Bloom, which literally means to blossom, is what Marein Plu, Fefen Stanlos and Ellis van der Velden want to bring out in the user. This mechanism that derives from a flower symbolises blooming. Each flower makes its own unique sound that together forms an orchestra. This brings people together to make music and thus to bloom.

Two garbage collectors fill their truck to the brim. Press the button, done! That is how adults and children end up in the belly of a garbage truck. But voices are heard within. De Volle Vuilkar is an amazing expedition by Schippers&VanGucht, who are renowned for their play with time, generations and the concept of shelf life.

-PREMIERE-

Antifragile Body is an installation/performance that investigates the influence social media and digital communication have on us. Welcome to the pink Blockbox!

With a ticket you can visit the exhibition at any time of the day.
Free entrance between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

There was no lack of sex and adventure. Still, Bill and Fred [Elysia Mc Mullen and Luisa Schmitz] are done with it. Because every nice encounter with a man ends in disappointment as soon as his true character comes out. In dance performance The Grannies they crave a hero.

- DUTCH PREMIERE -

You step into a glass container. Twilight. Meet the eyes of the person who is sitting across from you. A comforting performance about heavy thoughts and silent communication.

Talk show maker Oscar Kocken [1983] and writer Lucas de Waard [1984] explore loneliness. Dark comical storytelling theatre, partly autobiographical.

A life-size pink box tempts you to go out and explore. Because ‘out of the box’ proves to have a different meaning for everyone. Intriguing dance!

A fascinating installation that interweaves spoken word, images, audio, video and specially composed music.

Kick off Theatre Festival Boulevard 2022 with the opening of the festival on the Park stage. Besides a welcome speech by directors Dana Kibbelaar and Tessa Smeulers, there will be acts by musical duo King Sisters and circus performer Luuk Brantjes. See you then and there!

In circus performance LONE, the acclaimed artist Luuk Brantjes explores the thin line between being alone and lonely. With spectacular arts on and around a teeterboard – 'launch board' – he reminds himself and the audience of the joy, beauty and tranquility of being alone.

Every day at 4 p.m. Vincent Wijlhuizen or Jowi Schmitz lead a lively conversation in the Dom about a current topic. Each time, two guests sit at the table: a theater or dance maker of Boulevard 2022 and an external expert. These experts will be announced here at a later date. 

I, Phone is a moving portrait of contemporary man in relation to the smartphone. The multitasking of scrolling, apping, taking a screenshot, swiping, etc., accumulates into a virtuoso movement performance. An analogue body surfs through time and space on a non-stop wave of information. Gradually, man and technology merge and a portrait of homo cellularis emerges.

Was my father a hero or a traitor? In the moving musical theatre solo Borboletas, Gery Mendes [1984, Cape Verde] butterflies along possible answers.

The Netherlands is up for it: a rage stage for seething music theatre! Because anger fans the flames of vigor and it is the engine for change, Karlijn Hamer proves.

- PREMIERE -

Ten festival visitors dine together. With the use of [drinking] games and thinking exercises, the duo Radicale Gezelligheid guarantees a unique conversation about death and transience.

A hilarious mini-operetta by Sarah Moeremans [1979], full of bossy ladies-in-waiting, heated encounters and dancing wigs. Especially for redheads!

For this light choreography by Ryan Rademakers, Atelier Sens finds inspiration in pranayama, the control of breathing in yoga. An oxygen-rich co-production with Dukebox, urban platform Den Bosch. Dancers: Tosca, Shaquille George & Kya.

- PREMIERE -

CANCELLED Some relationships are toxic, yet addictive. Choreographer Donna Chittick created the hip-hop dance performance Bond, about holding on to what’s bad for you.

He is on the brink of collapse. A little comfort, that's all he wants. Too much asked? In the performance disCART, dancer Raphaël Albanese tries to break out of a vicious circle. But what do you see? A man or a breathing shopping cart? Choreography: Kelly Vanneste.

- PREMIERE -

Many phenomena have a second, third or even higher plurality: Second Life, Third Eye, Four Tops, Five Guys. But The Dating Project: First Date is unsurpassed in its adventurousness. The original!

Choreographer Joseph Toonga works at the international forefront of hip-hop. Born To Exist is the final piece of a triptych about ingrained prejudice towards ethnic minorities. Inspired by the stories of female immigrants in the UK and experiences of the three female dancers. Toonga’s style is clear, touching and activistic.

The best spoken word artists from the Netherlands and Belgium will tell you what it's all about on Boulevard 2022. Finally, clarity!

A musical joke in 2017 grew into this Thai Psych Funk band, which has performed mind-blowing live shows at Lowlands, among other places. Siam funk, disco, electronica and world music!

Are there places where the outside world can coincide with the inside world? Without earplugs or a sleeping mask? Yes, performer and theatre maker Salomé Mooij [1990] knows they exist. 

Zinnig Zuiden is a young event by Dukebox, the urban house of Den Bosch that is located on the Tramkade. On Boulevard they go wild in a mix of spoken word and dance. The dancers improvise on the sounds and letters provided by the word performers.

They are the last three lighthouse keepers in the world. Does only the sea still love them? A tragicomic youth theatre performance about light in the dark.

Huh, what's that? That's an octahedron. In ARK, an investigation into balance, two dancers [Carlo Camagni & Tommy Pham] each set the octahedron in motion in their own way. Inquisitive, playful, flowing, but also rough and risky – with influences from freerunning.

Seven dancers convincingly prove how shame and discomfort are deeply rooted in society and in our daily lives. In all areas: from living situation or appearance to money worries and sexual orientation. Onbedoeld verberg ik [2.0] exposes embarrassment.

In the circus and dance performance EXIT, four men test an impressive installation. They defy walls, floating doors and luring depth. Maker is choreographer Piet Van Dycke [1996]. In 2019 and 2020, reviewers of the Theaterkrant and Volkskrant named him ‘most promising maker.’ EXIT is a mix of movement, acrobatics and balancing art.

Antifragile Body is an installation/performance that investigates the influence social media and digital communication have on us. Welcome to the pink Blockbox!

Two men fool around with each other. Or are they up to something? The only certainty: they rely on the strength of their relationship. It's not boring. On the contrary: a real rollercoaster, with its ups and downs. Even literally, courtesy of the perch [google and shudder].

Dark rooms and gay bars have been driven out of the relative safety of city centers. With the living installation The NarcoSexuals, theatre maker Dries Verhoeven puts gay men in the spotlight who – in anonymous living rooms – surrender to sexual drug use. Not without risk, but they take care of each other. Does ‘society’ allow them to put their lives on the line?

In Rebuilding a Voice, three sisters make themselves heard at the exciting crossroads of concert and performance. They draw inspiration from contemporary genres, from classical music to jazz and pop.

In the theatre performance Infinity Chan, a woman seeks security in the darkest cellars of the internet. Certainly, a strong stomach helps. But how strong should the mind be? Theatre maker Eva Line de Boer [1988] logs on to an uncanny world inspired by anime – Japanese animation art.

In what ways do we submit physically, psychologically, sexually and socially? And how do we take the lead? An intriguing and exciting performance by Ira Brand [GB, 1983].

Shishani [1988] was born in Windhoek. What's in a name: she sings from rustling softly to beyond force eight, giving voice to unheard voices.

On 5 August 2022 from 20.30-23.00, Boulevard, together with Weener XL, is organising an evening on the practice of integration and solidarity. The programme consists of a performance by singer and songwriter Shishani and a screening of the film Step by Step.

Living on water and bread is doable. As long as you can listen to STRAF's party mix: polder polka and Balkan folk, with hints of Mano Negra and De Kift. A seven-piece band, passion squared.

Next year, it will be 150 years since slavery was officially abolished in Surinam and the Antilles. But until 1873, slavery was practised under state supervision. This year, Keti Koti (which means 'broken chains') was also celebrated and commemorated in 's-Hertogenbosch. For here too, the effects of the suffering caused by slavery are present. The foundation Wi Eygi Fasi, which is currently being set up, wants to enter into a dialogue to make people more aware of the slavery past and celebrate Caribbean culture and traditions. During Boulevard, the foundation will present itself and give an impetus to the 2023 programme.

This youth theatre company slings logic into the shredder and turns rusty rules into scrap metal. Suddenly nothing is what it seems. Beautiful, colorful and whimsical. 

In this cheerful ode to The Attempt, Zinzi and Evertjan persistently try to gain control over entangled limbs, entangled music cables and distorted guitar riffs. Quitting is no option!

The comical [break] dance performance ALTO takes you back to the beginning of this century, the time of pop punk, emo, nu-metal, wide pants, green locks and 'Fuck the system!' Five all-rounders celebrate their melancholy.

Tara is a duet in which the Indian dance forms kathak and bharatanatyam got a new jacket/sari. Choreographer Kalpana Raghuraman fused both dance with nostalgic melodies and energetic rock. Tara means star in Sanskrit. And it shines!

The feminine energy unleashed in a sensual total experience. Celebrate the body: Schweigman& and DOX celebrate the female body. In Eros, five women go in search of the power and pleasure of their sensuality. In a contemporary ritual, social taboos are ignored and womanhood is celebrated in all its facets.

New Cool Collective [NCC] plays its funky, vital and very danceable music in leading clubs and festivals. Ever since the band's inception in 1993, saxophonist Benjamin Herman has been in NCC's musical engine room. In recent years, the eight- and sometimes nineteen-headed band has had occasional marriages with the likes of Tony Allen, Mapacha Africa, Typhoon, Guus Meeuwis and Matt Bianco. YUNIKōN, Japanese for unicorn, refers to the title of their latest, critically acclaimed album from November 2021.

In the acrobatic dance performance RISE, two characters enter the public space. Their appearance is reminiscent of The Matrix movies. Slowly they explore their new territory, but also the question of what it is like to be human. Close Encouters of the Canadian Kind!

- DUTCH PREMIÈRE -

Five-member band from Bossche that is going to save the Netherlands: they generate sustainable energy. Influences: James Brown, Lenny Kravitz, Kool and the Gang, Wild Cherry and The Black Crowes.

There is a war in Europe. SPRING Festival, Theaterfestival Boulevard and Festival Cement invite you to join the urgent conversation about the role and obligations of art, artists and arts organizations in (international) communities that are inflicted by war. The latest Russian State aggression on Ukraine is a wake-up call and shows the direct importance of such conversation. The collaborating festivals initiate a possibility to meet in ways that go beyond talking. The goal is to connect and activate already existing networks on the short term, while taking the awareness of a long-term agenda into account.

Together with Roy Overdijk of breakdance/hip-hop crew The Ruggeds [world champions break dance], Simon Bus throws himself into the tenuously feverish and intense dance performance Febris.

Steffen Morrison grew up with the tunes, moves and grooves of James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and other soul souls from the fifties, sixties and seventies. But The Rolling Stones and Lou Reed did not hide in his music collection either. He was born in Suriname, lived in L.A., now lives in Amsterdam.

Dutch psychedelic rock-'n-roll with influences from desert blues, surf rock, 60's pop, hip hop, rumba and Indian raga. Very very danceable. Komodo, let's go!

Emotions run high in the humorous circus theatre performance BONJE. Three characters are wrapped up in a wrangle. Until they escape from themselves.

In the Zuiderpark, Juup Luijten [1992] challenges children and youngsters as well as adults to play dice. After your throw you may enter the giant board game Onvoorzien. Extravagant geese share the game with you. As you roll the dice, everyone finds their way. In goose step. Final destination? Discover it yourself. 

Male directors and men with leadership ambitions from the cultural sector come together to talk about their profession in combination with their manhood.  In this men's circle, they get to work with other men. During the workshop, they look at and question the self-evident aspects of being a male director. It is a safe place to share doubts and work together on male leadership in the year 2022.  

A theatre performance with perhaps the longest entrance ever. That is the aim of Flemish maker Elias De Bruyne. He’ll succeed, bookmakers think.

Busy busy busy? SPARE TIME WORK is a playful investigation into the blurring boundaries between work and leisure. Cheerful, absurdist and hilarious theatre, in which buren – the much- discussed collective of Belgian makers Melissa Mabesoone and Oshin Albrecht – have visual art,performance and musicals by their side.

Steffen Morrison grew up with the tunes, moves and grooves of James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and other soul souls from the fifties, sixties and seventies. But The Rolling Stones and Lou Reed did not hide in his music collection either. He was born in Suriname, lived in L.A., now lives in Amsterdam.

Every town has its Johnny: a small town hero. Man of great stories, heartbreaker, superhero. The four-piece Johnny's Adventures from Den Bosch follow in his footsteps. Pop, rock, blues.

Under the flag of Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten [FHK], hundreds of students follow vocational training. It is the Brabant cradle for directors, choreographers, actors, dancers, performers, musicians and teachers. Extra joy: for years Boulevard has been the place of choice for their graduation performances and encounters with the public.

Theatre Festival Boulevard has sustainability high on its agenda, across the board. We limit the flight movements of our programme team and we use a 'green printer' for communication tools. Also, a green battery provides by far the most power for the festival, replacing diesel generators.

De Metselarij is a learning network, a group of young programme makers and producers who meet monthly to share knowledge, meet and exchange. We are going on a MetselaReis, and may land in De Dom on Boulevard. Together with several guests, we will investigate the word 'polyphony' from the perspective of programme making. 

His upper body is bare, and so is his soul. In the musical theatre performance Able To Fuck Love, Gavin-Viano offers songs and musings about love and sex.

Before the audience’s eyes, a huge paper model of a sleeping city comes to life. Wordless, playful, absurdist and visual theatre.

A run-down holiday park-with- houses in Hoek van Holland will be shut down. Barry and Herman shed shared tears. A theatre performance about small happiness, big money and rebellion.

Theatre maker Cor Langerak fed a self-learning A.I. system numerous Dutch-language plays. Every day the computer coughs up a new text, which is performed on the spot.

From choirboy to superstar: Sylvester [1947-1988] was an American disco legend and LGBTQ activist. In Queen of Disco, he embodies the tempestuous rise, tragic fall and miraculous resurrection of disco music. Moving, over the top and unsuspectedly topical.

The music theatre performance Down the Rabbit Hole is the largest and most amazing diorama in the oeuvre of Fleming Benjamin Verdonck. A physical showdown with hundreds of ropes, nose flute solos, armpit sweat, screams, a pas-de-deux and screaming guitars. The result? Something between a balanced ballet of figures and a rock concert running wild.

Amsterdam singer-song rapper with jagged lyrics about NL, the world and 'doing normal'. Danceable beats. Influences: Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Noname. 500k streams on Spotify.

There are thousands of unwritten rules. Give birthday treats to your classmates, don’t jump the queue, say “Bless you!” when someone sneezes. But the two klutzes in the dance theatre performance DUMMIES are unaware of all those silent agreements. ‘Long live disruption!’ is the motto of collective dOFt from Leuven [BE].

Last summer, Festival Cement organised a work session on youth in cooperation with Boulevard. It was instructive and pleasant, and according to many it tasted like more. A year has passed and we have all gained new insights about young people and art & culture. This calls for a sequel!

Schippers&VanGucht believe that playing belongs to all ages and all bodies. Especially for Boulevard 2022, they developed SPEELVELD, a demarcated space on the festival site in the Zuiderpark where visitors are invited to play. The field contains soft objects that the players themselves can place and move. 

Five people gather at a funeral. Who or what died? A tragicomedy full of absurdities, inappropriate slapstick, physical antics and spastic crying fits.

Is playing football like dancing? Yes, says the Brazilian-Dutch choreographer Guilherme Miotto [1979]. For a few festival days he is going to work with young people in the Kruiskamp area. With the help of seven dancers, seven football players and two musicians. Location: a sports hall. After every rehearsal, audiences from the neighbourhood and elsewhere are welcome.

“Impossible,” everyone said. “A show orchestra cannot consist of just one person.” Ha ha, tell that to the people of Theater Artemis. Long live the seven-in-one orchestra!

In the performance Nothing Ontploffing, rapper Elmer [Merel Pauw] treats us to rock-hard hiphop tracks about delicate issues, such as obsessive infatuation and self-loathing.

-PREMIERE-

British theatre maker and choreographer Ben Duke likes to put classic novels on the chopping block. Next victim: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, a novel about flaming revolution, torching love and searing revenge. Duke goes the extra mile in this delightful mix of [English spoken] theatre, dance and live camera work. 

During the performance K.U.S. [Kinaesthetics of Union and Surrender] theatre makers Marijn Graven and Iris Carta offer a ritual sanctuary. For what? Reconciliation and more beautiful things.

Crisp electropop with a rock'n'roll vibe by singer/guitarist from Deventer. Addictive and danceable. Frequent 3FM guest, Stenders Egotip, supporting act of Anneke van Giersbergen.

On 8 March, it is International Women's Day. A day dedicated to combativeness and solidarity. Boulevard and MINOUX, want to breathe new life into this day in 's-Hertogenbosch. Who are the fighters, with whom are we in solidarity, and what are we fighting for? After a first exploration of wishes and possibilities, we will take further steps in this work session. Who will participate?

For seven days, Willy Kristus will be looking for materials in the Zuiderpark – with you and yours! – to build a meeting place. Long live the messianic instigator of this new movement!

Who was his Surinamese grandfather? Mathieu Wijdeven [1991] finds answers in an ingenious montage of performance, clippings, photographs, paintings and sound bites.

Few understand the art of healing. But language artist Lisette Ma Neza [1997] closes wounds with words. Your daughter heals wounds is a theatrical mix of poetry, music and dance. Lisette’s strong asset: pinkish, sooty and rebellious texts, in which fighting spirit and china-likepreciousness go hand in hand.

In Het Indisch Interieur, a pater familias tries to divide his inheritance among his children, grandchildren and supporters. A tough challenge. With light-heartedness, writer and theatre maker Tarenskeen investigates how the war history in the former Dutch East Indies still resonates in The Netherlands.

In the sea, Tursiops truncatus [dolphin] reaches an average age of twenty years. On springy, beer-soaked stages much older. For thirty years, De Dolfijntjes have been the terror of every tent rental company and contents insurance company. Like crazy shamans, they play a gritty mix of rock & roll, funk, punk, smartlap, noise, polka, disco, jazz and blues. The singing accordionists/actors Wim Opbrouck and Wim Willaert are flanked by the fuzzy horn duo Fernandez and De Maeseneer and rock icon Serge Feys, former keyboard player of TC Matic - the connoisseur knows enough. Boulevard is welcoming this musical juggernaut for the fourth time since 1997. And with good reason.

FOMO FATALE – A-LIVE is a club night in which acts and bands play their sets without interruption. At last, another chance to lose yourself in instrumental electro energy! A night full of drums, keys, psychedelic beats and groovy baselines. Location: Bossche Brouwers, n the Tramkade behind the Verkadefabriek.

Energetic ten-man band. Goes loose on pop, dance, house and hiphop. Trumpets [4!], trombones, tenor and baritone sax, sousaphone, drums. A success at Liberation Festival and Paaspop.

In the alphabet of love, the Q often comes last. But not in the performance Countersex Education, a humorous cabaretlike mix of TED-talk, workshop and performance.

Ready to discover the talent of today - and tomorrow? The winners of Kunstbende (13-18 years) can be found at festivals in North-Brabant throughout the summer. Get ready for a varied programme of music and spoken word from the latest generation of makers from Noord-Brabant and the rest of the Netherlands. 

A digital system that you have to obey. Are you up to that live challenge? Performer Courtney May Robertson [1992] is. A performance about autonomy, submission and counterplay.

During BALLROOM BOULEVARD, dragwalks, battles, disco balls, poetry slam and vogue conquer the festival. TREK IETS LEUKS UIT celebrates on stage, but also in the auditorium.

In may 2021 we began a creative research together with Elmer Kouwenberg, a visual artist, whose body had been paralyzed due to a car accident 28 years ago.
As artists and care-workers we took our practices into this physical research to explore movement, from and with limitations.

Amsterdam's Sophie Straat sings wildly beautiful songs about current themes, such as housing shortage, sexism and racism. Sharp and quirky. Winner Edison 2021 Best Album.

Where do you end up when you dig a hole to the other side of the world? In this musical theatre performance, Lev goes on a research trip. He discovers another digger.

The cosiest café on the Zuiderpark festival site, with a barmanager who speaks sign language fluently! This afternoon, various tent performances are accessible to people with a hearing impairment. Some performances have a sign language interpreter and a written language interpreter present, who are also there between the performances.

Birds is an acclaimed choreography by the Brussels company Ultima Vez, in which nineteen performers and musicians interrupt the course of things in the public space. This creates interaction between performers and the audience. The source of inspiration is the legendary art film Der Lauf der Dinge. Choreography by Seppe Baeyens [1981].

Ski poles ready, a big shot of tea with rum and ready for the white track! Skiing Odyssey by The Trick Brothers from the Czech Republic is street theater in which two skiers encounter objects during their descent, but above all themselves and each other. Long live the black run of self-mockery!

What is it like growing up with different 'labels'? Without going crazy? Theater maker Soula Notos, member of Comedyhuis Utrecht, plays a piece from her strong story solo Wie ben je als niemand kijkt?, in which self-mockery and society meet.

Oyun is the Turkish word for game. High game, shows the Spanish juggler Federico Menini. In his universe of pots, pans and kitchen tools, he defies gravity. A show full of innovative juggling, humor and rhythm.

From shrinkage comes cramp, cry conservative economists. But Club Gewalt takes a broader view. In her performance Mini Miss Miraculous, shrinkage is salvation.

Club night FOMO FATALE – DECKSTRO looks for the edges. The raw edges, the shiny edges and those of the BPMs: with a scorching hot trip mix of funk, dancehall, trance, electro, pop and rave-minded mythical creatures. A night with, among other things, The Netherlands’ most vicious vinyl veteran. Location: Bossche Brouwers, on the Tramkade behind the Verkadefabriek.

Contemporary version of Ethiopian 60's & 70's funk. Eight-piece. Saxophones, soulful vocals, groovy rhythms. The dancefloor of Addis Ababa is yours!

Elten Kiene, co-founder of the platform Woorden worden zinnen, is spoken word artist. He speaksnbsp;about daring to dream and showing yourself. About finding each other in stories that do not split but connect. A musical performance with a central position for the word.

For the first time in its thirty-two year existence, Theatre Artemis is venturing into dance. A perilous undertaking?

Abrasive power pop with influences from alt-pop and unpolished indie. No nonsense and catchy. Influences: The Vaccines, Blur, The Strokes. Four men strong.