Mylou Frencken

What is so strange about family anyway? From deep connection to complete chaos, from tenderness to violence - Renate Dorrestein called it 'the smallest concentration camp in the world', and it's hard to argue she had a point.

In her new show Familie voor Beginners (Family for Beginners), cabaret artist and singer Mylou Frencken confronts this theme. This year she trained to become a BABS (Special Civil Registry Officer) and wonders what wisdom you actually pass on to brides and grooms. Who is the best therapist for a family constellation? And how do you manage your relationship with your mother-in-law?

Frencken draws from her own background: her mother descends from the King of Groningen, her father was a Burgundian with Brabant roots. At home, pragmatism clashed with carnival spirit. Whether she has freed herself from that heritage - or whether that familial DNA always wins out - is one of the questions the show explores. She also draws lessons from famous families like the Kennedys and the House of Orange.

Frencken is also known as the singing barmaid in the TV quiz Met het Mes op Tafel and as co-founder of Theater de Liefde. Her songs have been nominated multiple times for the Annie M.G. Schmidt Prize.

About her previous show Minnares, Theaterkrant wrote: 'Gently mocking and gentle-hearted songs and stories that touch your soul. Little jewels.' Cabaret artist Richard Kemper: 'What songs. Very clever, I'm a bit jealous.' And conductor Michel Poels: 'Tender, hilarious, and full of beautiful, richly arranged songs.'