Open Studio: Before The Story Starts

Name: Open Studio: Before The Story Starts - Urland
Start: 2026-05-23T19:30:00+02:00
Location: Frascati, Amsterdam

URLAND

Thu 21 May ’26 - Sat 23 May ’26

An experimental, immersive, one man theatre performance that takes place in the liminal moment before a (or THE) story begins.

Thu 21 May ’26

Sat 23 May ’26

Thu 21 May ’26

19:30

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 3

Tickets

Fri 22 May ’26

19:30

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 3

Tickets

Sat 23 May ’26

19:30

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 3

Tickets

This is not the start of the story, we haven’t started yet.
This is not the beginning.

What do you need to know? Before we start?
We don’t know why.
We can guess, but we don’t know. We never will.
We can choose. And be satisfied with an answer. But we never know.

The elusive Why.

NOTE: In the lead-up to the premiere of Before The Story Starts, Urland is already opening up their process to the public. In this research presentation, both makers and audiences can test ideas, explore concepts, and exchange reflections.

Before the Story Starts is an experimental, immersive, one man theatre performance that takes place in the liminal moment before a (or THE) story begins. Inspired by The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Being John Malkovich and Alan Watts, master storyteller Thomas Dudkiewicz travels through the subconscious of the universe, in pursuit of answers.

This story that is not yet a story has a surreal structure filled with cryptic hosts, erratic guides, and philosophical dead-ends.

As he meets his alter ego(s) he unravels the story of why, why is it that he tells stories? How is meaning built? And what happens when we confront the terrifying possibility that there may never be a final answer?

Duration: 40 min

Credits

script, concept and performance Thomas Dudkiewicz coach Naomi Velissariou spatial design Marijn Alexander de Jong sound design Tomas Loos creative technologist Hendrik Walther technical producer Jaap Schledorn production manager Elise de Fooij marketing & communication Pien Visser business management Martha van Meegen and Marijn Bellaard business assistant Denise de Hoog production URLAND made possible by Gemeente Rotterdam, Fonds Podiumkunsten and Cultuurloket DigitAll

About Urland

URLAND works collectively. URLAND is autonomous. URLAND wants Gesamtkunst. URLAND has no method. URLAND experiments. URLAND is paradoxical. URLAND resides somewhere between artificial and real. URLAND appropriates, quotes and samples. URLAND clashes. URLAND believes in live art in digital times.

URLAND, an innovative performance collective from Rotterdam, consists of Geräuschmacher Jimi Zoet, Bildermacher Marijn Alexander de Jong, Geschichtenmacher Thomas Dudkiewicz and a solid group of fellow combatants. URLAND makes eclectic, interdisciplinary performances that clash between different styles, forms and themes, between visual culture and world literature, data and dada, digital oracles and philosophy. URLAND focuses on the fundamental, on telling and theatricalising existential stories that make the elusiveness of the contemporary palpable.