My First Revolution

Beek Groot received a grant to develop a theatre production. My First Revolution is a hybrid play about Tim, a well-meaning slacker who postpones adulthood for as long as possible. After a two-year backpacking trip through Asia, he returns to Amsterdam, where life has become increasingly harsh. As Tim tries to rebuild his life, his best friend Jasper radicalises into an anti-capitalist activist and draws him into a politically motivated attack. The play explores contemporary forms of resistance: Tim dreams of creating a better world on a small scale, with an ecological rooftop garden, while Jasper seeks to overthrow the system altogether. The form is a hybrid mix of table readings, live-performed scenes, and filmed sequences, depicting a world in constant flux. The loose structure mirrors the inner struggles of the characters as they search for an alternative future.

Beek Groot is a film and theatre director. In 2023, he directed the plays Where's My Money? by John Patrick Shanley and the provocative comedy SEMINAR by Theresa Rebeck. In his work, Beek explores the psychology of his characters and their relationship to the time and environment they inhabit. He views a good script as the result of an open, inquisitive perspective on the social forces that shape people’s lives. His work focuses on characters who observe society from a marginal position—strange, sometimes incomprehensible figures whose unique perspectives offer a counterpoint to stifling normality. In 2022, Beek graduated as a fiction director from the Netherlands Film Academy. His graduation film Entertain Me was selected for the Netherlands Film Festival, broadcast on Dutch national television (NPO), and nominated for the Verna Fields Award for Sound Design.