Winner Dutch theatre prizes 2024!!

During the Gala of Dutch Theater at the Nederlands Theater Festival in ITA, on September 15, the VSCD Theater Awards were presented, including the Theo d’Ors, the Mime/Performance Award, and the Gouden Krekels (Golden Crickets).

We are incredibly proud of two awards!!

The winner of the Gouden Krekel for the most impressive stage presentation in youth theater is: Willemijn Zevenhuijzen in Diarrhea Is My Favorite Color by Theater Artemis and Studio Julian Hetzel, directed by Julian Hetzel.

From the jury report:

“Willemijn Zevenhuijzen’s role in Diarrhea Is My Favorite Color is the crowning achievement of one of the country’s best physical actors, who continuously manages to move and surprise in youth theater. Zevenhuijzen masterfully peels away the various layers of her character, from a thick shield of cynicism to a reawakening hope, to the liberation she feels when she no longer tries to keep up with the rat race of the art industry. This touching transformation is captured by Zevenhuijzen through a combination of text and fantastically detailed physical performance, in which the journey from restraint to unleashing is perfectly conveyed.”

The directing award for ‘the most impressive direction of the past season’ was given to Julian Hetzel and Ntando Cele for SPAfrica by Studio Julian Hetzel.

From the jury report: “SPAfrica is a performance where every theater discipline individually makes a great impression. Scenography, acting, music, structure, and dramaturgy clash and reinforce each other. The direction brings all these forces together in a sly and inescapable construction that slowly maneuvers the audience into a hilarious yet highly ambiguous chokehold.

SPAfrica provokes and becomes increasingly bold. As an audience member, you experience a whirlpool of deeply ambivalent feelings and emotions. While you initially chuckle, safely, from a distance, you gradually become less able to escape the impression that this refined play is about you. Increasingly pressing, supported by pounding beats, the moral discomfort shoots through your mind and body.

It becomes strikingly clear how old imperialistic and racist systems continue to operate in our time. How entangled our ethical thinking and economic interests are. We are confronted with the uncomfortable realization that good intentions and empathy are part of the problem.”