The whole box of tricks including the ‘Matthijs moment’ opens in Paul de Leeuw’s successful narrative performance | Theatrical reviews

The stool behind the grand piano on stage remains empty. Five pianists have accompanied Paul de Leeuw to theaters and television studios over the past decades and now no longer want to tour with him. De Leeuw, gesturing heavily on stage as usual: ,,Because I’m too present, too demanding, too dominant. I’m too much, way too much, I’ve heard that all my life.”

Then explain the performance 60? We will see silence for a moment, so that the audience can peek at the phones and he himself can relax. There was a need, concludes De Leeuw, after his ‘Matthijs moment’.

Here De Leeuw shows himself the cabaret craftsman he has been for half a life. Full of self-irony, with a great nod to current events, full of surprises: obviously he has the whole box of tricks and in this wonderful performance he opens it completely. There are some classics in his repertoire: a teaspoon of Bob de Rooij in a sketch over a cup of coffee with Rita Corita, a touch of Annie de Rooij in a hilarious impersonation of the SBS hit Long live love.

But most of all 60? Who will see a captivating story. Especially about his father Henk, who disappeared two years ago. But also on love, for man and for children. Along with his self-proclaimed “Matthijs moment”, a sketch about how his teenage adopted children and their love conquests drove him into a frenzy a few years ago forms the highlight of the performance.

That’s right, seemingly out of nowhere, in that piece on parenting issues she quotes a wonderful line by poet and TV host Wim Brands, who died in 2016: “Walking means falling late.” of mayonnaise and singing his fresh cult hit Naked boys in the park.

In a performance by an immense human being like De Leeuw, more rigorous choices could only be made in directing. A scene about a breakdown in her relationship with her future husband leads through a holiday in Spain and the emotional legacy of her father to the image the Netherlands has of Sigrid Kaag and Angela de Jong. This is all going too far. She has heard it all her life, but at that moment De Leeuw is and wants just too much. Too much.