[DIS]CONNECTED (2025)
Featuring three (dis)connected plays by different authors
Featuring three (dis)connected plays by different authors
Three electrifying short plays explore the tension between isolation and intimacy, the unsettling power of miscommunication, and the eerie unpredictability of fate.
Mother Figure (written by Alan Ayckbourn) – Motherhood never clocks out… but what happens when it takes over?
Directed by: Lara Stanisic
Lucy is so consumed by caring for her children that she loses touch with the outside world. When her neighbors check in on her, they find themselves being mothered instead. After all, mother knows best.
Sorry, Wrong Number (written by Lucille Fletcher) – A simple misdial becomes a chilling fight for survival.
Directed by: Szymon Branka
Confined to her bed, Mrs. Stevenson accidentally intercepts a phone call detailing a murder plot. In her desperation she frantically dials operators, the police, and anyone who will listen. As she struggles to make herself heard, she finds herself trapped in a desperate race against time...
The Third play [Spring edition] - a mystery
Directed by: Michelle Tan
By A Thread (written by Michelle Tan) [September Edition] - A short play about loneliness, family, connection and faith
Directed by: Michelle Tan
A mother, alone in a cluttered flat, struggles to keep things afloat and misses her daughter. Desperate to reconnect, she dials the same number over and over again, hoping she'll finally get an answer. As days slip by, she clings to a routine that’s fraying at the edges—held together by memory, habit, and the thinnest thread of hope.
Mother Figure (written by Alan Ayckbourn) – Motherhood never clocks out… but what happens when it takes over?
Directed by: Lara Stanisic
Lucy is so consumed by caring for her children that she loses touch with the outside world. When her neighbors check in on her, they find themselves being mothered instead. After all, mother knows best.
Sorry, Wrong Number (written by Lucille Fletcher) – A simple misdial becomes a chilling fight for survival.
Directed by: Szymon Branka
Confined to her bed, Mrs. Stevenson accidentally intercepts a phone call detailing a murder plot. In her desperation she frantically dials operators, the police, and anyone who will listen. As she struggles to make herself heard, she finds herself trapped in a desperate race against time...
The Third play [Spring edition] - a mystery
Directed by: Michelle Tan
By A Thread (written by Michelle Tan) [September Edition] - A short play about loneliness, family, connection and faith
Directed by: Michelle Tan
A mother, alone in a cluttered flat, struggles to keep things afloat and misses her daughter. Desperate to reconnect, she dials the same number over and over again, hoping she'll finally get an answer. As days slip by, she clings to a routine that’s fraying at the edges—held together by memory, habit, and the thinnest thread of hope.
Poster design by Zinzy Waleson Geene
Drinking Habits (2024)
Playwright: Tom Smith
Directed by Thomas van Iersel
Playwright: Tom Smith
Directed by Thomas van Iersel
Accusations, mistaken identities, and romances run wild in this traditional, laugh-out-loud farce by Tom Smith. Two nuns at the Sisters of Perpetual Sewing have been secretly making wine to keep the convent's doors open, but Paul and Sally, reporters and former fiancés, are hot on their trail. They go undercover as a nun and priest, but their presence, combined with the addition of a new nun, spurs paranoia throughout the convent that spies have been sent from Rome to shut them down. Wine and secrets are inevitably spilled as everyone tries to preserve the convent and reconnect with lost loves.
Cast (in order of appearance)
Arianna Iacoviello as Sister Philomena // Ella Goemans as Sister Augusta // Karthik Kannan as George // Lara Stanisic as Mother Superior // Anusha Vanarasi as Sally // Simon Branka as Paul // Bran Soeters as Father Chenille // Maria Papastavrou as Sister Mary Catherine
Arianna Iacoviello as Sister Philomena // Ella Goemans as Sister Augusta // Karthik Kannan as George // Lara Stanisic as Mother Superior // Anusha Vanarasi as Sally // Simon Branka as Paul // Bran Soeters as Father Chenille // Maria Papastavrou as Sister Mary Catherine
A Night of (4 short plays by) David Ives (2023)
Playwright: David Ives
Playwright: David Ives
Rotterdam English Speaking Theatre presented 4 short (comedy) plays by 'the maestro of the short form': David Ives.
The Sure Thing
Directed by Lara Stanisic
Bill meets Betty. Bill says things. A bell intervenes. The bell wants them to fall in love. Bill says something better. Or something worse? DING!
Bolero
Directed by Mervyn Nankoe
A woman’s world slowly threatens to come apart in the middle of the night when she and her husband hear strange sounds and voices. A fight! Who's fighting? Is her mind playing tricks on her or...is she right?
Captive Audience
Directed by Michelle Tan
What's the purpose of a TV? Keeping you entertained? Informed? Influenced? What if it's something more... sinister. Captive Audience is a short horror comedy about a couple Rob and Laura and a seemingly normal evening at home with their TV.
Time Flies
Directed by Thomas van Iersel
A romantic date of two mayflies segues into an existential crisis when they discover that they only live one day. Talk about a quickie....
The Sure Thing
Directed by Lara Stanisic
Bill meets Betty. Bill says things. A bell intervenes. The bell wants them to fall in love. Bill says something better. Or something worse? DING!
Bolero
Directed by Mervyn Nankoe
A woman’s world slowly threatens to come apart in the middle of the night when she and her husband hear strange sounds and voices. A fight! Who's fighting? Is her mind playing tricks on her or...is she right?
Captive Audience
Directed by Michelle Tan
What's the purpose of a TV? Keeping you entertained? Informed? Influenced? What if it's something more... sinister. Captive Audience is a short horror comedy about a couple Rob and Laura and a seemingly normal evening at home with their TV.
Time Flies
Directed by Thomas van Iersel
A romantic date of two mayflies segues into an existential crisis when they discover that they only live one day. Talk about a quickie....
Cast
The Sure Thing: Mina Düzdemir // Eftychios Kasdaglis
Bolero: Ashley Warner // Arnold Zwanenburg
Captive Audience: Vinith Bhandari // Karthik Kannan // Mifuyu Hori // Indrani Vohra
Time Flies: Lara Stanisic // Clemens den Boer // Jan Roel van Zuilen (Rotterdam)// Samuel Weinberger (The Hague & Amsterdam)
The Sure Thing: Mina Düzdemir // Eftychios Kasdaglis
Bolero: Ashley Warner // Arnold Zwanenburg
Captive Audience: Vinith Bhandari // Karthik Kannan // Mifuyu Hori // Indrani Vohra
Time Flies: Lara Stanisic // Clemens den Boer // Jan Roel van Zuilen (Rotterdam)// Samuel Weinberger (The Hague & Amsterdam)
Blithe Spirit (2022)
Playwright: Noël Coward
Directed by Lara Stanisic
Playwright: Noël Coward
Directed by Lara Stanisic
Charles Condomine, an author suffering from writer’s block, organizes a séance with the eccentric medium Madame Arcati to try and get some inspiration for his new book. Unfortunately, his plan backfires, and instead he gets haunted by the spirit of his deceased first wife Elvira, who’s accidentally been conjured up in the process.
Dramatic as ever, Elvira delights in wreaking havoc among the living and disrupting Charles’s marriage to his second wife, Ruth, who cannot see or hear the ghost. Meanwhile Madame Arcati desperately looks for new ways to send the happy phantom back to spirit world, but that’s easier said than done…
Cast (in order of appearance):
Deborah Simatupang as Edith // Yselle van der Maas as Ruth Condomine // Connor James King as Charles Condomine // Magda Pienkowska as Dr Bradman Michelle Tan as Mrs Bradman (for the Rotterdam shows) // Lorna Wijma as Mrs Bradman (for the Leiden and Amsterdam shows) //
Arianna Iacoviello as Madame Arcati // Emily Strange as Elvira
Dramatic as ever, Elvira delights in wreaking havoc among the living and disrupting Charles’s marriage to his second wife, Ruth, who cannot see or hear the ghost. Meanwhile Madame Arcati desperately looks for new ways to send the happy phantom back to spirit world, but that’s easier said than done…
Cast (in order of appearance):
Deborah Simatupang as Edith // Yselle van der Maas as Ruth Condomine // Connor James King as Charles Condomine // Magda Pienkowska as Dr Bradman Michelle Tan as Mrs Bradman (for the Rotterdam shows) // Lorna Wijma as Mrs Bradman (for the Leiden and Amsterdam shows) //
Arianna Iacoviello as Madame Arcati // Emily Strange as Elvira
(Poster Design Credit: Lara Stanisic)
“Days may not be fair ….always
That's when I'll be there… always
Not for just an hour
Not for just a day
Not for just a year
But always”
- Irving Berlin -
That's when I'll be there… always
Not for just an hour
Not for just a day
Not for just a year
But always”
- Irving Berlin -
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The Retreat (2021)
Written by Michelle Tan
The Retreat is a whodunit, film noir style piece about a group of survivors of a shipwreck that are invited to a rehabilitation retreat, only to find themselves entangled with certain death. With nowhere to run or hide, who will make it out alive? And as the characters are killed off one by one, it begs the question.... who did it?
Written by Michelle Tan
The Retreat is a whodunit, film noir style piece about a group of survivors of a shipwreck that are invited to a rehabilitation retreat, only to find themselves entangled with certain death. With nowhere to run or hide, who will make it out alive? And as the characters are killed off one by one, it begs the question.... who did it?
By A Thread (2021)
By a Thread, written by Michelle Tan, is a 15 minute short play about love, family, loss and hope.
The play was not performed before a live audience, but recorded with the timespan of one hour and edited by Theater 't Kapelletje in Rotterdam. The performance was then broadcast as part of a livestream: 'tK-digitaal. The livestream was an initiative of Theater 't Kapelletje - a perfect stimulus to keep those creative juices flowing despite all the corona restrictions.
Live performance directed by Michelle Tan
Recorded & edited by Theater 't Kapelletje
By a Thread, written by Michelle Tan, is a 15 minute short play about love, family, loss and hope.
The play was not performed before a live audience, but recorded with the timespan of one hour and edited by Theater 't Kapelletje in Rotterdam. The performance was then broadcast as part of a livestream: 'tK-digitaal. The livestream was an initiative of Theater 't Kapelletje - a perfect stimulus to keep those creative juices flowing despite all the corona restrictions.
Live performance directed by Michelle Tan
Recorded & edited by Theater 't Kapelletje
Cast
Mother - Lara Stanisic
Daughter - Soraya Novella
Landlord's son - Justin van der Weijde
Mother - Lara Stanisic
Daughter - Soraya Novella
Landlord's son - Justin van der Weijde
Poster designed and created by Consuela Vlek
A Night of One-Act Comedies (2019)
Check please (by Jonathan Rand)
Dating can be hard. Especially when your date happens to be a raging kleptomaniac, or your grandmother’s bridge partner, or a mime. Check Please follows a series of blind dinner dates that couldn’t get any worse — until they do.
Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?
Pup’s holiday (by Dana Roskey)
A playful re-write of an eighteenth-century farce by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Pup’s Holiday follows the deranged efforts of the flamboyant Trip, owner of a travelling cabaret, to win pretty boy Kees away from his powerful fiancée, Helga. Can he seduce the cute yet dysfunctional little pup or does Helga have right of ownership? Come one, come all and see the marvels of the cabaret!
Check please (by Jonathan Rand)
Dating can be hard. Especially when your date happens to be a raging kleptomaniac, or your grandmother’s bridge partner, or a mime. Check Please follows a series of blind dinner dates that couldn’t get any worse — until they do.
Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?
Pup’s holiday (by Dana Roskey)
A playful re-write of an eighteenth-century farce by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Pup’s Holiday follows the deranged efforts of the flamboyant Trip, owner of a travelling cabaret, to win pretty boy Kees away from his powerful fiancée, Helga. Can he seduce the cute yet dysfunctional little pup or does Helga have right of ownership? Come one, come all and see the marvels of the cabaret!
DUETS (2017)
Author: Peter Quilter
Ever lied on your online dating profile? Thought about making the “if we’re both still single by the time we’re 35” deal? Had one too many cocktails with your ex? Or freaked out about saying yes to the dress?
Peter Quilter’s Duets (A Comedy in 4 Acts) is a hilarious tribute to the strength and madness of the human heart, showing us eight people struggling with the chaotic world of love, relationships, parachute dresses, goat’s cheese, and desperately remaining hopeful.
Author: Peter Quilter
Ever lied on your online dating profile? Thought about making the “if we’re both still single by the time we’re 35” deal? Had one too many cocktails with your ex? Or freaked out about saying yes to the dress?
Peter Quilter’s Duets (A Comedy in 4 Acts) is a hilarious tribute to the strength and madness of the human heart, showing us eight people struggling with the chaotic world of love, relationships, parachute dresses, goat’s cheese, and desperately remaining hopeful.
Act 1 - Blind Date: Jonathan and Wendy are on a blind date and hoping to get it right this time even though they've never got it right before.
Act 2 - Secretarial Skills: Barrie is not really interested in women but Janet sees that as no reason to stop trying
Act 3 - The Holiday: Shelly and Bobby have decided to holiday in Spain to finalize their divorce whilst drowning in cocktails.
Act 4 - The Bride-to-Be: Angela is marrying for the third time to the dismay of her brother Toby and amidst a barrage of bad omens and a dress resembling a parachute.
Directed by Thomas van Iersel
Cast: Jan Roel van Zuilen, Ky Ameringer, Clemens den Boer, Lenore Bell, Lara Stanisic, Matthijs van Zuilen, Jodie Mann, Egbert Langras
Act 2 - Secretarial Skills: Barrie is not really interested in women but Janet sees that as no reason to stop trying
Act 3 - The Holiday: Shelly and Bobby have decided to holiday in Spain to finalize their divorce whilst drowning in cocktails.
Act 4 - The Bride-to-Be: Angela is marrying for the third time to the dismay of her brother Toby and amidst a barrage of bad omens and a dress resembling a parachute.
Directed by Thomas van Iersel
Cast: Jan Roel van Zuilen, Ky Ameringer, Clemens den Boer, Lenore Bell, Lara Stanisic, Matthijs van Zuilen, Jodie Mann, Egbert Langras
Performances:
- Saturday 7 April 2018, Mike's Badhuis Theatre, 28 Boerhaaveplein, Amsterdam
- Saturday 28 October 2017, Roodkapje, Delftseplein 39, Rotterdam
- Sunday 1 October 2017, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
- Saturday 30 September 2017, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
PRAYING BACKWARD & PUP'S HOLIDAY (2016)
Author: Dana Roskey
Praying Backwards: It's 1994. Two men and a woman run into one another at a pizza place nearby the hospice where their sibling, lover and friend is dying of AIDS. Quickly, the pizza place turns into a battle ground for their struggles with identity, loss, and grief. Meanwhile, the cook and the waitress have their own ideas about the trio.
Pup's Holiday: A playful re-write of an eighteenth-century farce by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Pup's Holiday follows the deranged efforts of Trip, the flamboyant owner of a traveling cabaret, to win pretty boy Kees away from his powerful fiancee, Helga. Can he seduce the dysfunctional little pup with the help of Dr. Rosy? Or does Helga finally have the right of ownership? Come one, come all, and see the marvels of the cabaret!
Author: Dana Roskey
Praying Backwards: It's 1994. Two men and a woman run into one another at a pizza place nearby the hospice where their sibling, lover and friend is dying of AIDS. Quickly, the pizza place turns into a battle ground for their struggles with identity, loss, and grief. Meanwhile, the cook and the waitress have their own ideas about the trio.
Pup's Holiday: A playful re-write of an eighteenth-century farce by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Pup's Holiday follows the deranged efforts of Trip, the flamboyant owner of a traveling cabaret, to win pretty boy Kees away from his powerful fiancee, Helga. Can he seduce the dysfunctional little pup with the help of Dr. Rosy? Or does Helga finally have the right of ownership? Come one, come all, and see the marvels of the cabaret!
Performances:
- Friday 18 November 2016, De Unie, Mauritsweg 34-35, Rotterdam
- Sunday 13 November 2016, De Unie, Mauritsweg 34-35, Rotterdam
- Friday 11 November 2016, De Unie, Mauritsweg 34-35, Rotterdam
DEATHTRAP (2016)
Author: Ira Levin
Seemingly comfortably ensconced in his charming Connecticut home, Sidney Bruhl, a successful writer of Broadway thrillers, is struggling to overcome a dry spell which has resulted in a string of failures and a shortage of funds. A possible break in his fortunes occurs when he receives a script from a student in the seminar he has been conducting at a nearby college—a thriller which Sidney recognizes immediately as a potential Broadway hit. Sidney's plan, which he devises with his wife's help, is to offer collaboration to the student, an idea which the younger man quickly accepts. Thereafter suspense mounts steadily as the plot begins to twist and turn with devilish cleverness, and with such an abundance of thrills and laughter, that audiences will be held enthralled until the final, startling moments of the play.
REST performed Deathtrap in Rotterdam in March 2016, in Amsterdam (Mike's Badhuistheater) in April ... and since it was such a smash hit (psychos and psychics - who'd want to miss that?), we did one more performance in November 2016 for those poor souls who weren't able to get a ticket in time in March!
Directed by Yareth Habermehl
Cast: Jan Roel van Zuilen (Sidney Bruhl), Claire Wolff (Myra Bruhl), Matthijs van Zuilen (Clifford Anderson), Lara Stanisic (Helga ten Dorp), Anastasia Vantaraki (Portia Milgrim)
Cast: Jan Roel van Zuilen (Sidney Bruhl), Claire Wolff (Myra Bruhl), Matthijs van Zuilen (Clifford Anderson), Lara Stanisic (Helga ten Dorp), Anastasia Vantaraki (Portia Milgrim)
Performances:
Saturday 26 March 2016, Mike's Badhuistheater, Boerhaaveplein 28, Amsterdam
Saturday 12 March 2016, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Friday 11 March 2016, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Saturday 26 March 2016, Mike's Badhuistheater, Boerhaaveplein 28, Amsterdam
Saturday 12 March 2016, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Friday 11 March 2016, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
THE SCOTTISH PLAY (2014)
Author: Lee Blessing
The time-entrenched curse of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" serves as thematic undercurrent for Lee Blessing's highly theatrical and comedic exploration of the nature of ambition. Blessing parallels the moral descent of the Bard's title character with that of small-time regional theater director and recovering alcoholic Jack Bonner.
In 2014 REST teamed up with a new director and took on "The Scottish Play" - no, not the play that must not be named, but a play about a group of actors that are about to stage the bard's ....scottish play. Someone must have said the cursed name during one of the performances (probably one of the witches....) - and disaster struck! One of the leads ran full on into a ladder during a sword fight....but he bravely continued, true to the REST spirit! Scenes from this performance can also be seen in the video on the 'ABOUT' page (from the performance at Mike's Badhuistheater in Amsterdam)!
Author: Lee Blessing
The time-entrenched curse of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" serves as thematic undercurrent for Lee Blessing's highly theatrical and comedic exploration of the nature of ambition. Blessing parallels the moral descent of the Bard's title character with that of small-time regional theater director and recovering alcoholic Jack Bonner.
In 2014 REST teamed up with a new director and took on "The Scottish Play" - no, not the play that must not be named, but a play about a group of actors that are about to stage the bard's ....scottish play. Someone must have said the cursed name during one of the performances (probably one of the witches....) - and disaster struck! One of the leads ran full on into a ladder during a sword fight....but he bravely continued, true to the REST spirit! Scenes from this performance can also be seen in the video on the 'ABOUT' page (from the performance at Mike's Badhuistheater in Amsterdam)!
Directed by Dana Roskey
Cast: Jamie Elly, Matthijs van Zuilen, Egbert Langras, Yelda van Eijk, Mir Mubashir Khalid, Lisette Heijma, Lara Stanisic, Claire Wolff, Jan Roel van Zuilen
Cast: Jamie Elly, Matthijs van Zuilen, Egbert Langras, Yelda van Eijk, Mir Mubashir Khalid, Lisette Heijma, Lara Stanisic, Claire Wolff, Jan Roel van Zuilen
Performances:
Sunday 30 November 2014, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Saturday 29 November 2014, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Friday 28 November 2014, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Sunday 30 November 2014, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Saturday 29 November 2014, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Friday 28 November 2014, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
THE MOUSETRAP (2013)
Author: Agatha Christie
The scene is set when a group of people gathered in a country house cut off by the snow discover, to their horror, that there is a murderer in their midst. Who can it be? One by one the suspicious characters reveal their sordid pasts until at the last, nerve-shredding moment the identity and the motive are finally revealed.
Author: Agatha Christie
The scene is set when a group of people gathered in a country house cut off by the snow discover, to their horror, that there is a murderer in their midst. Who can it be? One by one the suspicious characters reveal their sordid pasts until at the last, nerve-shredding moment the identity and the motive are finally revealed.
Directed by Matthijs van Zuilen
Cast: Lara Stanisic, Thomas van Iersel, Chris Pierer von Esch, Yelda van Elijk, Jan Roel van Zuilen, Claire Wolff, Marko Korac, Egbert Langras
Stage Management: Aninka Langras-Rombout, Marjolein van Zuilen-Meindersma
Cast: Lara Stanisic, Thomas van Iersel, Chris Pierer von Esch, Yelda van Elijk, Jan Roel van Zuilen, Claire Wolff, Marko Korac, Egbert Langras
Stage Management: Aninka Langras-Rombout, Marjolein van Zuilen-Meindersma
Performances:
Saturday 19 October 2013, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Friday 18 October 2013, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Saturday 19 October 2013, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
Friday 18 October 2013, Theatre 't Kapelletje, Van der Sluysstraat 176, Rotterdam
