Shakespeare is Dead Festival

From 22 to 26 February 2022, Leuven (Belgium) will host Shakespeare is dead, an international festival for contemporary playwriting. With a year’s delay, due to COVID-19, the festival will delve deeper into the state of the theatre text in today’s world with a handpicked selection of 10 new international texts and 11 new texts from Dutch and Belgian authors. Though the Great Bard may be long gone, playwriting is very much alive and kicking. 

Shakespeare Is Dead is an international festival with some of the most interesting voices in Dutch and Belgian theatre. Get to know the finest new creations from a new generation of Dutch-speaking playwrights during the three days of our international visitors programme on 23, 24 and 25 February.

Playwrights to discover: 

The selected international texts are by Aristide Tarnagda (Burkina Faso),Chelsea Woolley (Canada), Si’an Chen (China), Maria Milisavljevic (Germany), Pipsa Lonka (Finland), Edouard Elvis Bvouma (Cameroon), Jeton Neziraj (Kosovo), Simona Semenic (Slovenia), Jasmine Lee-Jones (UK) and Sami Ibrahim (UK).  Their texts are translated into dutch, but also presented in their original language during living room readings at the homes of the Leuven international community.

Also, eleven new plays by Dutch and Flemish playwrights will be presented in staged readings throughout the three days of your visit. These works are written by Vera Morina, Eric De Vroedt, Frank Siera, BOG., Michaël Bijnens, Anna Carlier, Dounia Mahammed, De HOE, Stijn Devillé, Nico Boon and Freek Mariën. The readings take place in English. German and French translations will be available.