Soekarno is a figure who continues to fascinate and divide to this day. In this performance by Bo Tarenskeen, his political and personal history is used to explore how ideals clash with power, and how a nation tries to define itself in a time of violence and upheaval.

A country in the making and the price of revolution

Date: October 3, 2026 - October 4, 2026
Genre: Theatre
Taal: Dutch
Location: Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, Rabozaal

Revolutionary, fighter against 350 years of colonial violence, and first president of Indonesia, Soekarno remains one of the most controversial political figures of the twentieth century.

In this new production by Bo Tarenskeen (maker of Het Indisch Interieur and De Indië Monologen), we see how Soekarno develops during a period of occupation, independence struggle and political instability. His pursuit of unity is constantly under pressure from historical events and internal conflict.

We follow both the young and the older Soekarno, played by Bo Tarenskeen and Esther Scheldwacht, as his thinking is shaped against the backdrop of the Japanese occupation, the declaration of independence, the Bersiap, the colonial war and the coup that ended his presidency.

A performance about the desire for national unity, the tensions of revolution and the fragility of democratic power.