It all started when the storyteller stumbled upon a black and white picture of a razzia in 1943. In the image, he recognised his current home in the centre of Amsterdam. An older couple was being pulled out of the building by men in white coats, officers of the SS. What must a storyteller do when faced with such a story? He peels the layers off the past, waking up sleeping ghosts, like the Dutch barber who used to live on the ground floor, Mr. Jansen. Inquiring him about forgotten secrets, distant memories of buried sins.

Me and Mr. Jansen is an engaging solo storytelling show that invites the audience to venture beyond concepts such as “right” and “wrong”. Who plays innocent, and who wears the traitor’s costume? Can we even choose which roles we play or are we nothing but figures trapped in the wheel of history, endlessly repeating our parts?

About the artists

Raphael Rodan (1980, Jerusalem, Israel) is an award-winning theatre maker and storyteller. Since he moved to Amsterdam, he had created a few hit storytelling shows like: the winner of Amsterdam fringe 2017 “My Father Held a Gun”, about the nature of war. His work has received international recognition, playing in theatres and festivals all over Europe. Apart from writing and performing, Raphael also teaches storytelling, In 2014, together with Farnoosh Farnia and Sahand Sahebdivani, he created The Mezrab Storytelling School. Since 2018, together with Sahebdivani, he has been working as the Artistic Director of the Amsterdam Storytelling Festival. The vision of the festival is to link the ancient art of storytelling with today’s most current burning questions.

Titus Tiel Groenestege (1959, Angerlo, The Netherlands) Titus’s career as an actor and director stretches over 4 decades. Among the many awards and highlights of his work, one might mention ‘False Waltz’, which he created, together with Ria Marks, a trilogy depicting the life of a couple through the three stages of their life: love, marriage, and old age. This highly acclaimed and successful production was played all over the world and was made into a movie, nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007. Although still active as an actor, Titus Tiel Groenestege has lately been mainly known as a director. Drawing from the diversity of his own acting experiences, his field of work covers theatre, cabaret, slapstick, music theatre, bands, classical orchestras, dance and movement theatre.

Me and Mr. Jansen is also available on the 6th of may, check availability here.