Utrecht, the summer of 1729. In the chapel of the Dom Tower, the sexton catches two men making love. To divert attention from his own misdeeds, he points to the men as sinners and betrays them. His cowardly act marks the beginning of a hunt for homosexual men to be tried for their love: the Sodomite persecutions.
Nearly three centuries later, we return to where it all began. In the St. Michael's Chapel in the middle of the Dom Tower, Theatergroep Aluin and Compagnie Red Yellow & Blue present: The Mad Sexton of the Dom Tower. A fast-paced history lesson and a razor-sharp black comedy in one.
Four actors are cast in a theater production about this queer history. They thought they were going to shine in the next hit musical about national history, but even before the premiere, they are confronted with the question: who is actually allowed to tell this story and when does representation become a revenue model?
Twenty-five years after the first same-sex marriage and in the year that World Pride visits our country, the Utrecht theater companies Aluin and Compagnie Red Yellow & Blue show with humor, music, and historical acuity what the consequences of intolerance, homophobia, and having a blind spot can be.
The Dom Tower can only be visited by stairs and is therefore unfortunately not accessible for people with disabilities. Want to see the performance? Then come to Theater Kikker in December.
Want to come to the performance well-prepared? On Saturday and Sunday, August 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, and 30, there will be an introduction at 18:15 by Emma Wijers about the background of the performance, the current toll of being visibly queer, and how the performance plays with genre. Why, for example, was it chosen to make this (partly) a comedy? And what does the musical genre have to do with queer culture?
The introduction will be held in the hall of the Dom Tower and is free for visitors to the performance. Please reserve your ticket in advance via the Stadsschouwburg Utrecht website.