Whereas in the last century this masterpiece enjoyed cult status among queers as well as conservatives, these days it seems consigned to oblivion – even though it is perhaps the most romantic and Anglophile novel of all times. Evelyn Waugh's secretly autobiographical Brideshead Revisited (1945) tells the story of Charles Ryder, who as a young student at Oxford in the early 1900s falls under the spell of the aristocratic Flyte family. For one sultry summer, he luxuriates in their opulent life at the paradisiacal family estate, falling in love with both the son, Sebastian, and the daughter, Julia.

But with the end of summer and the rise of fascism, adult life presents itself. However much Charles would have liked it to, the freedom of those golden August days will not return. What had seemed like the prelude to a radically honest and liberal life turns out to be the beginning of a hopeless and cynical existence.

For Evelyn Waugh, mired in a bitter worldview, writing this novel was an attempt to recover the happiness of his younger years. Inspired by this self-analysis, De Warme Winkel uses Brideshead Revisited as a vehicle for an autopsy of love and an unfolding of our (sexual) identity. With live music composed by Rik Elstgeest and the memories and fantasies of Florian and Abke as the beating heart, they bring to life the epic love story Waugh so longed for.

Brideshead Revisited was made for (and with) the Holland Festival 2023. It ran for a month in the main hall of De Sloot, a breeding ground for theatre in Amsterdam. The twenty performances were sold out in no time, and De Warme Winkel soon received requests about bringing the show back again.

Together with Toneelhuis, De Warme Winkel is turning its site-specific version of Brideshead Revisited into a traveling production for the large stage. The set is being adapted so that the show will have just as much impact as it did in De Sloot.