Meeuw
A family gathers at their holiday home. You follow their dreams and desires, but also witness their sorrow and jealousy. The young people try to make their own voices heard, but the older generation prefers to keep things as they are. Director Nina Spijkers brings Chekhov’s comedy The Seagull to life in a new way.
A young, ambitious writer (Emma Buysse) presents her first play, with her boyfriend (Alex Hendrickx) in the lead role. Together, they want to change the world with their production. Her father and his girlfriend (Jaap Spijkers and Tamar van den Dop), herself a famous actor and writer, prefer to keep things as they were. Is there really room for a new voice, or is the previous generation keeping the door closed?
Gender-swap classics: Just as with The Taming of the Shrew and Coriolanus , director Nina Spijkers opts for a gender swap of several key roles. “By having women play male roles and vice versa, a 130-year-old play feels as if it was written yesterday. They remain Chekhov’s words, but now with even more powerful female roles and more avenues for humor.”
Lively and dangerously funny: Director Nina Spijkers shows with a new, bold perspective just how lively and dangerously funny Chekhov can be: “Chekhov is one of my favorite writers, because he is perhaps the best analyst of the human soul who has ever written for the stage. He called his play a comedy. I am really looking forward to capturing that lightness on stage.”
Theater with sign language interpreter
A speech-to-text interpreter will be present for Meeuw by Het Nationale Theater on Wednesday, November 18, 2026. The interpreter types along live with the text spoken on stage. You can read the script on a tablet attached to the backrest of the seat in front of you. The interpreter also indicates when things happen that are only audible, such as laughter or music.
We have made a limited number of seats with a good view of the stage available for this. Reserve your tickets directly online or send an email to kassa@orpheus.nl .
