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Happy Days 02 © Sanne Peper

The illusion of happiness and love with Antoinette Jelgersma and Erik Whien

"Another happy day. He listens to me ...Another very happy day, he speaks to me." Life reduced to its essence, with Winnie towering womanishly above the human molehill for her final episode. Antoinette Jelgersma, in Happy Days under Erik Whien, portrays a more monty version of Winnie, one of the toughest stage roles, with a monologue sitting still... 

scene image by Kurt van der Elst

Pregnancy director Nina Spijkers was challenging The National Theatre on completion of Coriolanus

“Dat ga ik Nina als eerste vertellen, dat na afloop de jonge vrouwen als eerste opstonden om te applaudisseren en yellen van enthousiasme voor onze Coriolanus.” Remco van Rijn, dramaturg bij Het Nationale Theater, spreken we na een try-out, net voor de première van Coriolanus op 18 februari. En Nina = Nina Spijkers, de oorspronkelijke regisseur van het stuk Wat… 

Time flows through you; The Years of Eline Arbo at HNT as poignant as it is stunning

Knellende dorpssamenleving en familie, ontsnapping met harde ontmaagding, studentengenot geplet door bloedige abortus, onontkoombaar huwelijk en kinderen baren, verzengende relaties met mannen, heftig verlangen met eenzaamheid, en tenslotte de berusting met kleinkind; tegen het decor van oorlog, wederopbouw, gesmoorde revolutie, jaren van hoop en tenslotte in welvaart en cynisme gedoofd idealisme. De tijd stroomt door Annie, Annie stroomt door de… 

Tamar van den Dop legendary in slightly over-explained version of Judith Herzberg's Passion Trilogy 

That you are suddenly back in 1996 at Black Snow, the television series in which actress Tamar van den Dop managed to hook an entire generation of viewers at the time. Since then, her raven-black curls have turned into a glittering cloud of silver, but those who go to see Het Nationale Theater's Leedvermaak trilogy suddenly see that young Tamar again. A miracle of talent in... 

Nerd podcast S2A3: With Cees Debets (National Theatre) and Marijn Lems (NRC) on the uncertain times in theatres

De zalen stromen maar moeilijk vol, technici hebben hun lampen aan de wilgen gehangen, maar de kaarten zijn niet aan te slepen voor Trojan Wars van Het Nationale Theater. Daarom praten we in deze langverwachte Nerdpodcast (de AVROTROS vindt de tune echt vreselijk) met Cees Debets, de directeur van dat grote Haagse theaterbedrijf. Marijn Lems heeft toevallig ook een paar… 

Review Hebriana: Dead-end lives

Put three neurotic sisters with their mother hen and errant brothers-in-law together in a parental holiday villa with beautifully translated text by Las Norén and you're bound to get some nasty Scandinavian family stuff. But luckily there is the wafting acquaintance Axel, a convincing role by Mark Rietman. Already at the start of the performance with the tableau de la troupe alongside... 

OFFICIAL 2021 DUTCH DRAMA JURY SELECTION IS KNOWN!

Van donderdag 2 tot en met zondag 12 september 2021 toont het Nederlands Theater Festival de beste producties van het afgelopen theaterseizoen. De Nederlandse Toneeljury, onder leiding van juryvoorzitter Hadassah de Boer, selecteerde de acht beste theaterproducties van het moment. Vandaag maakte de jury haar selectie bekend. De volledige selectie is te zien tijdens de komende editie van het festival… 

Romana Vrede, Photo: Bas de Brouwer

The three-quarters empty hall gives more intimacy than a full hall. HNT always plays; warming and confusing

Welke indrukken, welke beelden beklijven er? Waarom geniet ik hier zo? De voorstellingen gedurende de coronacrisis bezorgen grote dankbaarheid: dat ik dit mag meemaken, dat acteurs, schrijvers, regisseurs en medewerkers weken of zelfs maandenlang in trouw zijn om voor mij op te treden. De liefdesverklaring is wederzijds.

National Theatre plays on simply brilliantly

Thank God the theatres are reopening to more audiences and The National Theatre is playing for a while longer, for instance with the infectious Every Brilliant Thing with Tamar van den Dop or Bram Suijker. At the Theater aan het Spui on Wednesday 1 July, Tamar van den Dop in the afternoon and Bram Suijker in the evening played their first Every Brilliant Thing. It is,... 

Cultural big earners: jump through your karma for once

My story about cultural big earners turned out to be the talk of the town in the cultural sector. Not publicly, i.e. mainly behind the scenes, I was approached. One of the few people who did speak out publicly was Henk Scholten. On Facebook, he responded to a column by journalist Aukje van Roessel about the questions raised by The Hague city council 

The sneaky demolition of the National Theatre in Tirana during Corona is just the beginning

The sneaky demolition of the National Theatre during Corona: This is just the beginning.

Albania's National Theatre, recently declared a protected monument by Europa Nostra, was unexpectedly destroyed on Sunday, 17 May, after two years of protests. Early in the morning, when it was still dark, the bulldozers came. A sudden wave of policemen wearing mouth caps chased activists and artists out of the theatre and formed a cordon around the audience.... 

'I want to become more and more like Charlie'. The life insights of actress and writer Romana Vrede

Last month, De Arbeiderspers published Romana Vrede's novel De nobele autist, based on life with her son Charlie, who has a mental disability and autism. Conversation on what she learned from him and other life events. 'Not Charlie is crazy, the world is crazy.' 'Normal' is not normal 'When my son Charlie was a 2-year-old boy in... 

Het steunpakket van het cultuurministerie is een lachertje. Waarom een cultuurstaking nodig is. En makkelijker dan ooit.

Langzaam maar zeker daalt de absurditeit van de reddingsmaatregelen voor de cultuursector in. De rijksmusea hoeven drie maanden even geen huur te betalen, maar moeten die wel met terugwerkende kracht terugbetalen zodra de crisis voorbij is. Ondernemers kunnen extra steun ter waarde van 4000 euro krijgen, mits zij een bedrijfspand buitenshuis hebben. Acteurs, regisseurs (overigens ook freelance journalisten) en kunstenaars… 

Tranen en pannenkoekenmeel – Noël Fischer een week na de afgelasting van Trojan Wars

Regisseur Noël Fischer, artistiek leider van HNTJong, de jeugdclub van Het Nationale Theater, vernam een week geleden vlak voor de eerste try-out dat ze met Trojan Wars het podium niet op mocht voor de try-out, noch voor première van zaterdag. Geen gewone opvoering maar een marathonvoorstelling met drie delen, met in de pauzes voer voor de geest (muziek) en de… 

Antony and Cleopatra, Tiago Rodrigues. Photo: Magda Bizarro.

'I have no problem at all if spectators want to see Anthony and Cleopatra. But for me, it's about something else.' Tiago Rodrigues writes theatre for dancers.

Anthony and Cleopatra is exactly the kind of repertory piece that people look forward to during the Holland Festival, or any other prestigious stage. Director and writer Tiago Rodrigues manages not so much to deflate that grandiose expectation as to reduce it to the intimacy of a duet and a play with extremely basic theatrical gestures. His two actors are dancers, an experienced choreographer duo 

‘Ik ben niet de discriminatiepolitie.’ Romana Vrede over haar rol in het team van Gloria Wekker op SPOT-LIve.

‘Hoe maak ik de wereld een beetje mooier? Dat vraag ik me af bij alles wat ik doe.’ Romana Vrede, bekroond actrice bij Het Nationale Theater, ’tafeldame’ bij De Wereld Draait Door en Zomergast, kijkt graag positief de wereld in. Zal haar bijdrage aan SPOT-Live, het symposium voor de podiumkunsten dat op 28 mei in Rotterdam plaatsvindt, dan ook optimistisch… 

Eric de Vroedt (Het Nationale Theater)curates at SPOT-Live: 'Let's talk about love.'

'What we so often forget is to just talk about our love for theatre.' Eric de Vroedt, artistic director of The National Theatre, wants to talk about substance for once. And then with the entire performing arts sector. Soon there will be SPOT-Live, the renewed Congress of Performing Arts, and there he wants to talk about love. 'Quite by chance, it happened a month ago.... 

Lower House gets less say over arts subsidies. (If the minister gets her way)

Some people read Christmas stories over Christmas, others the interview supplements of newspapers, and a few do so with policy documents. So, quite a few people have read our Culture Minister's 'Advice Request' in the past few days. I, at least. Those who 'officially' cannot have done so are the members of the Culture Council, because the whole package came... 

Why a code is not going to change anything about unfair practices in the arts

Het Nederlandse jeugdtheater is dit jaar bekroond met de Prijs van de Nederlandse Critici. Volkomen terecht. Dat jeugdtheater van ons is van superieure kwaliteit, divers, durft verhalen te vertellen en buiten de eigen navel te kijken. Het is meer dan jammer dat je als volwassene zonder kind niet zo vaak met dat theater in aanraking komt. Menig volwassene zou fervent… 

PODCAST: Theatre Festival 2018 opens with punishment.

1On 6 September 2018, Chokri Ben Chika left his sense of humour behind in Belgium. He trekked to the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg with a filled jerry can and committed a criminal offence. He threatened a Rabo Hall filled to the brim with an indistinguishable fake weapon. He said he admired the anonymous Tunisian who, with his self-immolation ... 

Podcast: Sometimes it's also just allowed to be about love, in The Hague. Although: in spectacle Ondine, nothing is ordinary.

'You simply cannot, as a big company, just bring journalistic theatre.' So says Jeroen de Man, who now directs the watery spectacle performance Ondine at the National Theatre. 'A bit of diversity is just fine.' So not everything in The Hague has to be as socially relevant as The Nation of Othello. Sometimes it can also just be about the... 

SPOT-LIVE takes you into the minds of leading, original and exciting creators and thinkers. 15 May 2018, Stadsschouwburg De Harmonie Leeuwarden

What happens when original and exciting makers and thinkers shape the SPOT-LIVE programme? If a leading philosopher, theatre-maker or musician is allowed to fill the stage with debate, what would it be about? If they were allowed to inspire you with work that touches them, what would they showcase? Get inspired by three curators who will share with you their views on... 

Really Happened is No Excuse, or: How playwright Sadettin Kırmızıyüz gets passed left and right by De Luizenmoeder

I attended the try-out of Metropolis #1 at The Hague's Theater aan het Spui and a week later - because I couldn't believe my eyes the first time - I also went to the premiere. Rarely did I see something so blood-curdlingly exciting on stage. But unfortunately for the wrong reasons. A lot of a-musical notions Metropolis is the... 

'Actually, the romantic relic Platonov has been snowed in for about a hundred years. And now he comes back, and he walked into the wrong room'

Platonov, Theatre Utrecht's latest show, premiered on 2 March and is an instant hit: rave reviews in all major newspapers. Artistic director and director Thibaud Delpeut bases his version of this archetypal Chekhov play on the translation made by actor Jacob Derwig in 2000 for 't Barre Land. This equally legendary play fitted... 

Sadettin Kırmızıyüz makes theatre series 'Metropolis'. 'If you think, this can't be true, assume: this is true.'

It all starts at Orange College, of course. A fictional school with very real problems. For Sadettin Kırmızıyüz, the place where he commissions the opening part of Metropolis, a series that should eventually count four episodes. It is one of Het Nationale Theater's biggest projects over the next four years, in close cooperation with Kırmızıyüz's own company:... 

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