Wil van der Meer

Theater De Liefde celebrates the birthday of Annie M.G. Schmidt - she would have turned 116 today - with an intimate programme by Wil van der Meer.

For more than twelve years, a play was read aloud to Annie M.G. Schmidt every Saturday. Wil van der Meer was one of the readers as a young, aspiring actor - not something that came naturally, as reading was not part of life in the butcher family Van der Meer. Without quite realizing it, he found himself in the circle of friends around the queen of light entertainment, the Astrid Lindgren of the Low Countries.

In his programme, Wil tells through songs and stories about those Saturday gatherings, the summers on her estate in southern France, and his own journey from a provincial butcher family to the theatre world. He translated part of her work into French together with Muriel Mioulet and Frank de Kaey.

Texts: Wil van der Meer, Annie M.G. Schmidt
Translation: Muriel Mioulet, Frank de Kaey, Wil van der Meer
Compositions: Harry Bannink, Cor Lemaire
Piano: Hilmar Leujes

A number of translated songs can be heard on Spotify under the name Wil van der Meer.