Marjolijn van Kooten – It won’t be down to me

We know Marjolijn from her previous, sold-out shows about panic, worrying and pills. Her honest, dryly humorous cabaret, full of self-deprecating humour, is a genre in its own right and draws full houses throughout the Netherlands. In this show, she wonders why we only seem to appreciate life once someone has died. Or fallen ill. Can’t we do that a bit sooner? Do people have to die first before we feel that we’re alive? Black humour, sensitive songs and shameless stories; that’s Van Kooten through and through. It certainly won’t be down to her.

I love theatre:

‘Alongside the humour, there is a great deal of depth to the theme. It invites the audience to grapple with existential questions: what grief means to you and how you experience it in your life, and how you go about dealing with it all again.’

‘Laugh at the darkness, at the discomfort, and perhaps a little at yourself too.’

‘Psychiatric cabaret,’ as she herself calls it, and that’s spot on. Van Kooten has more or less turned it into her own genre. It appeals to people who have been through a rough patch and can now chuckle with relief at what wasn’t funny at the time. The combination of black humour, shameless candour and vulnerable songs hits exactly the right note.’

‘It’s Not My Fault’ is not a light-hearted evening of cabaret, but an honest and perceptive glimpse into the mind of someone who experiences the world just that little bit more intensely. You laugh, you swallow hard, you think – and you’re grateful that she dares to share all this out loud.’