Rieks Swarte

Props, Sets

Rieks Swarte (initiator and director/ puppeteer/ scenery designer) has had many years of experience in the theatre. He graduated from the theatre school as a theatre director in 1975 and developed his own style, “the toy production”, where the visual and the theatrical are brought together. He made “Het Tapijt” (“The Carpet”) about the famous Bayeux tapestry and later made family theatre productions with, amongst others, the ROTheatre. He has directed and designed many times for youth theatre groups such as the Toneelmakerij (Liesbeth Coltof).

Rieks set up his own company in 1991, the FIRMA RIEKS SWARTE, for which he received government funding. Two years ago, this company closed down and he set up a new company: “SWARTE KUNST”. He made “De Perzik van Onsterfelijkheid” (“The Peach of Immortality”) based on the novel by Jan Wolkers. In 2018 he made “Scrooge!” a spectacle for the 100th-year anniversary of the Haarlem Stadsschouwburg Theatre. At the moment Rieks is busy preparing a puppet theatre production.