Over the years, I have published several blogs about ‘culture’. See, for example, this blog or this one. These blogs all had to do with ‘cultural differences. In that context, ‘culture’ stands for the collective set of norms, values, rituals and codes of conduct that characterise a people, a group or an organisation. People usually grow up in a particular culture, and they may move into another one when they migrate.
But the word culture is also used in other contexts. And in one of those contexts, it is used as an overarching definition of all forms of art. Music, visual arts, dance, theatre, prose and poetry, you name it. The concept is not entirely new, to put it mildly. It has been around for a long time, although not always under that name. As an example, for the lovers of ancient Greek mythology, look up “The Nine Muses“, and you will roughly get the idea.
So in this blog, for a change, it is in that particular context that I will be talking about ‘culture’. To be more precise about one of those cultural fields: theatre. I was triggered by a very nice initiative that was recently announced. The name of that initiative: ‘No Dutch Required’. My intention is to alert you to this initiative and to encourage you to do some further exploration yourself.
A Bit of Background
For some time, five theatres in the Brainport region have established a close mutual collaboration. These theatres are: De Kattendans in Bergeijk, Het Speelhuis in Helmond, De Hofnar in Valkenswaard, Het Parktheater in Eindhoven and Theater de Schalm in Veldhoven. The idea of this cooperation is to make those theatres more welcoming, around overarching themes like inclusivity, internationalisation and education.
The name of their cooperation is ‘Wonka Podia’. Indeed, dear Roald Dahl fans: inspired by the director of arguably the most famous, and certainly the most fantastic of all chocolate factories: Willy Wonka. As the website of Wonka Podia states: “A name that captures the imagination of many and evokes a certain feeling. The character Wonka fills the world with wonder and is a maverick pioneer for whom imagination comes first. With his innovative confections, he makes the impossible possible.”
The Initiatve
Wonka Podia already work with a so-called ‘No Dutch Required’ label. When a show in one of the theatres is labelled as such, it means that full command of the Dutch language is not deemed necessary to understand (most of) that show. But now they have taken the next step by publishing a full guide with an overview of all the ‘No Dutch Required’ shows for the upcoming theatre season 2026 – 2027. While their website still produces a mix of Dutch and English, when you click the 🇬🇧 icon, the printed guide is fully in English. And it lists all shows for the next season that are either in English or (to a certain extent) language independent. Like, for instance, dance, pantomime, and circus.
Since this month, those guides can be picked up in all the participating theatres. And it can also be viewed online and downloaded. I got a paper copy and spent some time in that. I kind of guess that, if you have anything to do with theatre and the podium arts in the wider meaning of the word, you will probably feel quite happy with this initiative. In the guide, you can find a nice mix of shows, from (more or less) classical theatre plays, via dance, tribute band performances, circus, comedy, and what have you.
I will stop here, lest I start giving away too many spoilers. But as of now, you can start exploring and, who knows, already do some pre-bookings. I wish you a lot of fun!
