Reading Room 2
Staged reading (EN)
Bart Van Nuffelen – Honderd
BIO:
Bart Van Nuffelen (°1973) is a writer and the artistic director of the Antwerp-based theatre company MartHa!tentatief. He creates theatre and documentary work about the reality behind social trends, often drawing from the major stories of ‘ordinary’ people.
Since 2010, he has shaped highprofile urban projects such as Polen op Zondag, 13 ½, and the large-scale 175+ in the Bourla Theatre. For the award-winning youth performance Dounia B, he focused on ‘children between different languages’. In 2022, he created the hit podcast De Kunst van het verdwijnen (VRT MAX), which was awarded the prestigious title of ‘Meestervertellers’ (Master Storytellers).
Since 2023, he and the company have focused on a three-year trajectory in Deurne-Noord. This resulted in the performance Honderd (2024, as part of the European project Unlock the City!) and the youth performance Fatilou M (2026), the final piece of a trilogy about young people growing up in the city.
SYNOPSIS:
A report from the frayed edge of a city.
Every city has a road like this. A road that guides traffic in and out of the city. A road where everything that’s loose elsewhere ends up. A road you don’t want to be on, but sometimes just have to be. This is the story of that road. A road that’s too busy. A desolate road. A road littered with trash. A road of loss. A road of arrival. A road of hope. A road of dreams. A road full of hidden beauty. A road of people.
Writer Bart Van Nuffelen and audio producer Pauline Augustyn spent months wandering along Bisschoppenhoflaan. They watched as spring, summer, and fall came and went. They spoke with a hundred residents there. They gave the street a voice.
Translator: Rina Vergano
With support from MartHa!tentatief.
Nina van Tongeren – Teckel
BIO:
Nina van Tongeren (°1999) is a playwright and dramaturg. In 2022, she graduated from the HKU with her play Ndumbé and the Wolf Pack (9+) and her thesis Call Me, Call Me, Speak to Me, in which she challenges stereotypes surrounding race, class, and sexual abuse. Since then, she has worked as a resident dramaturg at the Toneelmakerij, where she also writes one production per year. Together with Paulien Geerlings, Nina conducts research and writes essays on representation, the position of marginalized creators in the sector, and care dramaturgy. The performance Teckel for Theater Bellevue is her first text for an adult audience.
SYNOPSIS:
“Dear audience
Teckel is a play about a word we can’t use, or else you won’t come. At least, that’s what we think, because all the books, movies, and plays about “abuse” carefully avoid using the word on the back cover or in the promotional text—otherwise, no one would be interested. So we’re following their example, because we have a story and we really need someone who’s willing to listen. That’s why Teckel is about Stanley Kubrick, the musical Wicked, and which dog breeds are or aren’t nice. Nothing else. Promise.”
Teckel is a gripping monologue that, following in the footsteps of Gisèle Pelicot, places the shame squarely on the perpetrator. It also places the shame on the bystanders, who choose to look away. Accompanied by teen music from the 2010s, two lawyers, and a number of everyday heroes not to be underestimated, a young woman grapples with the question: if you carry a story with you that no one wants to hear, what do you do?
Translator: Lindah Leah Nyirenda