The planned performances of the open-air spectacle The Pauper Paradise will not take place this year either. According to the producer, this is due to ‘unclear nitrogen policy’.
The performance has also been canceled for the past two years, then due to the corona measures. This summer, Het Pauperparadijs seemed to be able to continue at the historic location in Veenhuizen, but the nitrogen policy is throwing a spanner in the works.
‘Absurd’
“After a two-year corona delay, we are now being held hostage by a new absurd phenomenon. Nitrogen,” write director Tom de Ket, writer Suzanna Jansen and producer Wolter Lommerde. “Because the Prison Museum is located 6 kilometers from a Natura 2000 area, all events must have a nitrogen deposition of 0. Of course we emit almost nothing, but slightly more than zero. Mainly due to visitor traffic. These are the absurd consequences of an unclear nitrogen policy that we are now confronted with.”
De Ket, Jansen and Lommerde are disappointed in the attitude of the municipality of Noordenveld and the province of Drenthe. “Despite previous promises from the province and the municipality that we could play Het Pauperparadijs this summer, it now appears that they cannot fulfill these promises. You could also say that ultimately the political will and administrative courage are lacking. Or at least the sense of urgency.”
“Because if there is one thing that stands out, it is that Het Pauperparadijs represents an enormous impulse for the region. But the municipality of Noorderveld and the province of Drenthe ultimately set procedures and formalities above.”
Third time
It would be the third time that the open-air spectacle could be seen in the Prison Museum in Veenhuizen. In 2016 and 2017, the performance under the direction of Tom de Ket, based on the book of the same name by Suzanna Jansen, also played at that location and attracted more than 90,000 visitors.
Moved in 2018 The Pauper Paradise to Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam.