During this evening at Zaal 3 of Het Nationale Theater in The Hague, two solo performances by Monica Hofman are presented together: Spelersgoud and Het levenswerk van een middelmatige actrice. Both productions were previously shown at the Noorderzon festival and together form two parts of a trilogy about death.SpelersgoudSpelersgoud is a fictive-autobiographical solo that explores the glorification of suffering. The performance raises questions about the role of artists in transforming personal pain into art, and about the boundary between sincerity and exaggeration. At its centre is a woman who does not shy away from suffering but consciously carries it. Themes such as loneliness, fear and loss are examined alongside hope, forgiveness and love.Het levenswerk van een middelmatige actriceAt the heart of Het levenswerk van een middelmatige actrice lies the question of whom an actor performs for when there is no audience or context left. An actress steps onto the stage without a script: the planned play about her father is cancelled, and what remains is the actress herself. The performance investigates what is left when role, set and narrative fall away, and highlights acting as an art form and craft in its most fundamental state.About Monica HofmanMonica graduated in 2023 from the acting programme at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. Since then, she has created a short festival production each year. Her work often departs from personal experiences and examines how these relate to broader social and existential themes.