Before heading to Italy, where we’ve been invited to perform Alone Together as part of the five-year commemoration of the COVID pandemic, in the very country that was once Europe’s epicenter, we’ll present the piece one single time in Amsterdam, and in English. So tell all your English-speaking friends: this is rare chance to experience De Warme Winkel in English!

Alone Together (“we’ll get corona under control”) emerged during the early months of the COVID lockdown, born from an urgent need to artistically reflect on the drastic changes in human interaction.

Simple physical contact suddenly became potentially life-threatening, and attending theater was entirely out of the question. The only logical setup for presenting theater safely seemed to be creating a peepshow. That same summer, De Warme Winkel in Amsterdam developed the Peepshow Palace: one hundred private booths, spread over two floors. This format also shaped the dramaturgy of Alone Together.

The performance consists of a succession of solos, duets, and trios—a structure that should feel familiar to regular peepshow visitors. The scenes are performative in nature and could stand alone, but they are interconnected by a subtle narrative following three doctors working in intensive care. They, too, suffer from the lack of physical contact. Thus, death, eroticism, and sterility form the three strands of the braid that intertwine on the revolving stage.

The five-year COVID anniversary production flips the original peepshow setup on its head: the audience is no longer isolated and protected but instead sits in two intimate circles around the revolving stage, literally shoulder to shoulder.

This time, it’s not being alone that is mourned but being together that is celebrated.

Volkskrant ★★★★
“In a heartbreaking finale, De Warme Winkel shows what it means to be human.

”Theaterkrant, Critics’ Panel
“The first performance of the new era.”

Theaterkrant (Critic’s Choice)
“A daring apocalyptic ritual.”

De Morgen (BE) ★★★★
“Corona dilemmas already inspire beautiful theater.”

Credits