Earlier this year we reported on the demise of the Dr. Anton Philipszaal Lucent Danstheater in the centre of The Hague. The old Zuiderstrandtheater in Scheveningen will soon be gone too – and for the same reason; the development and opening of the splendid Amare.
The Nederlands Dans Theater had to leave their home theatre when development started on the Amare and they used the Zuiderstrandtheater as their performing base. When the Amare opened in November 2021 the NDT moved back into the centre of town, as did the Residentie Orkest who was also based in the Zuiderstrand.
The Zuiderstrandtheater was only ever going to be a temporary structure until the Amare was ready. It opened in 2015 on the Houtrustweg in the Norfolk district in Scheveningen, a suburb of The Hague. The theatre was right next to the harbour and nestled in the dunes right behind the beach. There was always a slight smell of diesel fumes, sand would swirl around the foyer and it was difficult to get to but, nevertheless, it was a really nice theatre. It had a huge stage, comfy seats and excellent sight lines. Once I got inside I was always happy to be there.
The good news is that, unlike the Lucent, the Zuiderstrandtheater is not being demolished; it is being dismantled and will be reconstructed, at a cost of more than a million euros, in the town of Oss, near ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where it will be known as the De Lievekamp theatre. Let’s hope they manage to shake all the sand from it before they do so. 11th October 2022
