Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Big in Belgium
Big in Belgium Networking Day: showcase of cutting-edge Flemish theatre and drinks at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Big in Belgium is a platform showcasing some of the most exciting voices in theatre from Flanders. It presents a curated selection of standout performances from the past year, featuring both established and emerging artists eager to share their latest work with an international audience.
Following a successful edition in 2023, we are back this year and will host an inspiring Networking Day on Tuesday, 19 August, allowing international professionals to discover the performances, meet the artists, and explore possibilities for future collaboration.
This year’s selection includes five performances, including multi-award-winning Ontroerend Goed. From unruly satire to intimate exposé, this selection captures the radical heart of Belgian performance today. Big in Belgium continues to champion theatre that surprises, confronts and connects.
PROGRAMME
ZOO Southside
11:30 I Up Your Ass / Nona Demey Gallagher & Lieselot Siddiki (90′) European premiere of Valerie Solanas’s play Why I Shot Andy Warhol and Other Chit-Chat – Nona Demey Gallagher and Lieselot Siddiki bring Up Your Ass, Valerie Solanas’s infamous 1965 comedy, to the stage for the first time. Known for her attack on Warhol after he refused the play, Solanas remains a queer feminist icon. The makers secured exclusive rights via her last living relative.
13:45 I Thanks For Being Here / Ontroerend Goed (75′)
8-time Fringe First Award winner celebrates the audience. Ontroerend Goed, known worldwide for their ground-breakinginteractive theatre, celebrates theatre’s most essential element: the audience. In Thanks for Being Here, an ingenious game of video that playfully shifts perspectives, they blur the boundaries between audience and performers. This isn’t just a show – it’s a celebration of your presence.
15:30 I Swiping Right / Sophie Anna Veelenturf (75′) Can dating help bridge political divides? Sophie Anna Veelenturf dives into her own experiences of dating across political lines in this sharp, hybrid piece blending comedy, interviews and documentary theatre. Based on real conversations with right-wing matches, mixed couples and political theorists, Swiping Right is a witty and disarming reflection on intimacy and ideology.
ZOO Playground 3
13:25 I The Ego / Verona Verbakel & Anemone Valcke (60′) Guardian-recommended show about boundaries, #metoo & being believed. The Ego is a bold and humorous performance. With two chairs, a screen and sharp wit, they share real stories about how transgressive behaviour, internalised misogyny and #MeToo shape their lives. Mixing dry humour and tragicomic film, they expose the system behind it – without blame, but with biting clarity.
SUMMERHALL
18:00 – 20:30 I Networking Drink @ Library Gallery
18 August – 21:05 Fatal Flower Summerhall – Main Hall 75’
* Please note: This performance is not scheduled on the Networking Day but it’s part of the Big in Belgium showcase and we are happy to invite you on Monday 18 August. Don’t miss it !
Award-winning musical monologue about the ‘hysterical woman’. In this tragicomic, musical and over-the-top one-woman show, Valentina Tóth brings an ode to the hysterical women. Blending opera, theatre, cabaret and comedy, she brings to life a range of female archetypes. A vengeful bride, the Queen of the Night, a strict Russian piano teacher – or is it her mother? – all take the stage. Armed with musical virtuosity, humour and social satire, Fatal Flower keeps the audience on edge and perhaps slightly bewildered. Either way, it’s a triumph.
The Big in Belgium Networking Day is supported by the Delegation of Flanders in the UK.
More information in the flyer.
Are you interested in the event, or would you like to meet deAuteurs, don’t hesitate to get in touch: info@deauteurs.be