Merijn Scholten’s hilarious Insta types also work in theater ★★★★★

Expectations were high for the solo debut of Merijn Scholten, who formed the cabaret duo De Partizans together with Thomas Gast until 2020. During the pandemic, Scholten (38) caused a furore on Instagram with hilarious short films in which he played absurd characters. How would Scholten translate those films into full-length theatre? It soon turns out that Scholten does not disappoint his fans: in the opening of Team Solo dives the well-known influencer on (‘heyy guys’), the type of spoiled student from Amsterdam South, who addresses us through a screen only to discover that a full room is waiting. “Wow guys, this is real livestream 3.0.”

The step from films to theater was taken convincingly in Team Solo. It has become a beautifully made, fast-paced and very funny performance, with video effects and flashing lights (by designer Marc Heinz). Most of Scholten’s characters have been given a place in this setting. The timid older Dutchman with the drawling voice now appears to work as a flash delivery driver, and the down-to-earth Groningen travels via a time machine to the wig time in France. Time and again it is striking that Merijn Scholten has an above-average sharp feeling for fashionable words, cliché sentences and empty marketing concepts – see the piece about the city marketer of the Afghan capital Kabul.

But Scholten, under the creative guidance of colleague Micha Wertheim, has pulled out much more. For example, there is fine music in the performance, including a perfect parody of Dutch hip-hop, in which a young audience in particular will recognize the winks. A lot happens on stage: Scholten is agile and expressive, but alternates that with moments when he sits behind his synthesizer or podcast microphone.

Not every scene plays full of laughter, sometimes a scene has an alienating effect. With this, Scholten convincingly draws you into his universe, an inner world in which he is alone, but with different voices and guises –Team Solo So. Between the many characterizations, Merijn also reveals more and more about herself. He sprinkles with biographical data from which you can find out for yourself what is nonsense and what is not. For example, the fact that Scholten once studied Artificial Intelligence appears to be correct. That way you also understand his fascination for increasing digitization. For example, subtle criticism passes by about how we are ‘trapped in the systems of control freaks’ such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

A parallel can be drawn with the Netflix special Inside by Bo Burnham (2021), in which this American comedian indulged in sketches and songs in his garden shed. Also in Inside concerns about how people increasingly live in a virtual world, forgetting the real world. For that reason alone, it is a blessing that we can now experience Merijn Scholten’s great comedy live in the theater.