Brussels and Barcelona engage in a high-level neighbourly exchange of stories, people and traditions. A pleasant encounter with contemporary theatre texts from both regions via a lively staged reading.

It’s abundantly clear that Belgium and the Netherlands are home to incredible theatre writers, and the same goes for Catalonia. But do we exchange enough work? Countless unexplored treasures – texts filled with daring, insight and emotion – are gathering dust on Belgian and Catalonian shelves. That’s exactly what Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (TNC) and KVS want to remedy. With the projects New Catalan Dramaturgy and New Belgian Dramaturgy, we light a fire under these stories and throw writers, directors, actors and audiences into the mix.

Barcelona is up first. TNC will work with texts by the Brussels-Marrocan author Taha Adnan (Dounia) and the Dutch writer Lot Vekemans (Gif). These plays will be performed in Barcelona in February of 2020, directed by Belgian stars Marie-Aurore D’Awans (Dounia) and Lisaboa Houbrechts (Gif). They will be working with Catalan actors in a Catalan translation.

And vice versa, on 4 June you can become acquainted with theatre texts by Catalan authors Joan Yago (Breve historia del ferrocarril español) and Clàudia Cedó (L'home sense veu). The direction in Brussels is in the hands of Catalan directors: Montserrat Rodríguez works with Breve historia del ferrocarril español, while Juan Pablo Miranda takes on L'home sense veu. They work with a Belgian cast in a translated version of the Catalan texts (in Dutch).