A worthless performance
Born from the burning inferiority complex of an MBO-trained theatre maker, NUL is a multimedia performance about an urgent, yet personal and deeply philosophical theme: what is your value as an artist to society? How do you survive in a world that only takes you seriously once you have the “right” credentials?
Two actors, bound together by a romantic relationship, struggle their way through the arts, measurable values, and the impact these have on their self-image and partnership. Is it a losing battle when you haven’t built a wide network or lasting friendships through your so-called “lower” education? What is your place in a society that measures your worth by status and success? NUL is a raw, absurdist theatre performance about a society that measures, weighs, and divides.
“You could always do something else
Something hands-on
Become a bricklayer, a baker, or a crane operator
Get a forklift license
Then you can work in a warehouse
Go do something useful with your life
Go do something valuable …”
The value of NUL
With this performance, Dylan hopes to expose a broader societal issue: what Dylan and his actors experience within the theatre world is felt just as strongly throughout the rest of the country. Aren’t there far too many invisible walls and labels to which we assign unnecessary value, widening the gaps between social classes? Aren’t we imperceptibly sliding into a Western, capitalist, neoliberal class apocalypse? Perhaps it’s better to return to zero—where nothing is measured.
Dylan Nieuwland
Dylan Nieuwland is an emerging theatre maker from Leiden with a sharp eye for social inequality. His previous works include How to Be a (Wo)(Man) and Heet Spul. He also organized the NUL Festival about his perceived worthlessness as an artist and shook a broad Leiden audience until the early morning hours with the techno–rave–club–night–theatre–performance crossover I DONT FCKING KNOW CLUB*.
From 2024 to 2027, he is a recipient of the Leiden Makers Grant and is affiliated, among others, with Theater De Generator. Coming from an MBO theatre background, he is navigating his way through the higher-educated theatre world. Through his work, he attempts to bridge the class divide created by differing diplomas and backgrounds.
This performance is part of the trajectory OPROER. Oproer is a joining of forces by several production houses in the Netherlands, namely: Likeminds, Podium Bloos, Werkplaats Walhalla, Karavaan, VIA ZUID, Theater de Generator, De Nieuwe Oost, Grand Theatre, and Explore the North. Oproer is committed to creating more opportunities for starting makers. Oproer is made possible by the VriendenLoterij Fund, thanks to an extra donation from the VriendenLoterij.