Saturday, November 9 & Sunday, November 10, 2024

THEATER GROUP WAARK: ‘HAALFMAAL OR THE POWER OF THE FOOL’

Theater group WAARK is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a festive jubilee tour!

‘HAALFMAAL or the power of the fool’ is a cheerful musical theater performance about Groningen legends and folklore. Writer Jan Veldman is inspired by the legendary play Mistero Buffo (Comic Mystery) by the Italian writer and director Dario Fo. A performance in Groningen dialect featuring actors, musicians, and songs by Bert Hadders, Harry Niehof, Wannes van de Velde, and others.

Under the direction of Ben Smit, stories of remarkable figures come to life—stories that are significant and surprisingly relevant. With cheerful live music, the celebration is complete. WAARK shows and tells how the Groningen mentality survives through music, optimism, humor, and a down-to-earth kind of resilience.

The Story

In ‘HAALFMAAL or the power of the fool,’ you meet the archetypal Groninger, Haalfmaal. He is brought into this world but is given no name. So what do you do? Who are you without a name? Are you someone to be taken seriously, or are you a fool?

Haalfmaal goes on a quest, traveling through Groningen's history and finding himself in the strangest and most exciting situations. During his joyful search, he learns the craziest things, like how gas ended up in the ground and what the devil had to do with it. Haalfmaal turns out to have special gifts; he can offer people help, even perform small miracles, but it doesn't earn him a name.

He encounters remarkable figures like Haarm Braandwiend, Knelske, and Lammert the Gas Man. Each tells him a story, but they cannot give him a name. For a moment, Haalfmaal even thinks that Death has a name for him. But a name should be given out of love, right?

‘My name will be given to me by love. But where can I find my love?’

Will Haalfmaal succeed in finding his name and himself? And what do the situations and people he encounters have to tell us? Follow Haalfmaal on his journey through Groningen folklore and rediscover the joy of existence. A performance that will make you (almost) die laughing.

More info at waark.nl

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Start: 20:00

Admission: €16.00

Ticket sales: Kielzog

Sunday, November 10, 2024

Start: 15:00

Admission: €16.00

Ticket sales: Kielzog