TICKETS ONLINE ONLY
Fri 28 Oct, at 19:00 + Q&A (premiere)
Sat 29 Oct, at 19:00 + Q&A
Sun 30 Oct, at 18:00 + Q&A
‘I’m surrounded on all sides. How can I defend myself?’
A man, haunted by the war, brings the war to his home. Paranoia is the very first stage adaptation of Willem Frederik Hermans’s 1948 novella. How can we live with violence? How can we live with each other? This thriller-like adaptation—intimately performed in the stijlkamer of The Merchant House, at Herengracht 254—links Hermans’s riveting text to our time.
Willem Frederik Hermans is considered to be one of the “Big Three” authors of Dutch post-war literature. His most famous works include The Darkroom of Damocles (1958), Beyond Sleep (1966), and An Untouched House, also included in the short story collection Paranoia (1953). This new play is the directorial debut of Inge-Vera Lipsius and stars a young cast. It is conceived in the context of the Hermans anniversary year.
Director/adapter: Inge-Vera Lipsius
Text: Willem Frederik Hermans
Cast: Valentijn de Jonge, Guusje te Pas, Jasper van der Pijl, Frans Limburg
Publicity design: Dinara Vasilevskaia
Sound design: Neeltje van der Vlugt, Willem van Erven Dorens
Photographer: Arjen Veldt
This project is supported by the AFK (Amsterdam Fund for the Arts) and the Amarte Fund. With special thanks to the Willem Frederik Hermans Family and the Hermans Institute. Paranoia is published by De Bezige Bij (Complete Works, Part 7).
Trigger warning: Themes of violence/abuse. Will be performed in virtual darkness in an enclosed space and contains sudden loud noises.
