For a year and a half, there was hardly any playing, festival tents remained in mothballs and artists were busy doing living room concerts or attic sessions on Zoom. Now everything is allowed out again and the discharge is just barely there. Unaccustomedness characterises the fresh start of Theatre Festival Boulevard, which has moved to a park south of downtown Bossche for the next few years,...
Police sirens sound less frequently in Groningen than in a city like Amsterdam. When they sounded last Wednesday night, it was because residents of the premises behind the local art academy, Minerva, raised the alarm. Standing on the roof was not an owl, but an almost naked man shouting that he was going to rob the Coop. Mads Wittermans, the actor in question, had forgotten the...
An artist creates something - but for whom and why? How does the created thing relate to society and what role does that creation want to play in it? Besides all the theatre performances at Noorderzon, there is also the critical question: 'What is actually the point of theatre?' Can art fraternise people? That's not so easy. Take theatre-goers. They are rather alike....
Some critics thought the opening performance of Festival Noorderzon in Groningen was so bad it made you cry. Others were less negative. Those certainly have a point. But then you have to look beyond what you are used to. When Bear, the hero of Noorderzon 2019's opening show, is imprisoned in a tower, he laments his fate through an eloquent yet sad...
Armed only with instructions, consisting of a short scenario and witness accounts from previous participants, you and up to 11 others carry out a number of sneaky tasks. On the street. Exactly what these subtle disruptions of the everyday are will remain a secret until the performance begins. It promises to be one of the most special projects at Festival Noorderzon, which runs from 15 to...
The Council for Culture has just proposed the new Basic Infrastructure (BIS), and it has become a very big, in traditional terms 'prosperous', baby. Since the Council is not allowed to name names, and can only list functions, we have already made a fill-in list here, in which we list (very briefly, because little time and not knowing about everything) which existing cultural...
Sometimes there is a gap in the strolling crowd in Groningen's Noorderplantsoen. Often this is due to a local resident with muscle-dog, who continues to make his daily round despite the crowds. It is one of those funny things that give Noorderzon its very own character, as the most Groningen-like of all summer festivals in our country. There is...
This edition, Theatre Festival Boulevard invited the audience to reflect on the two sides of identity: its immutability but especially its malleability. All this under the heading what you see is what you guess. If there is a performance to which this applies, it has to be Goat Song. A fascinating fifty-minute wordless performance by...
If the weather holds up a bit, the upcoming edition of Theatre Festival Boulevard will be the most tropical in history. The smart ones among us, who opted for a staycation in West Balkonia this year, can indulge their cultural heart in Den Bosch. Not for nothing regularly called 'The Avignon of the Netherlands'. Theatre festival Boulevard is unpacking 2018 with a truly overwhelming...
Despite the crisis in the performing arts, there is still a lot of young talent roaming the Netherlands and beyond. So much that keeping track is impossible. After all, who can visit all the festivals, from Festival Boulevard to Noorderzon, from the Café Theatre Festival to Festival Cement and from the Amsterdam Fringe Festival to the Zeeland Nazomerfestival? And then also exactly those four or five performances from the...
There are many reasons not to go on holiday. It costs money, you come back more stressed than you went, the food is no good, it costs tons of CO2 and it doesn't increase mutual understanding between countries either. Reason enough, then, to just stay here and enjoy the free time given to you by the boss, or by yourself if you are self-employed. Without being barked at by airport staff.
Apetrots they are, the MPs Jacques Monasch, Jasper van Dijk, Mona Keijzer and Alexander Pechtold. After all, they saved a youth theatre company and managed to add a few festivals to the basic cultural infrastructure of the Netherlands. In addition, they have also already earmarked an amount for some other festivals. Yesterday, the motions from the June debate were put to a vote. Almost...
Groningen, that part of the Netherlands where the earth moves. I should know, with family in epicentre Loppersum. But nothing beats Groningen, especially during Noorderzon, the festival that combines theatre, music, literature and much more for ten days. Here are our five tips. Do you have any other tips of your own? Report them in the comments! Employee of the Year,...
A confession. There is no other way. So: yes. I was lying between immaculate white sheets in a comfortable bed with actress Lina Issa and it was beautiful. She whispered soft words in my ear, put a hand on my hand and it was very quiet around us. Thanks to that whispering, the noise of the big city fell away. Trams...
Declining visitor numbers, shrinking subsidies, impoverished programming: most Dutch theatres are struggling, research by NRC Handelsblad recently showed. Theatres welcomed 12 million visitors in 2012, according to NRC figures, a quarter less than in 2008. Festivals, on the other hand, are on the rise. More and more are being organised, and they are attracting more and more people - in total...
Photo: Erik van 't Hof Rain, rain, rain. That looks bad for festivals. Right? "The weather is less of an influence on a festival than people think," says Mark Hospers of Noorderzon. And they should know. Last year they had a lot of rain, and at the same time sold a record number of tickets. How could it be that bad weather affected the...
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