Walking along Leidsekade, Theater Bellevue might not immediately catch your eye. But behind that facade are three theaters, an active writing program and a theater cafe that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this season. It is one of the few venues in the city that programs so broadly: from musical theater and contemporary dance to puppet and object theater and cabaret. And has been for nearly eighty years.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Bellevue is its Lunchtheater. For more than 25 years, a show has been playing in the Paloni Room every day, just in the middle of the day. That sounds simple, but it's actually a pretty special custom. Creators like Espen Hjort (with ‘Landscape with Radioactive Dogs’) and Nina van Tongeren (with ‘Dachshund’) have made that lunchtime programming big. And soon Betty Schuurman joins them, with the production ‘System Pain. The Paloni Room is also home to cabaret and more intimate performances, alongside Klein Bellevue, which provides space for small-scale theater makers.
Bellevue also does talent development, and seriously. The Writers Studio is a multi-year course for stage writers: six participants in course 1, three in course 2. There is also Bellevue Junior Writers, aimed at writers between the ages of 15 and 25. Through the Open Call co-productions with Het Nationale Theater, promising creators win a chance at a real production. Iduna Paalman won the Open Call with ‘VONNIS,’ Koen Caris was winner of the third edition with ‘Cerberus. Director Raygin Fullinck is also working in co-production with HNT. Romana Vrede, winner of the 2024 Drama Writing Prize, and Dounia Mahammed (who pronounced the State of the Theater Text during Shakespeare is Dead in 2025) are names that came to the map through Bellevue.
The Smoeshaan is 50 years old, and that in itself is an achievement in a city where the hospitality industry comes and goes.
The Great Hall seats 248 and also attracts festivals such as the Holland Festival, Julidans, the Dutch Theater Festival and the Amsterdam Fringe Festival. But perhaps the beating heart of the building is theater cafe De Smoeshaan, attached to the theater and exactly fifty years old this season. The Smoeshaan is fifty years old, and that in itself is an achievement in a city where the hospitality industry comes and goes. For Theater Bellevue, it is just the neighbor that has always been there.