Firebombs, slim finances couldn't stop Mike Manicardi from growing Amsterdam's Badhuistheater
Ask long-time Amsterdam resident Mike Manicardi whether he is an actor, director, community leader, or entrepreneur, and he'll give you a complex answer making it clear why he worked 80 hours per week for most of his career. The founder of the Badhuistheater in the capital's Oost district, Manicardi says it is his family's survivor mentality and his refusal to quit that allowed him to defy the odds and grow the theater over 40 years into a vital cultural hub for Amsterdam's Dutch and international community.
Manicardi told the Dam Yankee podcast it was never easy turning the venue into one of the city's most diverse small theaters. The very fact the former bathhouse building was handed to him by City Hall to make it a home for international audiences prompted violence from extreme nationalists. It also took years before the diverse, working class neighborhood accepted him, and still more time for police and authorities to break up youth gangs causing problems in the area.
From Firebombs to International Stage
The early years of the Badhuistheater were marked by open hostility and literal threats to its existence. "We had to rebuild it. It was an old bathhouse and you couldn't use it as a theater because there was no space. So we had to pull half of the building apart and create a kind of circus tent of beams to create the amphitheater that you have now," he told Dam Yankee, produced in partnership with NL Times.
But that part of Amsterdam-Oost was more like an impoverished ghetto than the mix of class, wealth, and culture it is today, he says. "So there was a kind of a criminality," he continues. "And it was difficult. It was dangerous. And that period of history, were also kind of fascist parties. They existed. And they couldn't stand us because we were foreigners. And so they tried to burn us out. But it didn't matter. It didn't work," he explained to Dam Yankee host Zack Newmark.
"I think they all got arrested, and they're all dead now. So it doesn't matter. But it was very hard at the time."
Born in England, Manicardi credits his Irish mother and Italian father for his fortitude. His mother was quite literally born in a forest in Myanmar, when it was still known as Burma. "My brother is a doctor. He says it's just a complete miracle that they all didn't die of disease." The family of silver miners were "stuck in this bloody forest. And then they came back just when the Japanese turned up."
Meanwhile, his father was rounded up when he was a teen because Italy joined the Axis in World War II. Manicardi's father was held in a camp on the Isle of Man. "It must have been horrifically scaring for a young kid, because they put all kinds there. Communists, socialists, fascists, everything," he said. "They didn't mind if a couple of them died because then there was less people to feed," Manicardi continued.
"And he never told us about that, you see," he went on, speculating his father felt shame about that period of his life. "I only found out after he died that he'd been in this camp. And he carried that with him all his life."
After over five decades in theater, Manicardi, now in his 70s, admits that the fight for survival never went away. It just changed. The early battles with gangs and firebombs have been replaced by the persistent struggle to keep the theater financially sound and staffed, despite reduced spending on arts, rising costs, and how politicians sometimes disregard the need for culture.
But Manicardi is optimistic, particularly after the recent election that could bring the country from the right and more towards the center. "You've got these wonderful young politicians who want to support culture, look after old people, do all the good things that governments should do, look after the schools, see the roads work and the trains work and all these things, and to try to keep out of war as much as possible. And look after the people who are in the country," he said.
"I'm very positive. Amsterdam is going to be the wonderful magic city which it still is," he added. "I'm a complete fan. And I think, 'Thank God, we live in the Netherlands.' I'm very proud to live in the Netherlands."
Today, the Badhuistheater stands as a unique monument to independence and resilience, hosting live theater, improv comedy, and youth programs, as well as productions from Dutch, English, Czech, French, Italian and Polish companies. Manicardi still spends 60 hours per week on his theater, but makes more time for his family even though he is itching to get back on stage himself.
Listen to this entire episode of Dam Yankee on all major podcast platforms, or watch the full videos on YouTube. For more information and tickets, visit the Badhuistheater website and their Instagram pages. Upcoming productions include Maestro!, an improvisation contest, A Play For The Dictator, several Christmas productions, and Twelfth Night.
