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Hamlet Ophelia by Sanne Peper

Heady 'Hamlet and Ophelia' about Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious

I saw Sid Vicious perform with the Sex Pistols at the illustrious Eksit in Rotterdam in 1977, more than 45 years later my teenage daughter toured Vicious's story in International Toneel Amsterdam's performance Hamlet and Ophelia. She still has a life to go, I immersed myself in memories. A (too long) look back According to the annals... 

'This new law means even more obstacles and restrictions for visiting culture.'

Honourable members of the House of Representatives, It is with great concern that we look at the Temporary Test Act that will be voted on in your House on Tuesday 11 May. This new law means even more hurdles and restrictions for visiting culture. Restrictions that will be introduced but where the end date is not given. This new testing law could be a godsend for... 

Eddy Bellegueule live. Still impressive, but also makes you yearn for the real thing.

Yesterday, I finally saw 'Away with Eddy Bellegueule', the theatre hit of the previous broken and devastated theatre season, and saw that its creators had effortlessly bridged the gap between youth and grown-up theatre. The show is a nineties grunge concert with brilliant actors and intense visual direction by rising star Eline Arbo.

New parents are born every year! (Why theatre programmers need to take much more risk)

With red cheeks, I hang up the phone a little bewildered. Just now I had a telephone appointment that took a completely different turn. I had a brief conversation with a theatre programmer who is still unknown to me. She unfortunately told me not to programme anything with our impresario, because there was really no need for artistic performances in her city. This lady stated that her... 

Shout out! The big fill-in for the new arts plan.

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... 

Culture Council fill-in exercise offers hardly any surprises

Champagne at BAK in Utrecht, deep disappointment at The New Institute in Rotterdam: the Council for Culture has spoken. Today, Thursday 19 May 2016, the first advice after the draconian art cuts by the first Rutte cabinet came out, and heads are rolling. Amsterdam loses prestigious presentation institution De Appel, in The Hague fellow institution Stroom has to redo its homework. The Orkest van het Oosten and the Gelders Orkest have to come up with merger plans within two years....

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The five shows you must see in May

Toneelschuur, Don Carlos (stage) Nina Spijkers brings Friedrich Schiller's classic play back to its essence. No lavish scenery depicting the Spanish court, but canvases peeled off layer by layer. playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XtUxD2zQ3E M31 Foundation, Nederlandse Reisopera, Theater na de Dam, Der Kaiser von Atlantis (opera) Forty years after its world premiere at Theater Bellevue, Victor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis will be... 

Opera Eichmann without Eichmann

You have to dare to do it: name an opera after the main organiser behind the mass deportations and extermination camps of Jews in World War II and then not perform him as a character. Composer Alejandra Castro Espejo and librettist Bo Tarenskeen did it: their opera Eichmann, a production of the Diamond Factory, will premiere at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ on Wednesday 9 December. Adolf Eichmann was... 

Scene photo Swarte Art Foundation, 'The peach of immortality'

To remember is to descend into the deepest caverns of failure and sorrow

The only one really remembered in Jan Wolkers' novel 'The Peach of Immortality' is former resistance fighter Ben Ruwiel. On 5 May 1980, the entry of the Canadians from 35 years earlier was celebrated in Amsterdam. The crowds, not far from where Ben lives, fill him with disgust. It is unreal. People, wrapped up by welfare society, have no concept of... 

Less is more: it can be done!

Yes, it can be done! Less is more! I heaved the last sigh on Wednesday 13 May in response to the production Benvenuto Cellini by Hector Berlioz, which Monty Python director Terry Gilliam made for the National Opera. Immediately the same evening, I was caught off guard at the premiere of The Peach of Immortality by Rieks Swarte at the Toneelschuur in Haarlem. It concerns a... 

Boukje Schweigman's wordless philosophy

Even before she graduated from mime school, Boukje Schweigman swore off language. She worked out a wordless philosophy in her performances. She seeks the mystery of life. However vast and elusive her starting points may be, her performances give the audience the most direct, immediate, skin-tight sensation imaginable in a theatre.

From 12 November, Boukje Schweigman and her group Schweigman& will tour Dutch theatres with their own festival: H...

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Selection Theatre Festival 2013 marked by audience-friendly performances

De Verleiders, last season's big theatre hit, tops the jury selection of The Theatre Festival 2013. Conceived and created by a group of actors and cabaret artists, including Pierre Bokma and George van Houts, the show about real estate fraud was a tremendous success in theatres. So it is also rightly included in the festival, which since 1987 has annually showcased a selection of theatre performances from the previous season. Another hit that also received great media attention is the ...

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Theatres take matters into their own hands

As the government has killed the entire circuit of production houses and further education, seven theatres have jumped into the gap. They are joining forces to enable a number of 'young' makers to still develop their work. By buying a number of performances in advance and making a small development budget available, the seven of them can put two makers to work per season.

It involves The Rotterdam Theatre, Frascati in Amsterdam

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Baldwin Live

On Wednesday 1 August 2012, the Performing Arts Fund will announce the results of the lottery that granting arts subsidies has now become. Huge cuts are looming: companies and makers that by now seemed to be a permanent part of the Dutch arts landscape will disappear. So what exactly it will look like, we will officially only know from 12:00 on Wednesday 1 August. To leak things in advance makes no sense, things are too dramatic for that.
What we do want ...

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Tjitske Reidinga launched as star of new summer programming Amsterdam Delamartheater

The general public knows her as the rock-hard lawyer Claire from Gooise Vrouwen. Tone lovers have known her longer as that actress with the striking voice. A diplomat's daughter, born in Africa, later raised in Bussum. Tjitske Reidinga now dares to come forward:

Increase in 'wish headlines' in arts news around grant applications

The last opportunities for grant applications for 2013 and beyond closed today. Numerous mergers have been announced, new collaborations, high-profile relocations (Amsterdam in particular is emptying out). Many arts media now also carry news about those plans. News that is often presented as fact, while in almost all cases these are wishes. Applications are even fewer than ever... 

Bright spots: Toneelschuur kind of saved, less discount at schouwburg Hoorn, but Bollenstreekse Bieb gets more expensive.

Haarlem - Money new policy: national cuts softened (...) [theatre, film and production house] Toneelschuur Productions will lose its national subsidy from 2013. This threatens the disappearance of this unique production house. (...) Haarlem is economically heavily dependent on culture. The cuts will therefore not only lead to the impoverishment of our cultural climate, but also to fewer jobs and a blow to the creative economy in... 

Ten theatre performances you should not have missed according to the jury of the Dutch Theatre Festival. Agree?

Of course, you were all lining up for that legendary Richard III by Orkater with music by Tom Waits. Or you had locked yourself in for Oostpool's small-room gem 'Till the fat lady sings', or you just didn't want to miss an episode of O O Cherso and The Voice of Holland. Anyway: now you know what you... 

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