A theatrical DJ set about how everyone is always in a state of transition

With *TRANS*, theatre makers Emma van den Elshout and Just van Bommel present an energetic theatrical DJ set centred on the theme of change. The performance will premiere on Thursday 6 August 2026 at 8.45 pm during Festival Boulevard and will run until 11 August in Tent Blauw at the festival. It will subsequently be staged at Cultura Nova and the What You See Festival.

In just thirty minutes, Van den Elshout and Van Bommel create a dance party that brings together live-mixed music, sharp lyrics and dry humour. TRANS- is a show that constantly reinvents itself and flows with the day, the night and the audience. 

With a dark techno track about the exhaustion of having to have the same conversation about gender over and over again, an autotuneballad describing how the whole world – and therefore you yourself – is constantly changing, and a track about men who invariably seem to be standing against the wall at parties, TRANS- explores how everyone is constantly in transition. Musical samples from Laverne Cox, Hannah Gadsby, Judith Butler, Jinx Monsoon, Alok Vaid-Menon and Lady Gaga, amongst others, form the soundtrack to a performance that deliberately refuses to provide clear-cut answers.

Instead, Van den Elshout and Van Bommel embrace doubt. They contradict themselves, leave room for change and invite the audience to move with them. TRANS- is a work that constantly reinvents itself. For instance, the piece underwent an initial trial run at Noorderzon. In a cultural landscape characterised by overproduction and with little scope for longer-term, sustainable projects that do not disappear after just one season, Just and Emma are attempting to create a work that can endure over time and take on various forms and expressions. The work is free to be revisited and transformed time and again, thereby reaching new audiences. The knowledge gained is packed away in a rucksack and can be carried forward to the next form of expression of TRANS-.

Emma van den Elshout (she/her) and Just van Bommel (he/she/they) graduated from the Maastricht Theatre Academy in 2022. Their first joint production, *Het Showtje*, was selected for VIA RUDOLPHI’s *Het Debuut*. This was followed by *Het Spektakeltje* (Frascati Productions) and *Het Circusje*, which was also staged at Festival Boulevard in 2024. They have been affiliated with VIA ZUID since 2025. Their work is characterised by a keen eye for the everyday and a playful way of questioning what seems self-evident.