{"id":97413,"date":"2025-05-29T11:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T09:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/?p=97413"},"modified":"2025-05-29T11:52:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T09:52:20","slug":"peuter-of-dictator-grootheidswaan-van-bullybully-slaat-wereldwijd-aan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2025\/05\/peuter-of-dictator-grootheidswaan-van-bullybully-slaat-wereldwijd-aan\/","title":{"rendered":"TODDLER OR DICTATOR? MEGALOMANIA OF BULLYBULLY STRIKES WORLDWIDE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The toddler show BullyBully (3+) by Ren\u00e9 Geerlings is making international headlines, with a playful message about power and resistance.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What started as a co-production between Maas theatre and dance and the ATTA Festival in Istanbul quickly grew into an international success. Since 2022, the toddler performance and VSCD cricket winner attracts <em>BullyBully<\/em>&nbsp;by Ren\u00e9 Geerlings filled auditoriums with a humorous and recognisable look at power relations. The show now travels the world, from Indonesia to Australia, and is adapted locally by companies in Turkey and Finland, among others. This is how Maas builds sustainable collaborations, with art as a playful and anti-authoritarian counterpoint.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>POWER GAME FOR TODDLERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At <em>BullyBully<\/em>&nbsp;two kings meet in no-man's land. They begrudge each other nothing, constantly try to outdo each other and behave like adrift toddlers with too much power. What follows is a physical and musical battle full of songs, bickering and nagging. A toddler musical about friendship, the unknown and the art of living together, in which the megalomania of world leaders is playfully exposed for a young audience. According to creator Ren\u00e9 Geerlings, the theme is more topical than ever: <em>\"With dictators on the rise, even in Western countries, the show is extra meaningful now. Dictators are often nothing more than toddlers with too much power. Toddlers in many cases behave even better.\"<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>FROM ROTTERDAM TO THE WORLD<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After its success in the Netherlands <em>BullyBully<\/em>\u00a0start touring internationally. The show has played in Indonesia (Jambi, Jakarta, Yogyakarta), at the Edinburgh International Children's Festival in Scotland, and at festivals in Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Liechtenstein, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Canada, among others. In 2025, the show will be in Australia twice - at the Sydney Festival and at the world-famous Sydney Opera House, where it will play to large audiences for weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The performance proved to be universally recognisable, even beyond the toddler target group. In Indonesia, the <em>BullyBully<\/em>&nbsp;attended by hundreds of teenagers. The minimal text - just \"yes\" and \"no\" - also makes the show easily adaptable for international performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>LONG-LASTING RELATIONSHIPS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maas theatre and dance prefers to travel internationally if there is artistic reciprocity, for example through workshops, knowledge exchange or long-term co-productions, in order to combine cultural impact with a minimal ecological footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The international ambitions of <em>BullyBully<\/em>&nbsp;are not limited to playing at festivals for this reason either. Thus, Maas also develops local adaptations of the show in cooperation with companies in Turkey and Finland, among other countries in the pipeline. There, the performance will be played by local casts, with their own sets, costumes and choreography adapted to the context of the country. <em>\"In a world where more and more dictatorial leaders seem to be rising up, we are also putting more and more Bullys against them.\"<\/em>&nbsp;jokes Geerlings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>MESH THEATRE AND DANCE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maas theatre and dance is the largest theatre and dance company for children, young people and young adults in the Netherlands, with its own stage in Rotterdam. Original and physical youth theatre in all possible forms and for all imaginable ages is the central focus. Maas theatre and dance wants to contribute to a just world in which every child has room for play, fantasy and imagination and, through theatre and dance, encourages children, adolescents and young adults to stay close to their hearts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>CREDITS<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Concept, direction:<\/strong>\u00a0Ren\u00e9 Geerlings<br \/><strong>Game:<\/strong>\u00a0Sue-Ann Bel, Henke Tuinstra, Sanne Bokkers, Carole van Ditzhuyzen, Pamela Schaap, Wendy Briggeman, Djinti Sullivan (in alternating casts)<br \/><strong>Compositions:<\/strong>\u00a0Reinier van Harten, Sergio Escoda<br \/><strong>Costumes:<\/strong>\u00a0Daphne Karstens, Alice Sprascio (assistant), Karmijn Lange (assistant)<br \/><strong>Wigs:<\/strong>\u00a0Cynthia van der Linden<br \/><strong>Mustaches:<\/strong>\u00a0Stan Roobol<br \/><strong>Decor:<\/strong>\u00a0Sanne Danz<br \/><strong>Set construction busts:<\/strong>\u00a0Jannelies Raaijmakers<br \/><strong>Coupeur:<\/strong>\u00a0Stef Krull<br \/><strong>Dramaturgy, director's assistant:<\/strong>\u00a0Sara Giampaolo<br \/><strong>Dance advice:<\/strong>\u00a0Art Wutthinan Srisayam, Erik Bos<br \/><strong>Technology:<\/strong>\u00a0Peter Raaijmakers, Frans Baudoin<br \/><strong>Production:<\/strong>\u00a0Djoeke Westdijk<br \/><strong>Co-production:<\/strong>\u00a0Maas theatre and dance, Atta Festival, Istanbul<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>De peutervoorstelling BullyBully (3+) van Ren\u00e9 Geerlings gooit internationaal hoge ogen, met een speelse boodschap over macht en verzet. Wat begon als een coproductie tussen Maas theater en dans en het ATTA Festival in Istanbul groeide in korte tijd uit tot een internationaal succes. Sinds 2022 trekt de peutervoorstelling en VSCD krekel-winnaar BullyBully&nbsp;van Ren\u00e9 Geerlings [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":97414,"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":null,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11917,8843],"tags":[15781,513,13473],"class_list":["post-97413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-persberichten","category-podiumkunst","tag-indonesie","tag-jeugdtheater","tag-maas-theater-en-dans"],"featured_image_url":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/bullyindonesia-150x150.png","medium":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/bullyindonesia-300x200.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/bullyindonesia.png","large":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/bullyindonesia.png","1536x1536":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/bullyindonesia.png","2048x2048":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/bullyindonesia.png","trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/bullyindonesia-18x12.png"},"post_author":"een van onze leden","assigned_categories":"PERSBERICHTEN, PODIUMKUNST","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":139557,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/09\/het-rapportcijfer-7-en-de-zes-meldingen-als-de-toezichthouder-te-laat-meet\/","url_meta":{"origin":97413,"position":0},"title":"A mark of 7 and the six reports \u2013 When the regulator takes too long to carry out checks","author":"Guido van Nispen","date":"19 September 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A score of 7 for social safety, yet at the same time six reports and thirty staff leaving. 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