Luuk Ransijn is the winner of the Amsterdams Kleinkunst Festival. The 22-year-old comedian was awarded the 2023 AKF Sonneveld Prize on Saturday. The Audience Award of the cabaret talent hunt went to Myrte Siebinga. In the Kleine Komedie in Amsterdam there was also an encouragement prize for the third finalist on Saturday evening: the duo Niek & Guy
An enthusiastic jury spoke of a high-level final, with dazzling evenings and original makers. In winner Luuk Ransijn’s traditional cabaret program – consisting of songs behind the piano and autobiographical stories – the jury praised his “mischievous look, twinkling eyes and contagious bravura”. He shows this in situations that are “everyday and recognizable – from social discomfort at a cash register to the tension during a driving test”.
With the comment that “predictability is lurking”, there was praise for how Ransijn “knows how to paint a picture of his generation and the challenges they face”. He knows “to use his physique to depict the total chaos” and the jury was “charmed by his voice, driving and swinging piano playing and strong lyrics.”
Deep loneliness
Myrte Siebinga switched smoothly in her performance between a seven-year-old schoolgirl, teacher, bouncer and young woman. In the last character she seemed to be playing herself, with no accent or other voice. According to the jury, she knows how to make a sense of deep loneliness, sadness and loss palpable for the audience through the characters. Myrte is a born performer with excellent timing.”
The transitions between the characters were “magical moments when things get exciting”. One example was the diatribe about sex she gave as a young woman, after which she suggested as a teacher that the seven-year-old had been bawling and immediately let her dismay disappear behind a mock happy ‘Welcome to parent’s evening!’. Sublime theatre, but the jury noted that she wanted to “meet” Myrte more often.
The third finalist was a striking special feature on a cabaret evening: a comic illusionist duo. Nick & Guy mixed their artisan magic tricks with visual humor, slapstick and puppetry. The jury, too, had “watched with fascination and childlike admiration at this unusual form” of cabaret in a “fairytale performance”. What they did was “technical, moving, funny and at times virtuoso.”
After the recent cancellation of the Leids Cabaret Festival due to ‘lack of talent’, the question was whether there was a stagnation in the growth of promising newcomers to the cabaret. That image was by no means confirmed during this final of Amsterdams Kleinkunst Festival. In this final, young performers presented themselves who aroused curiosity about their fully-fledged debut programme.
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