With a composer like Reza Namavar, be ready to expect to unexpected – including a kind of chamber opera based on a dishwasher manual, with solid nods to Vivaldi. And why not? With De betoverde vaatwasser (‘the enchanted dishwasher’), Namavar proves that it can be done. Marcel Beekman, tenor and a one-person theatre troupe, transforms even the reading of dishwasher instructions into a compelling drama. Namavar’s infectious music is performed by the saxophonists of the Amstel Quartet.

From the ridiculous to the sublime, is how Namavar likes to move. De betoverde vaatwasser tells the story of Tonny Tonijn, who lives above nursery D’Oorvijgh (‘Box on th’Ear’), run by the slightly overworked Manuela. But the real protagonist, of course, is the dishwasher, which is not working quite as it should. Time to grab the manual, but this has fallen into the grubby little hands of Miss Manuela’s children.

The Amstel Quartet excels in Namavar’s colourful music and top tenor Beekman slips effortlessly into the shoes of Tonnie, Miss Manuela and even the dishwasher. This promises to be a unique musical theatre experience. The enchanted dishwasher premiered at the Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam in December 2022 and could be heard as a radio play earlier that year in Vrije Geluiden on NPO Klassiek.