Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) was the most widely read and most prestigious intellectual of early 16th century Europe. Nevertheless, his dreams never came through. Instead of the open-minded study of biblical and classical texts, dogmatism prevailed. Instead of a peaceful world and Christian unity in a tolerant and reshaped church, he saw the beginning of a long period of division, fanatism and religious wars in Europe. His humanist ideas about education would not be put into practice until centuries later. Erasmus was a great man, but a tragic man.
In his performance, Harry Rijnen takes on the role of Erasmus himself, who has arrived at our day and age through a ‘time travel machine’. Desiderius is very eager to talk with the audience about his impressions of our current world. At the same time, he really likes to hear what his public think about his ideas from 500 years ago. Therefore, Erasmus interacts with the audience from the very beginning. That said, Desiderius is more than capable of maintaining a monologue about aspects of his thinking or about his astonishment when confronted with our 21st century world. The interactive performance can last from 50 to 120 minutes and is aimed at both adults and youngsters aged 14 years or older.