Rob van Reijn

'Roel Oostra – Theaterman in hart en nieren' offers a glimpse into the working life of director, actor, writer, and former theater director of De Lawei, Roel Oostra (1921–2025).

The mayor receives a letter from America, addressed to the village illiterate, in which his brother writes that he wants to be buried in the Netherlands. People believe that the American is rich and want to make plans for the restoration of the café and the rectory, and the construction of a new cemetery. The mayor also wants the nearby gypsies to move to the designated spot, and the teacher's daughter wants more freedom. Because the doctor is the smartest person in the village, he can get everyone to do what he wants.

One day, Doctor Kroch (Henk van Ulsen) receives a chest full of gold, accompanied by a half-illegible letter pleading for help. The doctor pays no further attention to it; the patient, after all, is asking for a cure for... gold fever. When the chest is later stolen by bandits Oenk (Tabe Bas) and Boenk (John Lanting), Doctor Kroch starts to think there might be more to it after all. He decides, together with his servant Valet (Henk Molenberg), to try to find the sender of the letter, the Duke of Woestewolf (Ton van Duinhoven). During his journey, the doctor is warned by Esmeralda, a gypsy fortune-teller (Elsa Lioni). Nevertheless, he continues his journey. “Ghosts do not exist. Everything can be explained by science,” the doctor claims. But the closer he gets to Woestewolf, the stranger his adventures become.