In 2025, DE HOE ventured into producing a sitcom on stage, a megalomaniacal plan that could only end in crushed ambitions, broken hearts and shattered egos. Against all laws of logic, the actors succeeded in their endeavour. DE SITCOM was a triumph and even surpassed Opening Night, one reviewer enthused. But suppose the complex creation behind the scenes had taken its toll. What if the group was actually on the verge of collapse, on the brink of breaking up? External success, internal conflict. And then the question: what now? Make a comeback, of course, but where to?

DE SITCOM ended with an existential odyssey in search of a way out of the endless laughter. This is exactly where DE HOE picks up the thread again: what does the company find at the heart of the labyrinth? In DE SITCOMEBACK – at once a mirror, a spin-off and a completely standalone piece – the members of DE HOE attempt to provide a definitive provisional answer to the questions they can no longer avoid. Is it funny or actually really sad? When does lightness become unbearable? And how do you become the inspired group you always hoped to be?

"If sitcoms are flat pancakes that give you a stomachache when eaten in excess, DE SITCOM is more like a tall party cake with endless layers around a hollow core. DE HOE excels in its own caricature." — Wouter Hillaert in De Standaard, 4 March 2025

• DE HOE came into being when Compagnie De KOE and Hof van Eede, two related collectives, merged in early 2023. The permanent core is supplemented every eighteen months by a young collective. De HOE writes and creates itself. De KOE had been a regular feature at Kaaitheater for many years.