Both mothers of Hugo Borst and Adelheid Roosen died of this number one public disease: dementia. Since then, Adelheid and Hugo have been working hard on a humane approach to this disease. At this moment this critically acclaimed series is in its fourth season. In this new series, Adelheid and Hugo investigate how best to prepare yourself for death. How do you know what to say when the end is near? And what actually means a ‘good death’?

Adelheid has found heaven in George Groot – her language teacher at the academy, life friend and stage partner. In 46 years, they have created 12 theatrical encounters. Each time, from masterful truthfulness and radical intimacy, they open up their lives, their relationship and state of mind to each other. When it turned out that George had only a few months to live, the 13th performance was born: Het Sterven Is Begonnen (Dying has begun), an exercise in saying goodbye.

A three-hour ritual to crown George, to give him words during his lifetime while dying. To give mourning and farewell a stage, in togetherness with his loved ones . To really work through it together and to thank each other while alive, welcoming every emotion.

‘Urban Safar’ is much more than a performance; it is a form of immersive theatre. Visitors do not settle into theatre seats but are taken on a journey through the neighbourhood and with that through themselves. Boundaries will blur between play, theatre and reality in ‘Urban Safar Tangier’ because of this intense involvement of neighbourhood residents and this deep dive into diverse cultural and geographical perspectives. Starting point is Adelheid+Female Economy’s established adoption method. For several weeks Actors and residents live together and share their homes and their lives. Those intertwined lives and stories are the essence of an overall authentic theatrical experience. The three-hour performance tour ends with a musical grand finale by the Moroccan company Kabarah Cheikhats, celebrated both in Morocco as well as internationally.

‘BEST LOCKDOWN FILM’ | BETTIAH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, INDIA 2021
The planned theatre performance in 2020 with eighty doulas could not go ahead due to Corona measures. Adelheid still brought seven of these women together to continue rehearsals that had already started via intimate zoom sessions. Moderator Jale Simsek led the Zoom sessions with these eight women, including Adelheid. The eight doulas opened up their hearts and welcomed the audience into their lives and living rooms. It was this exceptional candor that revealed the source from which these women could continue to give and it resulted in an unexpected twist: Doulas of the City became a film.

The film DOULA’S VAN DE STAD (DOULAS OF THE CITY) follows Adelheid Roosen’s admiration for women who in the capillaries of their neighbourhoods and their city are ready to help others every day. With alert senses, the doulas – those who guide you – fight poverty, loneliness, domestic violence, crime and more. They see injustice, taste sadness and hear violence in the silences.

In the film ‘In Getuigenis’ (In Testimony), Adelheid Roosen and Leendert Vooijce investigate a next step in their personal life journey and the questions that arise at this stage in their lives. Where in your identity lies shame, where lies trauma? What do you need from another person to dare shape these questions, to be able to truly feel them.

Based on the philosophical idea of ​​Emmanuel Levinas, who argues that you develop your identity through the eyes of the other – the other shapes you because you perceive yourself through his gaze -, Adelheid and Leendert decided to be witnesses to each other’s answers to these questions.

In front of the camera, they reveal their life story to each other through two monologues. In order to make these monologues really resonate with the viewer, they address the viewer directly. In the film, they address the camera, which represents the viewer as the third person in the room. So the viewer has the experience to be part of the testimony to these life stories.

When her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Adelheid discovered first-hand what that meant. Just like Alice in Wonderland, who fell into a hole in the ground running after a white rabbit, she followed Mam into another reality. By traveling along, a new and intense contact was created and Adelheid discovered that Alzheimer’s does not have to mean alienation and distance, but can also lead to a true encounter with the other. She depicted her journey in the documentary Mam (2009).

Mam (20 minutes) shows how Adelheid together with family members discovers who her Mam is evolving in, now that she has Alzheimer’s, They are moving along with the journey that Mam is making.

You can book the film including a follow-up discussion with Adelheid, in which she is looking forward to talk to you . You can ask her anything, about her loss, her turning point, the new approach to her mother, unexpected humor. About loving in stammering words.

In Cheikhats, various rituals merge in a shared search for a world beyond binary thinking. The audience is welcomed into a space in which that which has not healed finds healing and in which rituals explore how the feminine resides in the masculine and vice versa. We do not have to invent that world, because it already exists. We only have to remember it.

The ten male members of Kabareh Cheikhats honor the musical tradition of the Cheikhats; female artists who were socially marginalized because they exposed prejudices and inequality with their provocative songs and sensual presentation. At the same time, they are also one of the pearls of Moroccan musical heritage. The male performers dress as these women and bring this heritage to life with exuberant performances in Morocco, Europe and America. In this way, they connect with their own feminine qualities and question stereotypical views in society on gender as well as Moroccan culture

Lovers, exes, friends and strangers. That is what these four actors are of each other. Carefully but with determination they create a performance about vulnerability and desire, about delight and pain. They make an attempt to be honest, and to take measure of each other with humor. To support each other. To unfold each other. Because loneliness comes when there is no bedding, and every person wants to be themselves in openness.

Lineke Rijxman, Adelheid Roosen, Titus Muizelaar and George Groot, four actors with intertwined lives and loves, investigate the state of love in a playful ritual and whether indeed the eye is the mirror of the soul if you look into it mercilessly.