A great achievement: for the third year in a row a crippled theater season, and yet there is again a selection for the Dutch Theater Festival. The Dutch Theater Jury will present the twelve ‘most impressive performances of the season’ on Thursday. Great news, with the caveat that many performances were once again hampered by lockdowns and cases of illness, and were shown too short to compete seriously. But that should not spoil the fun for the chosen ones.
Despite the problems the sector has been struggling with since the reopening, such as a shortage of technicians and a lack of audience, the jury speaks of a ‘wealth of offer’ and a ‘floral palette’. The selection is in any case versatile: from ‘philosophical gem’ la codistaa monologue by Marleen Scholten of actor collective Wunderbaum, to the ‘overwhelming monster production’ Trojan Wars, directed by Noël Fischer at Het Nationale Theater. The selection of the piece means a sweet revenge for Fischer, because her exuberant, colorful youth theater party was one of the first corona victims in March 2020.
Ilay den Boer is also rightly recognized with his penetrating Solomon’s Judgmentabout the refugee issue, which was only able to see the theater light a year and a half after the planned premiere.
The list includes youth theatre, music theatre, two solos, two free productions and even a dance performance: Winter/21/Y by choreographer Ryan Djojokarso. Five of the eight large subsidized BIS (basic infrastructure) companies are represented, in addition to five smaller clubs. The new artistic director of Toneelgroep Oostpool, Daria Bukvic, immediately leads her company into the festival with the hair-raising solo Girls and Boysplayed by Hadewych Minis.
The jury hopes that her festive selection will provide an incentive for makers and the public in the coming season. So that artists can create unhindered again and the public flocks again en masse. For Shakespeare already knew that there is no medicine left for the unfortunate but hope.
It Dutch Theater Festival (TF) takes place from 1 to 11 September.