Ciske de Rat - de Musical (2010)

"Ciske de Rat" is about eleven-year-old street-wise Ciske, who is often called "the rat". The musical follows Ciske's adventures in the 1930s, when he is expelled from school and forced to attend a new school where he meets a friendly teacher called Mr. Bruijs and class bully Jan Verkerk. As his father is a sailor and not home much, and his mother simply hates him, Bruijs and his father's new girlfriend become his surrogate parents. At school he befriends Dorus who is in poor health, gives him a book to read and soon after dies. When Ciske's mother tears up the precious book to taunt him, Ciske snaps and kills her. For that, he is convicted and spends some time in jail. This story is told in parallel to the story of Ciske's adventures in 1940, when WW2 is about to start and Ciske is drafted in the Dutch army. Waiting for the enemy, he meets both Bruijs and Verkerk again. While the German attack is ongoing, Ciske is forced to finally deal with the trauma of his youth.