Jakop Ahlbom

Jakop Ahlbom

Illusion in optima forma

Movement is the agent Jakop Ahlbom uses to blend music, acrobatics, dance, illusionism, slapstick and theatrical effect into one. Combining imagination with a sense of drama, the images he creates immerse the stage in a film-like atmosphere. As if in a surrealistic film, the audience is conveyed from dancing duets to comic acts, and from tricks to pure slapstick.

Born in Sweden, Jakop Ahlbom graduated from the Amsterdam School of the Arts in 1998, specializing in physical theatre. In that same year, he was awarded the Top Naeff prize, an incentive prize for the most promising student. His first three productions received much attention, but it was his fourth production, Vielfalt, that was selected for the Theatre Festival (TF) 2007 and really put him in the spotlight. The Volkskrant newspaper wrote: ‘…pure magic. Imagination running riot, illusion and ‘make believe’ in optima forma. A magic show that casually raises the question of what theatre really is and reminds one of the hidden meaning of fairy-tales’.