Sun 23 Nov at 14:30 & 15:30
Who determines the price of hope?
A lost millennial wonders whether the era of cassette tapes and Flippo cards was truly better than today. After all, even back then, she couldn’t walk in platform shoes. Stumbling through life with a child under each arm, she searches for moments of joy without ulterior motives in a world like a funnel, full of suctioning algorithms and nameless neighbors.
Op de kleintjes letten (Mind the Little Ones) is a poetic meditation amid nostalgic cookie tins and forgotten shopping lists. Suffering cannot be measured — so who determines the price of hope?
About the maker
Willemijn van de Walle (Groningen, 1986) is a writer and theater maker. Her work is characterized by personal themes, social engagement, humor, and an unabashed love of wordplay. Guided by the idea that her texts truly come alive when spoken aloud, she prefers performing her own work on stage and encourages others to express themselves vocally through poetry.
Willemijn made her debut in spoken word and poetry at Dichters in de Prinsentuin in 2022 and completed a development trajectory with Noordstaat. This has brought her to stages and festivals such as Let’s Get Lyrical, Noorderzon, and the Boekenbal. For Grasnapolsky, she developed the spoken word performance GROND, about the fortress town of Bad Nieuweschans. Her poetry has also taken her across the border to Germany multiple times. Until the end of 2024, she served as the official neighborhood poet for Groningen’s Korrewegwijk and De Hoogte, and near Groningen Noord station, two of her lines are cast in the concrete of the sidewalk.
In 2025, she graduated from the theater directing program at Vrijdag with the performance BAGAGEDRAGER, about women who cycle at the Multicultural Women’s Center Jasmijn. Willemijn gives workshops on behalf of Poëziepaleis in schools and is working on the Arts in Health project Buur & Boek, focused on reading literature together in the neighborhood. In December, her poetic installation Bedtime Stories will be part of How to Conduct Life, a musical festival by the Noord Nederlands Orkest exploring gender roles, sexuality, and artistic self-expression.