Theatre groups

The Elephant Brigade (2007)
established after the success of Man is Man by Bertolt Brecht, with students of the Drama Department of the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University. With this production director Paul Binnerts and the group of young actors made their professional debut in New York at HERE, Centre of the Arts.
Southern Comfort (1985-2014)
A production unit with Paul Binnerts as its artistic director. The group was founded in Maastricht with its first production, The Map of the World by David Hare. After that the group established itself in Amsterdam. With an always changing ensemble of actors the group created a series of performances: Forbidden Reproduction, März, Kassandra, The Tigress. Black Box and Mephisto were co-produced with Theaterbureau Hummelinck Stuurman
Schlicksupp teatertrupp (1979-1985)
originated from the forced closing of the famous Theater am Turm in Frankfurt am Main. Eight actors decided to go on independently, with Paul Binnerts as their director. The group was one of the first professional so-called ‘free’ theater groups in Germany. Frankfurt, at that time, was the centre of the alternative movement. The Sogenanntes Linksradikales Blasorchester (So-called Radical Left Wind Orchestra) led by Heiner Goebbels was a household name of the movement, and Schlicksupp enjoyed the support of a big audience. The composers for their performances came from this orchestra. In the six years of her existence Schlicksupp became famous with performances like Der Brotladen/The Breadshop, Drei Frauen/Three Women, and Flametti. These performances toured in and outside the country, and were invited to international festivals. Schlicksupp is still a well-known name among the generation that grew up at that time. The group worked as a unique collective, and developed a special method of creating plays through improvisation. For their productions they used material - dramatic, literary, and documentary - rather than just the text of existing plays.

Other theater groups/producers Paul Binnerts has been affiliated with are:

  • De Nieuwe Komedie in The Hague, The Netherlands
  • Theater am Turm (TAT) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
  • Het Vervolg in Maastricht, The Netherlands
  • InDependance in Arnhem, The Netherlands
  • Theater van het Oosten in Arnhem, The Netherlands
  • Neues Theater in Halle (Saale), Germany
  • Hummelinck Stuurman Producties in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Latest news and upcoming events

New Books!

  • Het Leugenlabyrint (Eng. Labyrinth of Lies), a novel, Prometheus, Amsterdam, 2021.

A MOVING AND UNUSUAL WAR NOVEL ABOUT ORDINARY JEWISH PEOPLE AND THEIR IMPOSSIBLE CHOICES.

‘The Hague, May 9th 1940. Bert Meijer van Leer becomes the proud owner of a German motorbike. Little does he know that the motorbike, a Zündapp, will save his life and cause his downfall. On May 10th the German army invades Holland. On that day Emmeke, Bert’s sister, celebrates her birthday. Emmeke and Bert are Jewish, but not practicing. Bert has been baptized and marries Lien who is Protestant. Emmeke is married to Joost, who isn’t Jewish either and anti-religious out of principle. Ingredients for a fatal chain of events.

Their ‘mixed marriages’ can’t protect them against the measures the Germans take against the Jews: excluding them from the society they live in through registration and public humiliation by forcing them to wear the Star of David; and, if they don’t comply, arrest, imprisonment, and deportation to a concentration camp.

In Labyrinth of Lies author Paul Binnerts witnesses how the Germans slowly tighten the screws. His characters are facing decisions, of which only afterwards can be said they were the wrong decisions. The only thing he can do is keeping them company.’

www.uitgeverijprometheus.nl
www.bol.com

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