1/6 The first performance was held in the smaller hall of the theater on Friday evening (photo: Rochelle Moes).
Den Bosch was without a large theater for three years, but the multimillion-dollar project is complete: Theater aan de Parade is open again. On Friday evening, the doors of the brand new theater opened to the public for the first time. And although it is still a test phase for the time being and there is still plenty to be done, the first visitors are enthusiastic. “This theater is mega-chic,” says 9-year-old Janey Schellings.
She and her father are the very first visitors to enter the theater on Friday evening and are welcomed with flowers. They are impressed by the new building, which has a lot of glass and is very modern. “The previous one was for normal people. This is for fancy people,” says Janey, as her father looks at her with a smile.
Two and a half years ago, the old Theater aan de Parade was demolished to make way for a new theater. This was necessary because there was a lot of deferred maintenance. There was also asbestos in the building and the rooms were outdated. A lot of work has gone into the renovation. The costs for the project have increased over the years. Ultimately, an additional twelve million euros were needed and the renovation cost eighty million euros.
“It’s still quite bare now.”
Now the theater is no longer recognisable. Only the cellar and the contours of the large hall remain, but everything else is new. The casino room, with 920 seats, is the showpiece. The smaller square hall offers space for more than 400 people and can be converted into a concert hall for 1,000 people.
But the theater is not finished yet. Outside the theater it still looks like a construction site and a lot still needs to be done inside. For example, the wardrobe is not yet used, because it is still covered in dust. And the foyer also looks a bit uncomfortable and the curtains are not yet hanging. “I thought it was cozier in the previous building with a bit more plushness, but that may still have to come,” says Chantal ter Braak. Janne Krop agrees: “It is still quite bare at the moment.”
“We have thought everything out in advance, but with an audience everything is different.”
On Friday evening, 200 visitors will come for the children’s show King Gilgamesh. It’s a try-out, just like all performances over the next three months. Because everything is new for the employees too, so it can happen that something goes wrong during the show. “We have thought everything out in advance, but with an audience everything is different,” says director Alex Kuhne. “You have to figure out how to provide the best service, how the toilets and escape routes work and which buttons need to be turned.”
And the latter already caused the technicians in the theater a lot of stress earlier this evening. “The artists’ technical people take over our room with their light table. That’s normal plug and play, but now there was no contact,” says head of technology Alphons Verhallen. A bit tense, but it turned out well. “The light and sound supplier is always around during test phases so that they can help. We also learn from that, so now I know where it is.”
The first performance in the main hall is on Wednesday. “This is exciting, but that’s even more exciting,” said Alex Kuhne.
