UNSCRIPTED

Stand-up storytelling. You ask. I tell.

An intimate theatre performance full of pure storytelling

You may already know my success stories and big adventures. The real magic is often found in the failures, the small moments and what happens behind the scenes. That is what we will explore during UNSCRIPTED.

Buy your ticket now

Recognise the stories in your life

Stories are everywhere. Especially in the small, everyday moments you would normally overlook. Yet many people struggle to recognise the stories in their own lives. For social media, a presentation, their book or their business. Those stories are precisely what make you personal, original and relatable.

And often, the best stories are hidden in what you did not plan. An unexpected encounter, a wrong turn, something that unfolds completely differently than expected, or the moment you find yourself outside your comfort zone. No matter how much you try to plan, life is ultimately unscripted. You have to work with whatever comes your way. And that is often where the magic happens.

Back to pure storytelling

After my theatre show last year, I realised that on stage too, I wanted to return to the essence. To pure storytelling. No set, no slides, no scenes, no distractions. Just the stories in the spotlight.

You ask. I tell.

That is UNSCRIPTED. An intimate performance in which your questions, words and stories decide where we go. Ask me anything, name a subject or share something that is on your mind. I will tell the story it brings up for me, including the unexpected connections, insights and lessons hidden within it.

You will not only discover my stories, but also learn to look differently at your own. At the stories that have been there all along, but that you may never have recognised as stories.

You will go home with stories that stay with you and a new perspective on the stories in your own life.

Buy your ticket now

A life that refuses to be planned

For more than thirty years, Esther Jacobs has been known as the ‘No Excuses Lady’, thanks to her remarkable achievements. She has given more than 1,000 keynotes and 2 TEDx talks, written over 30 books, received a royal honour for her work with Coins for Care, through which she raised €16 million for charities, travelled solo through 112 countries as the Netherlands’ first digital nomad and took part in Survivor.

Behind those adventures are doubts, failures, accidents and choices that turned out differently than expected. That is exactly where Esther finds the stories that move, surprise and set something in motion. She shares them openly, with humour and self-mockery, and reveals how much meaning can be found in what happens along the way.

Over the past ten years, she has explored through tango and tantra how to find more balance between doing and being, strength and vulnerability, control and surrender. That search has also produced stories she kept to herself for a long time. However carefully you plan, life itself is unscripted. You work with whatever comes your way, and that is often where the magic lives.

During UNSCRIPTED, Esther takes the stage as a person, outside her familiar role as a speaker or presenter. She shares whatever arises and shows how storytelling works: how a single question, detail or unexpected moment can open up a meaningful story.

With this performance she hopes to do two things: offer an inspiring and entertaining experience, and help you recognise the stories in your own life and share them more often. No excuses.