{"id":140343,"date":"2026-09-24T17:48:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T15:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/?p=140343"},"modified":"2026-09-24T17:48:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T15:48:02","slug":"verborgen-koloniale-vrouwengeschiedenis-vormt-basis-voor-theaterthriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/09\/verborgen-koloniale-vrouwengeschiedenis-vormt-basis-voor-theaterthriller\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden colonial women\u2019s history forms the basis for a theatre thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>MATZER\u2019s *Pretty Girls* opens in cinemas across the country on 22 October<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>From 22 October to 20 December, MATZER Theatre Productions will be touring the country with <em>Pretty Girls<\/em> \u2014 a thriller about love, loss and a deliberately concealed history, at the intersection of theatre and investigative journalism. The cast comprises Anne-Chris Schulting, Billy de Walle and Jelle Hoekstra. Written and directed by Melissa Knollenburg. The premiere takes place on Saturday 24 October at the Verkadefabriek in Den Bosch.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Following the death of her great love, a woman is confronted by an unknown Moluccan boy with the hidden life and untold family history of her partner, Joia. What begins as mourning for her wife develops into a profound quest and raises the question: can you continue to love someone who turns out to be a stranger to you?<\/p>\n<p><em>Pretty Girls <\/em>is a play about loss and shame, but also about resilience, breaking the silence and the courage to hold on to love when the truth is painful and confusing. A gripping thriller in which personal tragedy converges with a system fuelled by guilt, injustice against women and the shifting of responsibility. A colonial legacy that, generations later, still shapes and distorts lives.<\/p>\n<p>After <em>Kantjil and the Tiger<\/em>, <em>COMFORT<\/em> and <em>Jam Karet<\/em> Melissa Knollenburg turns her attention to the hidden history of women in wartime and the Netherlands\u201c financial debt to Indonesia and its citizens of Indonesian descent. She is supported in this by investigative journalist Griselda Molemans (Follow the Money). Over the past ten years, she has focused her investigative journalism on the failure to provide redress for the Indo community. Melissa: \u201dCreating a performance about love in the context of our colonial past is an absurd process. Small stories and major state secrets are unravelled in parallel. By focusing on the past of the Moluccan-Indonesian Joia, this piece exposes a history of violence against women. It is high time to look that beast in the eye, so that the world becomes a safer place for the girls of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/matzer.org\/voorstellingen\/pretty-girls\/\"><strong><em>Pretty Girls<\/em><\/strong><\/a> It will be on display from 22 October to 20 December in cities including Amsterdam, Den Bosch, The Hague, Gouda, Nijmegen, Oosterhout, Utrecht, Vught and Waalwijk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Game<\/strong>: Anne-Chris Schulting, Billy de Walle, Jelle Hoekstra, <strong>script &amp; direction<\/strong>: Melissa Knollenburg, <strong>scenography<\/strong>: Marjolijn Brouwer, <strong>costume design<\/strong>: Anke Vromen, <strong>composition<\/strong>: Rosa Sanne and Scott Beekhuizen,\u00a0<strong>artistic guidance<\/strong>: Martine Manten, <strong>campaign image<\/strong>: SOGO.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pretty Girls van MATZER vanaf 22 oktober in theaters door het hele land Van 22 oktober t\/m 20 december toert MATZER Theaterproducties door het land met Pretty Girls \u2014 een thriller over liefde, verlies en een bewust verzwegen geschiedenis op het snijvlak van theater en onderzoeksjournalistiek. Anne-Chris Schulting, Billy de Walle en Jelle Hoekstra vormen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11917,8843,4759],"tags":[4792,13862],"class_list":["post-140343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-persberichten","category-podiumkunst","category-theater-podiumkunst-2","tag-den-bosch","tag-matzer"],"featured_image_url":[],"post_author":"Agnes Bolwiender","assigned_categories":"PERSBERICHTEN, PODIUMKUNST, THEATER","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":98439,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2025\/09\/bloedzus-scherp-en-humoristisch-muziektheater-over-een-eeneiige-tweeling-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":140343,"position":0},"title":"Blood Sister: sharp and humorous musical theatre about identical twins","author":"een van onze leden","date":"4 September 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"From 17 October to 21 December, Blood Sister - Same and Different in Everything tours the country. Top actresses Wendell Jaspers and Lotte Dunselman, on stage together for the first time, play identical twins in this sharp, humorous and musical performance by MATZER Theatre Productions. The text is by Maaike Bergstra,...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;PERSBERICHTEN&quot;","block_context":{"text":"PERSBERICHTEN","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/service\/persberichten\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":95291,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2024\/09\/bloedzus-scherp-en-humoristisch-muziektheater-over-een-eeneiige-tweeling\/","url_meta":{"origin":140343,"position":1},"title":"Blood Sister: sharp and humorous musical theatre about identical twins","author":"een van onze leden","date":"19 September 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"From 17 October to 21 December, Blood Sister - Same and Different in Everything tours the country. Top actresses Wendell Jaspers and Lotte Dunselman, on stage together for the first time, play identical twins in this sharp, humorous and musical performance by MATZER Theatre Productions. The text is by Maaike Bergstra, Madeleine Matzer directs. The premiere...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;PERSBERICHTEN&quot;","block_context":{"text":"PERSBERICHTEN","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/service\/persberichten\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/bloedzus-e1726747957554.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":92218,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2023\/09\/lot-vekemans-regisseert-blind-met-helmert-woudenberg-en-jose-kuijpers\/","url_meta":{"origin":140343,"position":2},"title":"Lot Vekemans directs Blind with Helmert Woudenberg and Jos\u00e9 Kuijpers","author":"een van onze leden","date":"28 September 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Can you love someone whose ideas you reject? From 19 October to 15 December, Blind tours the country. In the directorial debut of internationally acclaimed playwright Lot Vekemans, Helmert Woudenberg and Jos\u00e9 Kuijpers play a father and daughter who are diametrically opposed in everything. The...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;PERSBERICHTEN&quot;","block_context":{"text":"PERSBERICHTEN","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/service\/persberichten\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"campagnebeeld Matzer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image004.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image004.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image004.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image004.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image004.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image004.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":89562,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2023\/02\/persbericht-broos-pakkend-theater-over-mooie-en-nijpende-kanten-van-een-zorgverhaal\/","url_meta":{"origin":140343,"position":3},"title":"[PERSBERICHT] Broos, pakkend theater over mooie \u00e9n nijpende kanten van een zorgverhaal","author":"een van onze leden","date":"19 February 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Na de succesvolle voorstelling \u2018Je kunt me gerust een geheim vertellen\u2019 over de verschillende kanten van dementie, presenteert MATZER Theaterproducties nu een nieuwe productie: Broos. Een muzikale en ontroerende voorstelling met Lottie Hellingman over hoe je jezelf kwijt kunt raken in de zorg om een ander. De door Madeleine Matzer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;PERSBERICHTEN&quot;","block_context":{"text":"PERSBERICHTEN","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/service\/persberichten\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"broos. Door Inez van Vuuren","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/broos.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/broos.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/broos.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/broos.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":95510,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2024\/10\/wendell-jaspers-en-lotte-dunselman-schitteren-in-voorlopig-laatste-van-madeleine-matzer\/","url_meta":{"origin":140343,"position":4},"title":"Wendell Jaspers and Lotte Dunselman shine in (tentative) last by Madeleine Matzer","author":"Wijbrand Schaap","date":"20 October 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Quantum entanglement, supersymmetry. The nerd in me could not get around the mystery of cosmic twins, which hundreds of billions of light years apart yet simultaneously take over each other's state when one of them is seen. Or something like that. In Blood Sister, Matzer's latest play, it's not billions of parsecs, but a...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;PODIUMKUNST&quot;","block_context":{"text":"PODIUMKUNST","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/podiumkunst\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/2024_10_16_MATZER_BLOEDZUS_KarinJonkers051.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":93632,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2024\/02\/liliane-brakema-regisseert-alejandra-theus-in-muzikale-voorstelling-blue-hour\/","url_meta":{"origin":140343,"position":5},"title":"Liliane Brakema directs Alejandra Theus in musical performance Blue Hour","author":"een van onze leden","date":"21 February 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"From 29 February to 29 May 2024, Blue Hour tours the country. A woman searches for a way through a nearly devastated world with her baby. Liliane Brakema directs Alejandra Theus in a musical theatre performance inspired by Cormac McCarthy's Pullitzer Prize-winning novel The Road. The premiere of this co-production...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;PERSBERICHTEN&quot;","block_context":{"text":"PERSBERICHTEN","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/service\/persberichten\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blue Hour door Matzer, pr beeld door Karin Jonkers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024_25_01_MATZER_bluehour_KarinJonkers026-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024_25_01_MATZER_bluehour_KarinJonkers026-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024_25_01_MATZER_bluehour_KarinJonkers026-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024_25_01_MATZER_bluehour_KarinJonkers026-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024_25_01_MATZER_bluehour_KarinJonkers026-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024_25_01_MATZER_bluehour_KarinJonkers026-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3yKke-AvB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140344,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140343\/revisions\/140344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}