PLAYWATCH is a multi-year collaboration between pzazz and Kaaitheater, Zinnema, KVS, Beursschouwburg and Kunstenfestivaldesarts. Through this slow reflection trajectory, we hope to diversify the practice of theatre criticism in Brussels and Flanders, both in terms of the voices involved and the forms of criticism employed. 

Under the guidance of Wouter Hillaert (pzazz) and Emilie Kabongo (KFDA), for the third spring in a row, nine young theatre enthusiasts are attending ten Brussels performances at the partner venues. 

Before every performance, we get to know the hosting theatre. Afterwards, we discuss what we have seen in depth. These discussions lead to individual reviews and a public podcast about each performance. 

PLAYWATCH = Clée Jordier, Dario Rens, Laura Rahman, Tem Mirkazemiyan, Aziz Zeman, Abigail Gypens, Isabella Daffara, Luis Miranda and Hazel Lam.

Read and listen below to the fruits of our multilingual discovery trip through the Brussels performing arts.

Our program in 2026 

• Sat 24 January: Peekaboo, Beursschouwburg 
• Fri 13 February: Liefde/Amour, KVS
• Thu 26 February: Thanks God I'm not Straight, Zinnema @ BOZAR (Brussels Bijoux)
• Fri 27 March: Wayqeycuna, Kaaitheater @ De Kriekelaar
• Fri 17 April, VASHT, RITCS campus Kaai
• In May: 4 perfoirmances on Kunstenfestivaldesarts
• Thu 18 June: The Bones, KVS

Listen to our podcast 'Playtalk'  

Here you find our critical conversations on every performance, by 3-4 different Playwatchers in every episode. Or follow our Spotify-channel.

Read our written reviews

Love from the End - Isabella Daffara about 'Liefde/Amour' by KVS 

How far should we go for love before we can say we have tried everything? And what remains of us when love ends? These questions echo throughout 'Liefde/Amour', a performance by Pitcho Womba Konga in KVS, inspired by Brigitte Giraud’s novel 'L’amour est très surestimé'. Rather than telling a single story, the work unfolds as a collage of endings—fragments of love stories that reveal not only loss and separation, but also resilience, humour, and the possibility of beginning again. (read more)

Talking about sex without showing sex - Clée Jordier about 'Peekaboo' by Maxime Dreesen

The first time I heard about 'Peekaboo', the teaser read: “Drawing from non-binary cruising culture, Max Dreesen turns the stage into a sexual playground.” A sexual playground? In a theatre? That’s enough to set a few thoughts racing. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I half-feared something murky, maybe awkward. But it was neither. (read more)

An Anticatharctic Storyteller - Tem Mirkazemiyan about the solo performance 'Hariboo Kimchi' by Jaha Koo

In 'Haribo Kimchi', Jaha Koo cooks for two audience members in his Korean street-food stall stage as he recounts his migration story. The screens beside him let him drift through dream and memory, accompanied by non-human creatures who narrate and sing with whimsy. It is sometimes sad, always funny, and in the absence of an emotional climax, we are left to reflect on its menacing irony. (read more)

The construction and implosion of violence - Luis Miranda on 'FRANK' by Cherish Menzo

Where does 'FRANK' begin and where does it end? Cherish Menzo invites us to an experience at the very limit between dance and theatre, which was presented at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, and I had the chance to witness it with my PLAYWATCH peers. The result is this essayesque review, heavily based on its author’s feelings, a re-reading of Frankenstein, and Donna Haraway’s manifesto for cyborgs. (read more)