Cleo & Lex: music theatre tour of 40 northern living rooms

From Harlingen to Haren, from Nieuw Amsterdam to Oude Bildtzijl: starting in January 2016, theatre company Blau Hynder is touring 40 living rooms in Friesland, Groningen, and Drenthe. They are doing this with Cleo & Lex: a musical tragicomedy confined to a small space. The premiere takes place this coming Saturday in Leeuwarden.

Afterwards, the tour continues past, among others:

Friesland
Arum, Drachten, Ferwert, Goutum, Harlingen, Heerenveen, Leeuwarden, Oldeberkoop, Oude Bildtzijl, Tytsjerk, Veenklooster, Waekens, IJlst.

Groningen
Groningen City, Haren, Kloosterburen, Niehove, Stitswerd, Wehe den Hoorn, Zeerijp.

Drenthe
Emmen, Nieuw-Amsterdam, Paterswolde, Peize, Schoonebeek.

Anne Zwaga, Artistic Director: ‘We know the living room as a setting for concerts or poetry: but we hadn't yet seen a music theatre tour for the home. For Blau Hynder, this is a wonderful challenge: a mobile performance that takes theatre to locations it would otherwise never visit. A performance that guarantees a unique experience. As an audience member, you are literally and figuratively right in the middle of the performance. You take in every sound, every word, every movement. And all this with your own seating area, or that of neighbours or friends, as the backdrop.’

Cleo & Lex
This idea formed the prelude to the musical drama Cleo & Lex. A story about the down-on-her-luck superstar Cleo (Julia van de Graaff) who ends up at the home of her biggest fan, Lex (Anne Zwaga). She allows herself to be persuaded to fulfill his greatest wish: to give an intimate home concert together for invited guests. On the night itself, Cleo backs out. Lex tries everything to persuade her to come anyway. After all, the audience is already inside. Both protagonists act, fight, sing, and make music. To the sounds of jazz, pop, and modern music, they lose themselves in melancholy, self-pity, and adoration. But as the evening progresses, Cleo remains adamant…

Want to know more about this performance? Attend the premiere?
Helen Zandt, Production Manager
T 06 – 46 96 74 84
E blauhynder@xs4all.nl

See also:
www.blauhynder.nl
www.facebook.com/cleoenlex

About Blau Hynder
Stichting Blau Hynder was founded in 2002 to promote music theatre culture in the (Northern) Netherlands. The theatre group has a core group of musicians and also works with various writers, actors, and directors. Blau Hynder aims to create a production every two years that combines music and theatre in an organic way. The group gained national recognition with the absurdist rural thriller Hurt like Hell (2008) and the pop drama Ghost Track (2014). Cleo & Lex is the newest addition to the group. The production swaps the large theatre for the intimacy of the living room. Text and performance are by Julia van de Graaff (Zeeuwse Vrouwen and Restaurant Amore) and Anne Zwaga (Hurt like Hell and Ghost Track), texts by Simon Weeda (Ik vertel het graag zo and Nobody Home), and direction by Dick Hauser (including Hauser Orkater).

Biography of Anne Zwaga
Anne graduated from the Prins Claus Conservatorium in Groningen. He is a versatile musician who has played with various well-known Dutch artists. Additionally, he is the founder of Saxion Five, a finalist in The Jazz Competition at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2000. As artistic director of Blau Hynder, he is responsible for music theatre productions such as Funk me Up and Hurt like Hell. The latter production was one of the successful shows at the Oerol Festival in 2009. With poet Tsjêbbe Hettinga, he created the poetic music performance Do bist in Rome no. In 2014, the music theatre production Ghost Track, featuring Hein van der Heijden among others, toured theaters throughout the Netherlands.
Biography of Julia van de Graaff
Julia graduated from the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts and subsequently took classes at the drama school in Krakow. She has performed with, among others, Het Nationale Toneel, Theater van het Oosten, Theaterhuis Alba, Mighty Society (2 and 3), Golden Palace (including ‘Restaurant Amore’), Bonte Hond, and in the successful ‘Zeeuwse Vrouwen’ by Productiehuis Zeelandia.
In 2007, she created her first solo production, ‘Deathkit’, based on the novel by Susan Sontag. In 2009, she performed in Polish in ‘De Kantine’ by Polly Maggoo (text based on interviews with former Solidaridad activists), on location in the shipyards of Gdansk. For television, she played guest roles in ‘Boks’, ‘Keizer & de Boer’, ‘Spanga’s’, ‘Zestien Miljoen Rechters’, and ‘Snuf de Hond’, among others. She also had a recurring role as Nadja in the Frisian legal drama series ‘Dankert & Dankert’ by Steven de Jong.