The Hague English Comedy Nights return to Branoul on Saturday 26 September, bringing together established names and rising talent from the international English-language comedy circuit.
This month’s headliner is Irish comedian Fred Cooke, who combines music, physical storytelling and an unpredictable stage style. A well-known face on the Irish comedy circuit, Cooke has supported major comedians including Tommy Tiernan, Ardal O’Hanlon and Seann Walsh.
He is also a regular performer at leading comedy venues in the UK and Ireland, including The Stand, The Comedy Store, The Empire and Dublin’s Laughter Lounge, and has appeared widely on the festival circuit. His performances mix musical ability with energetic storytelling and a deliberately chaotic style of comedy.
Also appearing is Shaz Memon, a Dutch-Pakistani stand-up comedian based in Amsterdam. His comedy combines sharp crowd work, storytelling and cross-cultural observations on identity, immigration, race and modern city life.
Born and raised in Pakistan, Memon later moved to Australia to study before settling in the Netherlands, giving him an international perspective that strongly shapes his material. He has quickly built a name on the European English-language comedy circuit and, in 2025, won both the Jury Award and Audience Award at the English Comedy Talent Award during the Utrecht International Comedy Festival.
The evening will be hosted by Irish comedian Sharon Em, who will guide audiences through the line-up, with additional support acts also appearing during the night.
The Hague English Comedy Nights regularly feature headline acts from the UK and European comedy circuits who are not often seen performing in the Netherlands, alongside experienced MCs, established support acts and emerging comedians.
There are two performances on Saturday 26 September, at 19:00 and 21:00. The show is entirely in English.
Join us for a special crossover edition of #DemocracyDrinks The Hague and Blue Drinks Netherlands, where we dive into a topic that touches every one of us but rarely makes it into democracy conversations: water.
Water is fundamental to life, but decisions about who manages it, who participates in those decisions, and how competing needs are balanced are ultimately questions of governance and democracy.
As the Netherlands experiences increasingly frequent and severe periods of drought, these questions are becoming more urgent. This summer has demonstrated that even a country internationally recognised for its expertise in water management is vulnerable to freshwater scarcity. The Netherlands has developed a highly decentralised model of water governance with deep historical roots, and the Dutch Water Authorities play a central role in responding to these challenges.
But what does democratic water management mean in practice? How can citizens, communities and local institutions meaningfully influence decisions that are often highly technical and increasingly complex?
This conversation will explore how the Dutch model of local and regional water governance responds to these challenges. It will also look beyond the Netherlands. What can these diverse experiences teach us about the conditions needed for effective, inclusive and accountable water governance?
Our speakers
Jan van der Steen (Expert) is a European Affairs Advisor at Unie van Waterschappen (the Dutch Water Authorities) and Vewin, representing the Dutch water sector in Brussels. Trained in water management at TU Delft, he now works on EU policy dossiers including water quality, PFAS, climate adaptation, and digitalisation.
Elena Masterova (Moderator) is a Trainer and Programme Manager at The Hague Academy for Local Governance, where she develops and delivers training on water management, climate resilience, and sustainability. An ecologist by training, she holds a joint MSc in Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management including roles at the UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Water Management Institute.
Location: The Hague Humanity Hub (Fluwelen Burgwal 58, 2511 CJ)
Blue Drinks Netherlands is an informal networking community that brings together people working across the Dutch and international water sector. Through accessible events, Blue Drinks creates space to socialize, network and have fun! This event continues that approach by bringing the water community into inspiring conversation with experts and practitioners working on democracy and local governance.
What are the #DemocracyDrinks?
#DemocracyDrinks is an informal, recurring conversation and networking series bringing together people working on democracy, peace, justice, and democratic participation.
The format is intentionally simple: open, dialogue-led conversations in a relaxed setting. #DemocracyDrinks The Hague provides space to connect across sectors, test ideas, explore emerging questions, and reflect collectively on democratic challenges beyond formal panels or presentations.
On the International Day of Peace, Hope Box, The Hague Humanity Hub, Leiden University College and Amare come together for an evening of art and dialogue as part of Hope Box – Piece for World Peace.
The programme opens with the hanging of a Hope Box Kite for World Peace, followed by a Fireside Peace Chat exploring the many ways peace is created, through international institutions, communities, artists, activists and individuals.
In this special edition of the Fireside Peace Chats series, we welcome Ilya “Admiral” Shcharbitski, a Belarusian community organiser based in The Hague. He believes peace is not something that arrives; it is something people make.
Drawing on personal experiences from conflict-affected environments, the conversation asks us to look beyond diplomacy and politics and consider the role each of us can play in building peace, solidarity and understanding.
Join us to listen, reflect and ask: Who makes peace and what can I do to contribute?
Practical information: Location: Tribunetrap, Amare, The Hague Date: 21 September Programme: Hope Box: Piece for Peace art event and dialogue 17:00 – Hanging of the additional Hope Box Kite for World Peace 17:30–18:30 – Fireside Peace Chat at the Tribunetrap The hanging of the kite provides a visual and symbolic opening to the programme, followed by a one-hour public conversation.
What are the Fireside Peace Chats? The Fireside Peace Chats aim to create a space where practice, research, and policy in the field of peacebuilding come together in an informal way through the experiences of people on the ground. By sharing personal stories from peacebuilders and other figures with extensive experience in conflict areas, we want to contribute to a locally informed paradigm shift in liberal peacebuilding. The Fireside Peace Chats originally emerged as a joint initiative of Leiden University College (LUC), the Knowledge Platform Security and Rule of Law (KPSRL), and The Hague Humanity Hub (THHH). Read more about previous editions here.
Europe and the Netherlands face a crucial choice: do we remain dependent on Big Tech, or do we take control of our digital sovereignty? Dependence on Google, Microsoft, Amazon and ChatGPT carries risks: privacy, security and control over our own data and infrastructure. But how do we make that change a reality?
We’ve seen just how quickly minds change about how important sovereignty is. The Dutch company DigID went from not worth buying to its sale being blocked by the Dutch government – as a matter of public interest and national security, no less – when an American company intended to buy the company – and its database of citizen’s personal data. Europe’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are at the forefront of digital security, but dependance on Big Tech leaves us signing over our rights for convenience.
At EU TechFest, we’re creating a unique experience where we bring the tech ecosystem together to get hands-on with European technology, learn what laws govern the tech world, and talk about how to break things off with Big Tech. From local cloud solutions to ethical AI, from open-source software to data management: we’ll show you how to work locally, securely and autonomously.
Read more under video.
How? Through interactive workshops, hands-on sessions and tech talks led by pioneers in sovereign technology. Learn how to implement your own “Big Tech Diet” and become independent, step by step: less dependence, more control. Discover local alternatives for data, the cloud, office software and more.
What? An interactive programme brimming with inspiration and practical insights, covering topics such as:
Local data & the cloud — How do you build a secure, European infrastructure?
Open-source tools — What alternatives exist for everyday use?
Ethical AI — How do you implement AI without relying on Big Tech?
Legal frameworks — What are the rules for sovereign technology in Europe?
For who? For professionals, policymakers, developers and anyone who believes in a digital future in which Europe and the Netherlands remain in control. Come along to network, learn, and above all, do.
In October, Dennis Russell Davies, Jun Märkl and Antony Hermus conduct the Residentie Orkest in masterpieces by Rachmaninoff, Philip Glass, Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Tsoupaki, Mahler and Dvořák. The soloists performing at Amare are pianist Maki Namekawa, violinist and artist in residence Stefan Jackiw, and mezzo-soprano Barbara Kozelj. At the Nieuwe Kerk, musicians from the Residentie Orkest perform works by Haydn, Martin and Dvořák as part of the Close Up series.
Fri 2 Oct, 8.15pm, Amare: RACHMANINOV & GLASS
Under the baton of master conductor Dennis Russell Davies – who has been conducting with passion and finesse for decades and is also the partner of tonight’s pianist – the Residentie Orkest presents compositions in which past and present intertwine. Pianist Maki Namekawa, Philip Glass’s close musical collaborator, is the soloist in the Dutch premiere of Glass’s Mishima Concerto for piano and orchestra, a cinematic and hypnotic journey. The piece grew out of Glass’s soundtrack for the acclaimed film Mishima and is imbued with contemplation, freedom and inner strength. Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3, by contrast, embraces memory and longing, with lush strings and playful jazzy accents. Rachmaninoff wrote the symphony after emigrating to the United States, and you can hear the balance between nostalgia for his homeland and an open, energetic outlook towards the future. An evening full of contrast, energy and emotional richness.
The stage is bursting with energy today. Stefan Jackiw, violinist and artist in residence for the 2026/27 season, takes on Tchaikovsky’s exuberant Violin Concerto. A lyrical, demanding and irresistibly expressive work. Tchaikovsky’s only violin concerto calls for total commitment: dancing melodies, dazzling technique and an emotional directness that is in safe hands with Jackiw. Afterwards, chief conductor Jun Märkl continues his great journey through the German Romantic repertoire this season, this time with Richard Strauss’s monumental Ein Heldenleben. An orchestra of more than one hundred musicians, rich colours and an outpouring of energy in every bar: unforgettable. In this work, Strauss openly weaves quotations from his own earlier compositions into the score, as if the hero were looking back on his musical life. The impressive violin solos by concertmaster Wouter Vossen give the heroic figure an inner voice. The result is an overwhelming listening experience in which virtuosity, orchestral grandeur and personal stories converge.
Calliope Tsoupaki – former Composer Laureate of the Netherlands and a close associate of the Residentie Orkest – explores in Falling how we seek to find meaning again in a world that has become unsteady. In Tsoupaki’s Thin Air, we return to a work born of compassion and solidarity. Originally written during the pandemic (and premiered in this orchestral version by the Residentie Orkest), it is so timeless that it may perhaps resonate even more powerfully now than it did then. Mahler turns the emotion inward with one of his best-known song cycles: the Rückert Lieder. Five miniature mirrors in which longing, tranquility, self-examination and melancholy are laid bare without drama. Barbara Kozelj makes the songs almost tangible with her warm, rich mezzo-soprano voice. Dvořák’s fascinating Symphony No. 5 brings the evening to a close not with spectacle, but with sunlight: warm-blooded, playful and dancing. A symphony that smells of grass, earth, sunshine and evening air. This is Dvořák at his most open, most free and most blissful. Conductor Antony Hermus weaves a wonderful, breathing programme between Tsoupaki’s air and Dvořák’s earth.
Saturday’s concert is part of the now much-loved RO NOW series. Before the concert, presenter Sander Zwiep, known from NPO Klassiek, and the orchestra will offer a few short, illuminating examples to open your ears to what is about to come. After the concert, the music continues in the foyer and drinks will be waiting, with the first round on the Residentie Orkest.
Wed 28 Oct, 8.15pm, Nieuwe Kerk: CLOSE UP WITH HAYDN, MARTIN & DVOŘÁK
During Close Up at the Nieuwe Kerk, chamber music comes particularly close: you sit around the musicians, the sound is warm and immediate, and every nuance counts. This edition presents three gems for strings, performed by an ensemble from the Residentie Orkest. The programme unfolds from quartet to sextet, allowing the colours of the string ensemble to become increasingly rich and full. Haydn opens playfully with his famous String Quartet ‘The Joke’, which has been taking audiences by surprise for centuries. Frank Martin’s Pavane couleur du temps is a finely crafted gem: softly pulsating, intimate and clear in tone. Dvořák’s String Sextet brings the evening to a close with a warm-blooded blend of dance rhythms, melancholy and melodic richness. An evening where craftsmanship and imagination come together.
Photos above: Maki Namekawa, Stefan Jackiw en Barbara Kozelj
Spending time in nature is one of the most well-researched forms of self-care, and has been scientifically proven to reduce stress, improve concentration, mood and overall well being.
Adina – Gestalt Counsellor and Therapist in The Hague at The Library Within (https://thelibrarywithin.com/) organises at the end of September and November Silent Walks in The Hague/ Kijkduin for people that that look to find space for silent self-reflection and self-care will regain rest in their minds and bodies through walk and movement while being with others, in community.
The gatherings takes place on
– Saturday 26th of September and
– Saturday 28th of November(between 11am-13pm)
Through the dunes and seaside of Kijkduin in The Hague.
What you can expect: a warm welcome, checking in with the needs of the present moment, pausing halfway for spoken reflection and connection, ending with a final reflection and/or meditation. Taking the time intentionally for yourself, you’ll give yourself a simple, yet profoundly powerful experience.
Fee: €5-, (btw exempt) to be paid 2 days in advance, upon receiving an invoice.
Registration: latest 2 days before the planned event.
Cancellation & rescheduling: Free of charge 2 days before the event. Last minute emergencies? Please get in touch with Adina.
Are you part of a community, a neighbourhood group, a volunteer organisation, a support network or a team – and you want to bring the Silent Walks experience to them? Get in touch with Adina! She’d love to hear about your community work and explore how we can create something meaningful together.
Silent Walk Testimonial:
“Taking part in Adina’s silent walk felt like a breath of fresh air. It cleared my mind and grounded me in the most wonderful way. Adina’s warmth and gentle guidance made walking in silence feel completely easy and natural. I loved being able to focus on my senses, my breath, and the nature around me while still feeling connected to the group. It was a very special experience and I can’t wait to join again.” (M. D.)”
