February 29, 2020

The Letter for the King gets the Netflix treatment

Filed under: Dutch first,Literature,Shows by Branko Collin @ 1:59 pm

On 20 March 2020, Netflix will start running its mini-series The Letter for the King based on the 1962 children’s book of the same name by Tonke Dragt.

Set in the middle ages, knight-in-training Tiuri is tasked by a stranger to deliver a letter to the king and save the world in the process. The adventure spans six episodes. Dragt wrote a sequel to her book, The Secrets of the Wild Wood, so who knows? If this series does well, they might commission another.

According to an interview with Dragt in Trouw last year, this is the first Dutch book that is being turned into an international series by Netflix. Dragt, now 89:

I immediately said no to a couple of [changes Netflix had planned]. No torture! They wanted to remove shield-bearer Piak from the story but I said: Piak stays. And they wanted to make Tiuri’s background more interesting, but I was against that—he is a regular boy. Children must be able to think: that could happen to me. Will I keep the promise [to deliver the letter]?

I had never heard of [Netflix]. So now I need to stay alive for a little while longer, until I have seen at least the first episode. Will it be good or disappointing? I will decide then if I will watch more of it.

Dragt’s stories often revolve around dualities, about finding that crack in the middle to slip through. Tiuri gets the tough choice: do I follow the formal steps that will get me knighted or do I throw that all away so that I can behave knightly?

In De Zevensprong, a so-called seven-way junction is the starting point for a mystery: there are only six roads. The book plays with the notion that a fork in the road is where a single road splits in two—or are they three roads meeting? The duality must be resolved to find the key to the mystery.

And Dragt’s The Towers of February posits that today, Leap Day, is the only time you can slip between realities.

See also: The Dutch like Dutch children’s literature the best

(Illustration: Netflix)

Tags: , , ,

April 7, 2019

Soldier of Orange set to make the London stage

Filed under: History,Shows by Orangemaster @ 4:54 pm

The Netherlands’ longest running musical, Soldaat van Oranje, known as Soldier of Orange in English, a Dutch musical based on the true story of resistance hero Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, is going to make it to the London stage in 2020.

A few days ago after the announcement, producer Fred Boot said it’s a dream come true. The production has been adapted ever so slightly, but the goal is to have the London crowd love it the same way the Dutch do. The story is not too Dutch, which is code for an international audience can enjoy it without knowing too much about the Netherlands – it is a universal story. As of 25 February, some 2,8 million people in this country have seen the musical.

In the 1970s, Hazelhoff Roelfzema wrote about his experiences in World War II in a book and Dutch director of Hollywood fame Paul Verhoeven made it into a feature film, starring actor Rutger Hauer.

(Links: nu.nl, rtlboulevard.nl, Photo of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema by Willem van de Poll, some rights reserved)

Tags: , , , , ,

November 22, 2018

Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach on Seth Meyers in US

Filed under: General,Shows by Orangemaster @ 11:36 am

windmill-leiden-branko-collin

Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach, known for his comedy show Zondag met Lubach (‘Sunday with Lubach’), was a guest on the Seth Meyers show in New York City last night.

In a good game of Zoek de Nederlander (‘Find the Dutch person’), Lubach has been getting more and more international attention with his punchy, satirical videos, which are very much compatible with American-style humour, such as the ‘American First, Netherlands Second’ video, voiced by Amsterdam-based American-Dutch comedian Greg Shapiro, who in turn did the rounds himself on Dutch talk shows after the video went viral back in January 2017. Oh, and Lubach also did that hilarious video about the NRA (Nonsencal Rifle Addiction).

Why Seth Meyers? Seth Meyers was based in Amsterdam at Boom Chicago back in the 1990s where Shapiro was also a regular. This also goes for Amber Ruffin, an American writer for Seth Meyers, a comedian in her own right and a Boom Chicago member at one point.

Name dropping aside, there’s no legal video to be shared about it yet, but Dutch news site nu.nl has a nice clip of it. I know how we all get excited when someone speaks Dutch on telly in the US.

(Link: parool.nl)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

March 6, 2017

Imagine Hitler on Dutch reality television

Filed under: General,Shows by Orangemaster @ 11:08 am

Facepalm

The website of popular Dutch reality television show Expeditie Robinson recently fell victim to a hacker with a sense of humour.

The hacker placed a picture of Adolf Hitler on the site as a potential candidate for a new season in which ordinary citizens can participate alongside celebrities. Television chain RTL was slow in noticing the ‘intruder’, not having noticed anyone hacking into their site or disgruntled employees.

When people clicked on Hitler, they could read the words ‘Sieg Heil’, which was in the process of collecting likes as a potential participant. Once social media starting talking about the incident, the media got wind of it. I’m not even going to check if the situation has been rectified, I had a good laugh and I’m thinking, it could happen again.

(Link: tubantia.nl, Photo of Paris Louvre facepalm by Phelan Riessen, some rights reserved)

Tags: , ,

December 19, 2016

Rapping Dutch puppets premiere in Amsterdam

Filed under: Music,Shows by Orangemaster @ 2:01 pm

Dutch rappers De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig from Amsterdam are part of a new show entitled ‘Watskeburt?! De Musical’ with muppet-like puppets of themselves, which frankly steal the show. The makers will give a special talk on the stage tonight at the preview showing at the Meervaart in Nieuw-West, while tomorrow’s premiere is already sold out. And the show will move downtown in 2017 at Amsterdam’s main musical venue, DeLaMar theatre.

The song ‘Watskeburt’ from 2005, one of the group’s better known hits and a Dutch party favourite, has been covered and parodied a lot since then. If only Weird Al Yankovic understood Dutch.

According to the Dutch music press, people feel like they are watching a show of De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig since the likeness of the songs and the voices are that good. It’s aimed at young people 18-30, and it is definitely not for kids, as it contains all the strong language, sex, drugs and violence that you need for good Dutch rap music along with their usual dose of humour.

The video of the song ‘Pikante’ is set in Amsterdam’s Kesbeke pickled condiments factory and has that pseudo latin flavour some of their songs have as of late.

(Link: meervaart.nl)

Tags: ,

July 5, 2015

Royal Academy of Art graduation exhibit 2015

Filed under: Art,Shows by Branko Collin @ 11:54 pm

kabk-graduation-2015-01

Friday I went to the graduation show of the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, and today I visited its counterpart in The Hague.

Bachelor and Master students in 10 disciplines displayed their works.

Check a large photo review of the show on our Flickr account. Art blog Trendbeheer also went to The Hague and published their report. (Check out their reports of other Dutch art academies too.)

The Graduation Festival 2015 can be visited until Thursday.

kabk-graduation-2015-02

Roos van de Kieft, Embody.

kabk-graduation-2015-03

Liza Pace, Going Solo.

kabk-graduation-2015-04

Marlies van Stolk’s “Tacky Couture”.

Top image: Amal Habti, Building Bridges. You can cross this bridge, but only with the cooperation of ‘the other’.

Tags: , , ,

February 20, 2015

British show mistakes Dutch for German

Filed under: Music,Shows by Orangemaster @ 11:27 am

2871439721_e5320cee6d1

Last week on British television show Room 101 Dr Christian Janssen Jessen claimed to hate German pop music, which he can get away with because his father is German. “It’s sung by what mainly look like, sort of middle aged men having a massive mid-life crisis,” he explained. Host Frank Skinner managed to sing the praises of this happy and silly music, calling it ‘Europop’, as if the UK wasn’t part of Europe, adding that maybe Brits take music “too seriously”.

However, of all the German music they could have played to illustrate his point, ignorant researchers used Dutch music, which was easy to recognise by the language and the Dutch television logo when they played the clip. Janssen and the other guests didn’t even bat an eyelid when hearing something that was not German, although Janssen later claimed on Twitter that he hadn’t chosen the music. He did, whoever, keep quiet, entertaining the idea that it was German. Connect Four host Victoria Coren, who should have known better as well, also stayed very quiet.

The Dutch carnival song ‘Bam Bam (Bam)’ by Snollebollekes, which read out in English sounds like ‘Snol Bollocks’ and could be a reason for having chosen it is for adults only on YouTube. The part they played on telly is basically about ass shaking and shagging.

British television show Room 101, season 4 episode 6 aired on 13 February. The German pop music rant about Dutch music starts at 26:26, while the music kicks in at 28:03.

Tags: , , ,

February 9, 2015

Dutch Americans sought for dating show

Filed under: Shows by Orangemaster @ 4:27 pm

This is a great ‘Zoek de Nederlander’, or ‘Search for the Dutchie:

Are you of Dutch origin, single (21-45) and looking for true love? Have you been raised abroad with (a bit of) Dutch blood in your system? Let one of the biggest TV channels in The Netherlands help you find love. Dutch TV network (Blue Circle) is looking for singles from the USA of Dutch origin who want to take part of a new heartwarming television show about Dutch love.

Apply on Blue Circle’s website. It’s probably for straight people and we’ll wave at you if you make it on television.

(Link: www.dutchdailynews.com, Photo of the first Philips colour TV from 1964 by Philips, used with permission)

Tags: , ,

July 4, 2014

Rietveld School of Art & Design graduation 2014

Filed under: Art,Design,Photography,Religion,Shows by Branko Collin @ 1:00 pm

rietveld-dog

The students graduating from Amsterdam’s Rietveld School of Art & Design (in Dutch, Gerrit Rietveld Academie) will be exhibiting their graduation projects until Sunday 6 July 2014.

24 Oranges was invited to come and take a peek.

rietveld-2014-casper-koster

rietveld-2014-casper-koster-2Some of the works, such as the dog above, were displayed without any explanation of what the student was trying to say—probably not necessary with a Disney-like creature anyway—or even the name of the maker. (There were sticky notes carrying the name Tim Maarse near this sculpture, but it wasn’t quire clear if the sticky notes referred to the sculpture or were a work unto themselves).

Other artists, such as photographer Casper Koster, left extensive documentation behind for visitors to peruse and take home. His series ‘Coulissen’ portrays actors as they are waiting in the wings of a stage for their next scene.

Setareh Magshoudi made a mobile mosque of paper: “From my own experience arose the need to create a space for my daily prayers, a temporary space which would provide private space and at the same time a sacred sense.”

setareh-maghsoudi

Jessie Hoefnagel was knitting something big. Unfortunately, her seat was in a warm spot because of the sun, so by the time I got there all I found was a note saying “not here until it gets bearable”.

rietveld-knitting

When I had finished walking around, three hours had passed and my feet were sore. Where did the time go?

I will post some more photos to Flickr when I get the chance (and will hopefully be able to add more names of the artists at the same time). Meanwhile, check out the exhibit in person if you have the chance or visit Trendbeheer, as Jeroen Bosch took a load of pictures.

Tags: ,

January 25, 2014

Win two tickets to the Greg Shapiro & Tom Rhodes show

Filed under: Shows by Branko Collin @ 7:36 am

greg-shapiro-presents-tom-rhodesThis week American stand-up comedians Greg Shapiro and Tom Rhodes are touring the Netherlands and if you are quick, you can win tickets!

24 Oranges is giving away two tickets to one lucky winner for the show on Thursday 30 January at Schiller Theater in Utrecht.

You can enter by sending an e-mail to submissions (at) 24oranges.nl in which you tell us the title of Greg Shapiro’s latest & greatest book. Your entry needs to be in before Tuesday 28 January.

This week Shapiro & Rhodes will be performing in Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Enschede, The Hague and Utrecht. In 2002 and 2003 Tom Rhodes hosted a talk show on Dutch television called Kevin Masters, and he lived in the Netherlands for five years. Greg Shapiro has been working for the Boom Chicago comedy group in Amsterdam since 1994 and calls himself The American Netherlander.

Tags: , , ,