What do a Trumpian businessman from Little Rock, a shy boy from Iraq and the courtesan from the 16th century have in common?

​

For years, Katrien van Beurden (actress and artistic director of Theatre Hotel Courage) traveled the world with a bag of masks to take the raw Commedia dell'Arte out of context and breathe new life into it. She rediscovered the raw Commedia about which there is so much misunderstanding: What the F is Commedia dell'Arte? Where in the Netherlands only the jokes and gags remained, few people know how the raw Commedia performers enchanted audiences in times of extremes and literally played on life and death. The Commedia where women showed their bosoms to draw audiences to then tell of their dreams, loneliness and ambitions in life.

​

On this evening, Theatre Hotel Courage's international troupe shares their passion and stories about the theater form on which their self-developed play style is based: the raucous Commedia dell'Arte. In virtuoso fashion, they share stories of players and people from worlds where those same times of extremes have never disappeared, but rather are in revival. This evening will be enriched by a special guest from West Africa, the live musicians will turn everything upside down musically and the players will improvise in their own unique - to life and death - style. It promises to be a virtuoso and poetic madness, where the ingenuity of survival in our world and on the playing floor is the connecting theme.