The Surpriseshow
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Sat 20 Mar '2720:30On location: Pand P - Great Hall (Leenderweg 65)
Tickets Normal € 21,50
The Surprise Show tells the poignant story of a child growing up amid uncertainty and hope. The play explores the deep longing for change, the impact of waiting, and the confrontation with a harsh reality, where fantasy and reality collide. A personal yet universal story about the search for a future in an uncertain world.
In 1994, as a young girl, Nazanin fled Iran for the Netherlands and ended up at the Kollum Asylum Seekers’ Center. Her biggest dream? To appear on The Surprise Show. Every day she practiced her lip-syncing skills in front of the mirror, convinced that Henny Huisman would call. At the asylum center, she befriended Maya Bradarić and was spat on following the murder of Marianne Vaatstra. She waited for certainty, for her papers, and for an invitation.
Years later, Nazanin Taheri is on play herself, with a degree in acting, a thriving career in television and theater, and finally one step closer to Henny Huisman.
A personal, raw, moving, and hilarious solo performance. About dreams that remained tucked away for years, filled with childhood memories of blossoming friendships in the waiting rooms of a system that referred people but never answered. About the question of what endless waiting does to a child? And about how theater is sometimes the only place where the girl who saw it all is finally seen.
- Excluding consumption
About Nazanin Taheri
Nazanin Taheri (Iran, 1987) fled to the Netherlands as a child and grew up at the Kollum Asylum Seekers’ Center. That experience forms the core of her work as a theater artist. She studied “ af ” at a Dutch theater academy and has built a versatile career in theater and television. On play, she has performed in productions such as *Laagland* (Erik de Vroedt) and *De Oresteia* (Theu Boermans) at Het Nationale Theater, as well as in productions by De Toneelmakerij and Theatergroep Suburbia. On TV, she appeared in *Bennie* (Videoland), *De Ballonvaarder* (Disney+), and in the series *Rust en Vreugd* (Omroep Max).
In 2015, she founded Theatergroep IND — In Nederland Dromen — through which she creates theater with young people from asylum-seeker centers. The Surprise Show isher first solo performance.
About TOBAL
With humor, music, and magical realism, TOBAL is committed to creating inclusive and accessible theater: a place where everyone can feel welcome, where there is room for both recognition and representation. TOBAL consciously focuses on telling stories about the people in our society. In this way, we ensure that our stories are rooted in the here and now. Because we believe that theater only truly has an impact when the audience recognizes themselves in it and, through it, recognizes others. Ultimately, it all starts with daring.
About Via Rudolphi Productions
Via Rudolphi Productions is a theater company that works with independent, performing artists. From top-tier recent graduates to seasoned professionals who have seen the world. Artists with a mission: they tell their own stories—stories that haven’t past event told enough—and strive to shed new light on them. Our productions are relatable, engaging, thought-provoking, empowering, confrontational, sometimes uncomfortable, quasi-realistic, with a touch of tragedy and plenty of humor.
Credits
Text, concept, and performance by Nazanin Taheri; Directed by Esther Scheldwacht; Lighting design by Julian Maiwald; Set design by Maze de Boer; Co-produced by Via Rudolphi Productions and TOBAL; Co-produced by Via Rudolphi Productions and TOBAL
