College: Living language: a time travel through poetry on stage

Three lectures on: 4, 11 & 18 November 2025 - 19:30 - 20:30 hours
Cultural visit: Joint visit to a performance during Explore The North (to be announced) on Friday 21 November. In addition, purchasing this series will get you free entry to the entire Explore the North festival, 21 to 23 November 2025 Festival weekend - Explore the North.
Where: Theatre De Bres, Schoolstraat 4, Leeuwarden
Speaker: Liesje Schreuder

Poetry is alive and perhaps most alive when it is spoken. In this lecture series, we discuss poetry on stage and spoken (Dutch-language) poetry in an interactive, engaging but also in-depth way. We will travel through time, from the Middle Ages to the present, and look at how poetry manifests itself on stage: from epics to poetry slam. With a mix of historical context, poetic analysis and plenty of listening and visual material, this series offers an interactive and in-depth introduction to poetry as a living and sounding medium.

In the lectures, we discuss poetry on stage and spoken (Dutch-language) poetry in an interactive, engaging but also in-depth way.

College 1: Monday 4 November 2025 | 19:30 - 20:30 | The Bres 

From myth to minstrelsy: the oral roots of poetry

In the first lecture, we deal with the historical side of poetry as spoken text: a history that goes back further than human memory! In doing so, we touch on the Big Questions about poetry and literature - what is poetry anyway? How do we distinguish poetry from non-poetry?

College 2: Monday 11 November 2025 | 19:30 - 20:30 | The Bres

From avant-garde to performance: poetry in the modern age

In the second lecture, we take a giant leap in time and end up pardoning the modern Netherlands, in the modern era: the era of factories and steamships, expanding cities and Art with a big k in museums and palaces. This latter Art and Poetry is challenged by new generations of poets, who are also inspired internationally.

College 3: Monday 18 November 2025 | 19:30 - 20:30 | The Bres

Contemporary stage poetry: slam, sound and spoken word

In the third and final lecture, we will turn to contemporary poetry on stage. Through a lot of film and sound material, we will penetrate the meaning and importance of poetry on stage now.

Joint festival visit: Explore the North | Friday afternoon/evening 21 November 2025

During this weekend festival in Leeuwarden, we will collectively visit one performance that ties in with our lecture series, more information and performance times will follow as soon as possible. With your band, you can also visit all other programme elements of Explore the North on the weekend of 21/22/23 November.

About the speaker

Liesje Schreuders (1979) is a writer, literature teacher and translator, including of Italian poetry. She graduated in literature (cum laude) and cultural anthropology and continued her studies in Italy. She initially gained experience as a teacher by teaching Dutch as a second language to refugees and expats. She also lectures on literary history and other literary topics at the Vrije Academie and, since a few years, at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is the author of several novels, poems and short stories. She recently collected her columns and short stories for the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde inToo Fire and other stories, available through her own publisher's website, atolbooks.co.uk. See also her website (liesjeschreuders.co.uk) for more information.

When does it take place:

3

Tuesday, 19:30-20:30

04 November 2025 - 18 November 2025

Costs:

Yes, €55

Sign up:

https://generatiehuis.nl/college/levende-taal-een-tijdreis-doo...