Comedian Jan Beuving has also played in many halls in eleven years, but the large hall in Ogterop has something special for him. “What is very special for me: this is the only hall in the whole of the Netherlands where I have played all my programs from the beginning.” That came about by a bit of coincidence. “I was invited here to play in the small hall. I played a preview there, but there was so much interest that I was allowed to play in the small hall for two evenings. When it turned out that the interest was so great, my show was rebooked to the large hall on the second evening. That is why – and that is really exceptional – I played my first performance in the large hall. That was the very first large hall where I ever gave a performance.”
For Karin Bloemen, the hall even feels like coming home. “My uncle Johan Bloemen once helped build Ogterop. I and the entire Bloemen family, who still live nearby, are all still very proud.”
But for real Meppel artists, it really feels like coming home. “It takes me back to the past,” says Diets Dijkstra. De Meppeler is bassist with the band JOHAN!. “When I was young I sometimes sat in the hall here, but not that often. I went to the Nits once. I got tickets for it. I found the Nits very boring, but I was still very young then.” And now he’s standing on stage watching, and his family is watching. “A lot of people come to have a look. My old mother is there, my brother. It really does me good.”