Dec.
2025
De gevangenis
Lara Staal & ntgent
NL
EN
Updated Dec. 2025
Lara Staal
Lara Staal is a theatre maker and teacher. In recent years at NTGent, she created a body of socially critical theatre that gives marginalised groups a voice and a platform.
In her theatre work, Lara Staal (1984) invariably works with victims of a failing social system. Staal gives them a voice and a platform, and co-creates performances with them that show the consequences of institutionalised discrimination and other systemic failures on people's lives.
As in-house artist at NTGent, Staal created the performances 'Dissident' (2021), in which five so-called problem youths educate the audience about the issues in contemporary education, and the short film 'De Zaak Samuel' (2021) about the hell a young Eritrean refugee has to go through to reach Europe. The performance 'SERDI' (2023), about youth care, was selected for the Belgian TheatreFestival as one of the most remarkable productions of the season. 'De gevangenis' ('The Prison', currently on tour, gives the stage to four ex-prisoners and denounces the failing Belgian prison system.
Experiential expertise is an essential concept in Staal's work. This stems from the conviction that embodied experience is essential to bridge the gap between policymakers and the people whose lives are directly affected by those policies.
In addition to creating performances with a social impact, Staal works as a tutor at DAS theater in Amsterdam and regularly gives workshops and lectures on political theater within various cultural contexts. She also enjoys designing conversations and conferences where people from different backgrounds come together to critically examine the present through artistic and political language, and to explore alternative futures together.
In the press
"Dostojevski writes: 'The degree of civilazation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.' And if the degree of imagination in a society can be judged by its theater, 'De Gevangenis' is a hopeful first step."
Read the articleSerdi ontroert met een waarachtige monoloog over zijn levensverhaal (...) Hij stapelt kwetsuur op kwetsuur. Sommige lijken banaal, maar deze kinderpijntjes snijden niet minder diep dan het verraad van zijn zus die hem liet plaatsen, of het verbod om zijn stem te gebruiken dat hem in de isoleercel brengt. Goeie akoestiek daar, trouwens. Want Serdi’s stem is dat ene wat hij zich niét laat afnemen
, De Morgen (BE), Read the articleSerdi’s zang is zo ontzettend rauw en wanhopig, dat het even moeilijk is om je blik op de scène te houden als wegkijken van de rouwende zanger. In ieder geval wil ik als toeschouwer niets liever doen dan uit de tribune opstaan en hem een knuffel geven. De emotionele betrokkenheid die je voelt bij stuk is een van de grote verdiensten van deze voorstelling
Etcetera, Read the article