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Indien je een mens bent, laat dit veld leeg:.

theatre on the spui

Solness - the National Theatre - Mark Rietman, Anna Raadsveld - photo Kurt Van der Elst

Ibsen in a bubble - Boermans' poignantly austere Solness

by Frans van Hilten
29 April 201529 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, THEATER

A girl stands waving and around her a rain of soap bubbles descends, so many that it almost seems as if the girl is taking off. She stands swaying and her ecstasy and tears of joy slowly turn to deep despair and disbelief. What she sees cannot, cannot be true, because it destroys everything she is - to what she...

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Samir Calixto, Paradise Lost (photo by Joris Jan Bos)

Opening CaDance: Milton's 'Paradise Lost' according to Samir Calixto

by Frans van Hilten
2 February 20154 November 2015
4 min read
DANS, LITERARY

More than 10,000 lines of verse comprise Englishman John Milton's poem Paradise Lost (1667). It cannot be easy to capture that in an hour-long dance performance and yet that is what choreographer Samir Calixto set out to do. Earlier, the young Brazilian cut his teeth on Schubert's Winterreise and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. On Friday, he opened with Paradise Lost the...

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Solid Battle over multicultural society marks new era for Writers Unlimited #wu15

by Wijbrand Schaap
16 January 201530 March 2022
1 min read
For members only, LITERARY, SPECIALS, Writers Unlimited

20 years of Writers Unlimited's existence, and the anniversary, now in The Hague, comes at a time when free writing worldwide is under heavier pressure than ever. Perhaps that is also why the audience is more numerous than previous editions. All nights are rigidly sold out, making for a rather sweltering atmosphere at the Theater aan het Spui. Apt opening of...

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Stefan de Walle and Ariane Schluter in Friday, photo Kurt van der Elst

Living on with indigestible guilt to each other's ruined existence: National Theatre plays Hugo Claus' Friday

by Frans van Hilten
30 November 201411 July 2016
4 min read
THEATER

Georges Vermeersch comes home early from prison, where he was serving a sentence for incest with his daughter Christiane. In the meantime, his wife Jeanne has had a child by younger neighbour Erik. So how to move on? Casper Vandeputte directed an intense, haunting version of Hugo Claus' play Friday at the Nationale Toneel. Lead actors Stefan de...

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Keeping is no good, throwing away is wrong: comical lesson in self-reflection from Firma MES

by Frans van Hilten
7 November 201430 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, THEATER

Twenty-five per cent of people have a room they can no longer enter because it is too full of stuff. This is oppressive and it is no wonder that some resort to the other extreme: radical consumerism. In TROEP, theatre group Firma MES follows Barbara, a woman who wants to live with no more than eight objects. Just like Buddhist monks. This results in a delightful, witty play that is seriously thought-provoking and shows how renouncing is just as bekl...

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The audience speaks: Pascal Schut and Davide Cocchiara best dancers of 2013

by Wijbrand Schaap
13 February 201430 March 2022
2 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

The winners of the Dans Publieksprijs 2013 have been announced. On Friday 14 February, the prizes, divided into seven categories, will be awarded at The Hague's Theater aan het Spui. Besides winners Pascal Schut (Introdans) and Davide Cocchiara (The Red Piece), they are choreographers Conny Jansen Danst for the performance 'How Long is Now' and Isabelle Beernaert for the performance 'Red, Yellow & Blue'.
Conny Janssen is further presented with the Oeuvre Prize for her influence on Dutch dance. The dan...

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Welcome to the Culture Press archive! As a member, you have access to all, over 4,000 posts we have made since our inception in 2009!

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Through Facebook, writers return to origins #wu14

by Wijbrand Schaap
18 January 201430 March 2022
2 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, SPECIALS, Writers Unlimited

It's because of Facebook. Says Ton van de Langkruis, artistic director of writers' festival Writers Unlimited: "You can no longer be that anonymous figure bombarding the world with hermetic texts from a locked attic room. The market is no longer for it. Your main means of communication is facebook. There you have to be open to questions, you communicate with your readers. We are back in the village square where the first stories were once told."

With 'Like me' being the fest...

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2 nights of sex, booze and relaxed writers: a mini guide

by Wijbrand Schaap
11 January 201429 March 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, SPECIALS, Writers Unlimited

Writers Unlimited is the most fun literary festival in the world. We can know, because we have been there twice now. Whether the comparison with all those 20 million other literature festivals in the world is entirely pure, we don't know. We do know that a lot of the writers who attend Writers Unlimited agree with us. At least during those few days and especially nights in January.

A few reasons.
1: Sex
On Writers Unlimited, at least one programme is always about...

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Theatres take matters into their own hands

by one of our members
16 January 201330 March 2022
1 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

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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From insane Moroccan drum 'n bass to alienating dream sounds: Dakka al Marrakchia, Zoumana Diarra & Basile Maneka #WU12

by Daniel Bertina
22 January 20128 July 2016
2 min read
Writers Unlimited

It is incredible what an energy the men of Manar can generate. These six - dressed in djellabas - percussionists play Dekka al Marrakchia: an insanely rousing form of traditional Moroccan drum 'n bass party music and religious Gnawa. After a solemn, almost ritualistic beginning - in which the band comes jogging onto the stage of the Theater aan het Spui in a goose-step, accompanied by the menacing sounds of two huge horns - the drums erupt and the dance floor is full of swinging visitors.

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