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05 Oct

20:00

Villa Concordia

Concordiastraat 67A, Utrecht

In his final theater production, dancer, choreographer, and Dutch gay icon Barrie Stevens looks back on his life and career in this intimate solo performance.

The Importance of Being Barrie – Barrie Stevens

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He danced his way from Newcastle to Amsterdam. From drab to glitter, from silence to applause. For over sixty years, Barrie Stevens has been on stage as a dancer, choreographer, director, television icon, and above all: as himself. Now, at the age of 82, he is taking stock. The Importance of Being Barrie is Barrie Stevens' very last theater production.

Dancer, choreographer, director, television personality, and one of the great gay icons of the Netherlands. In this intimate solo performance, he does what he has been running from his entire life: showing his true self. Barrie looks back on a life brimming with passion, love, and courage, but also with loss, loneliness, and the eternal question: am I enough? Barrie speaks candidly about the courage it took to always be himself as a homosexual man who saw generations come and go. It tells his story of loves that shaped him and loves that broke him; about growing up in a time when his kind of love was a crime; about the men he loved and lost. It's about spotlights that make you visible but also blind you, and the paradox of fame: being known by everyone, but wondering if anyone truly sees you.

With his irresistible charm and typical Barrie flair, he weaves humor and melancholy into an unforgettable performance. Excerpts from the work of his great literary hero Oscar Wilde seamlessly blend with his own life story in a personal search for what remains when the curtain falls. What do you leave behind? What do you take with you? And have you finally learned to love yourself?

The Importance of Being Barrie is a performance about self-love. About what it means to look in the mirror at the end of a rich and eventful life and finally say: yes, this is me. This was me. And it is good. It is a performance for anyone who has ever doubted themselves, for anyone who has had to gather the courage to be themselves, and for anyone who knows that life doesn't have to be perfect to be worthwhile.