With Byzantium, Het Zuidelijk Toneel presents a new main hall production in co-production with the Flemish company Abattoir Fermé. In this first collaboration, artistic director Stef Lernous directs a grotesque, baroque and sensory performance about the backstage of the restaurant industry, where ambition boils over and egos get burned.

The restaurant Byzantium is closing down. After a hundred years of outstanding service, all that remains is a dysfunctional staff and a kitchen where rivalry and ambition reign supreme. The sink is manned by a dishwasher who is chronically late, the oven is operated by an uncomplicated, incompetent chef, and in service, a brutal, drunken waiter would rather drink the wine himself than serve it. Everyone pursues their own dream while the restaurant slowly goes under. What emerges is a culinary fever dream between heaven and the rubbish bin, including visual excess, dark humour and a touch of filth.

The Belgian press spoke of a ‘visual spectacle’ and praised the energy and joy of performing on stage. Now it's the Dutch audience's turn.

Byzantium premieres on 29 March at Schouwburg en Concertzaal Tilburg and will then tour theatres throughout the Netherlands until 9 May 2026. Curious to see how this cross-border collaboration tastes? View the show schedule and order your tickets via hzt.nl.