Reading Room 6
Staged reading (NL)
Carl von Winckelmann – Wij de Wijken
BIO:
Carl von Winckelmann (°1982) is a director and theater artist. He studied performing arts (RITCS Brussels) and visual arts (KASK Ghent). Together with Freek Mariën, he serves as artistic director at Het Kwartier. In this role, he creates productions for both young people and adults, focusing on compelling text, a solid thematic foundation, and unconventional forms or themes. He made his directorial debut at fABULEUS with Kasimir and Karoline. He later directed Othello and De Metsiers there, each based on his own original translations and adaptations.
In addition, he regularly works as a coach and stage director for various artists. He is a lecturer and served as the artistic coordinator of the Drama program at LUCA School of Arts in Leuven from 2016 to 2022. He further expanded this program, including the Writing track, which is unique in Flanders.
European Man: A Chronical, Carl was nominated for the 2025 Playwriting Award.
SYNOPSIS:
A group of young people are growing up in a city that is slowly sinking into the ground. It’s only a few millimetres a year, but it still feels as though the earth is slipping away from under their feet. This presents each of them with a difficult choice: leave or stay? Can they even leave, or are they doomed to stay here? As the foundations literally shake, the young people seek solace in one another. How can they give direction to the present and to their future in this unstable reality?
Ella Hickson – Oil / Hot Mess / Precious Little Talent
BIO:
Ella Hickson (°1985) is an awardwinning British playwright and director whose work is performed internationally. Her major credits include Oil and The Writer (Almeida Theatre), Swive (The Globe), and Anna (National Theatre). In 2020, she was selected for the Shakespeare is Dead festival with her play The Writer. A member of the Royal Society of Literature and recipient of the Catherine Johnson Award, she is currently developing new projects for the National Theatre, alongside various film and television work.
The 2025 Thérèse Cornips Stipendium was awarded to Jibbe Willems for the translation of seven texts, with Oil, Hot Mess, and Precious Little Talent featuring among the selected works.
SYNOPSIS:
Oil: A sweeping epic tracing a mother-daughter relationship from 1889 into a dystopian future, exploring the cost of empire and our oil dependency.
Hot Mess: A feverish look at the symbiotic bond between twins navigating the blurred lines of love and self-destruction amidst a backdrop of loud music and clubs.
Precious Little Talent: Set on a New York rooftop in 2008, hope and disillusionment collide as two young adults face a future shaped by unemployment and dementia.
Translator: Jibbe Willems