Rijswijkse Schouwburg

The Rijswijkse Schouwburg is a theatre in Rijswijk, near The Hague, whose present building opened in 1991. It presents performances in a main auditorium and a smaller hall, bringing together spoken theatre, cabaret, dance, music, musicals and family productions. Its programme combines visiting professional artists with opportunities for local cultural activity. The building represents a modern chapter in a much older tradition of performance in Rijswijk, which developed through rhetorical societies, amateur theatre and successive local venues before the establishment of the present schouwburg. Rijswijk got a theatre of its own only in 1991, on the large pond opposite the town hall. The architect Boot, of the Rotterdam firm Van den Broek en Bakema, designed it. There are two rooms: a main auditorium for 700 and a flat-floor hall for 100. Around 200 performances a year pass through, from drama and cabaret to touring opera — Bizet's Carmen was staged there in November 2011 by a visiting company with chorus and orchestra.