“Nora Fischer lifts you up and carries you along”
(De Theaterkrant)
The Leap (“De Sprong” in its Dutch version) is Nora’s very first self-written one-woman performance, except for the unexpected twist that Singer Nora is not present on stage. Instead, Person Nora explains why she will not be singing. For a while, she was unable to do so because of a complex cramp that was keeping her larynx in such a strong headlock that even Happy Birthday for her best friends was no longer an option. How could such a thing happen?
With this burning question, Nora starts digging for answers: from the pressure of the world’s largest stages, to the inner pressure that she had to remove from her system like a wasp’s poisonous sting. She unravels how the joy with which she once produced her first notes, gradually got overshadowed by piercing eyes and razor sharp judgments. There is no shortage of demons behind the successful performer she had become – and among those demons is Nora’s sister, who falls deeper and deeper into darkness as Nora’s voice falls into silence. But Nora is not the type to simply give up: there is a reason her parents used to call her “The Tank”. In the midst of the ruins, she demands answers: how can the radiating joy with which two girls started their lives, evolve into such an all-encompassing cramp? Who told us to get so caught up in suffocating perfectionism? In this grippingly tragic yet humorous storytelling performance, Nora invites her audience to join her in a highly intimate disclosure of what we secretly all know: nothing is what it seems.
Click here for the trailer.
“The Leap, her first performance as a storyteller makes a huge impact (…) She lifts you up and carries you along, over mountains and through valleys, and then she plunges you in the river.”
(De Theaterkrant)
The Leap received a large amount of media attention. A selection of the press coverage can be found here:
Click here for a review of full praise in De Theaterkrant
Click here for an in-depth interview in NRC Handelsblad
Click here for an in-depth interview in De Volkskrant
Click here for an in-depth interview in Trouw
Click here for Nora’s personal confession on the TV show Podium Klassiek
Click here for an in-depth conversation with Nora on Radio Klassiek
Click here for an in-depth conversation with Nora on Kunststof Radio
Click here for an in-depth conversation on the podcast “Met Groenteman in de Kast”
The Leap toured The Netherlands in 2024, and will continue touring in both English and Dutch in 2025/26.
Credits:
Nora Fischer: text & performance
Nina de la Parra: final directing
James Murray: lighting design
Jan Heideveld: sound design
Nada Mounzer: visual advice
Titus Muizelaar: coaching & advice
Joost de Haas: artwork & photography