15th November: Showing + Talk during Amsterdam Storytelling Festival
15th + 16th December: Theater Bellevue Amsterdam (première!) [Dutch language]
Tour: in Dutch from January 2027, in English from 15th of February 2027
Genres: Storytelling & Theatre
Sometimes you stumble into a whole new world, you never knew you needed.
For storyteller Rory de Groot, it begins in his father’s study — a room left behind like a time capsule, filled with books, sketches, and cryptic notes. Looking for a quiet moment away from the tasks of everyday life, Rory stumbles straight into the wild, hallucinatory universe of William Blake. The 18th‑century artist who saw angels in trees and entire mythologies beyond the mundane. He captured his visions in an extensive oeuvre of writings and images, that scholars are still debating today. But why did Rory’s father spend so many years collecting and studying Blake’s work? Could there be a piece of his father left, hiding in the myths, like a door to a place where they could meet once again?
As Rory wanders through Blake’s eccentric visions — battling gods, blazing symbols, and cosmic contradictions — his own reality starts to shift. The familiar becomes strange, the strange becomes comforting, and the chaos of his inner world finds a language. What begins as accidental curiosity becomes a way of navigating the tender, disorienting landscape of grief. In search for traces of the familiar, Rory uncovers a completely new way of seeing.
L O S is an intimate, visual storytelling performance about how myth can shine a new light on memory, how imagination can hold what feels too heavy, and how art can open doors we didn’t know were there. Humorous, heartfelt, and deeply human — a show for anyone who has ever lost someone, or is afraid of doing so. And for all of us who believe stories help us navigate our worlds, and can change the way we move through them.
Credits: storyteller Rory de Groot / direction Freek Vielen / artistic support Farnoosh Farnia /technical design Mirko Lazović / outside eyes Sahand Sahebdivani, Raphael Rodan / producer tba / music composition tba
Rory de Groot (Rotterdam, 1983) is a storyteller, theatre maker, actor and writer with a fascination for personal and mythical stories.
As a boy, Rory dreamed of a career in professional football. He quickly rose through the youth ranks of Feyenoord, and made his first-team debut in 2003 in a sold-out stadium in Urawa, Japan. He became a shining promise overnight, but despite his hard work and dedication, the promise slowly faded away. Disillusionized, Rory decided to end his football career and completely change course.
As a surprising next step, Rory auditioned for the Toneel- en Kleinkunstacademie in Amsterdam and got in. During his studies, he performed as a stand-up comedian with the Comedy Explosion, and upon graduating in 2009, he acted in various productions with the Noord Nederlands Toneel and developed his own work with Productiehuis Rotterdam.
The transition from the strict discipline of professional football to the creative freedom of the stage, seemed a journey between very different playing fields. Yet he also discovered many similarities, and felt driven to continue searching and creating his own artistic path.
In the past years, Rory started diving deeper into his personal experiences; the pressure to stand-out and succeed, and the boundaries of identity and mental resilience. In his last solo show “Becoming Absurd” (2025), he discussed with raw honesty how vulnerable mental health can become in a high-pressure environment. In “Play // No Play” (2026), he directed twenty-two teenage boys, training on their beloved soccerfield, while the audience listens through headphones to their thoughts on growing up as a boy, and their expectations of being a man. “Gevaarlijk Spel” (2026), is a crafty storytelling-lecture about the World Cup – a tournament that served throughout its history as a stage for war propaganda, political violence, and moral corruption, but also for hope and resistance.
