere bloggers die graag bij de New Yorkse publiekslievelingen op de eerste rang willen zitten. Dat ze een goede tijd hadden, leest u elders op deze site, via de blogstream… 

#HF11 Unadorned, austere and powerful "Flûte Enchantée" by Peter Brook

Papageno pronkte gisteravond zonder zijn verenpracht. Sterker nog, de hele regie van Une flûte enchantée was een onopgesmukt genoegen. Sober. Integer. Je kunt een Nederlands publiek niet wilder krijgen dan met een dergelijke aanpak. Complimenten dus, voor Peter Brook. In het Muziekgebouw aan het IJ was de Nederlandse première van Brooks bewerking van Die Zauberflöte van Mozart. De productie draaide… 

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