For the past two weeks, the whole of Delft became a stage. From windmill to living room, from bouldering hall to yoga studio. Across 30 locations in the city, 23 makers performed their shows. From surprising premieres to moving performances and wonderful encounters: it has been a joy. On Sunday 7th June, the Delft Fringe Festival closed with the presentation of the audience award. Visitors cast their votes and chose the winner: The Falling Club with their show Rogers, Just Rogers. This newly formed collective of international dance artists, who seek to make the quietly meaningful visible, made a deep impression on audiences. By combining expertise from dance, circus and performance art, The Falling Club creates work on the boundary between uncertainty and trust, boredom and excitement, floating and falling.
A comfortable vulnerability
Griffioen: "This year, the shows seem to have been made from a place of comfortable vulnerability, whether physically or thematically. Makers reveal a raw reality whilst simultaneously searching for an answer or for closure. In doing so, they have opened the eyes of their audiences whilst also creating space for conversation. Think of the loss of a best friend, adoption, difficult life choices, or going undercover in the meat industry as a vegan. But a counter-movement is also gaining ground, one that takes the ordinary as its starting point, magnifies office life, and poses absurd questions. This mix of themes and shows is precisely what makes Delft Fringe Festival so exceptionally rich."
Winner of the Delft Chamber Music Festival Award
Alongside the audience award, the Delft Chamber Music Festival Award was presented as is tradition. This jury prize for young musical talent went this year to Max Bruins and Femke Hulsman. With Prometheus / Epimetheus, they brought a poetic music theatre performance about hope and its shadow side. Nino Gvetadze, Artistic Director of the Dutch Chamber Music Festival Award: "Max Bruins & Femke Hulsman brought together song, theatre and storytelling with remarkable artistry and professionalism, creating an experience of rare intimacy and genuine emotional engagement." By winning this award, Max Bruins will be given a performance slot at the Delft Chamber Music Festival 2027.
Big themes, but close to home
The makers at Delft Fringe Festival did not shy away from the big themes this year: a violent wartime past, grief, adoption, trans love, mental health and migration.
These are themes that have been explored on stage for centuries, yet have lost none of their power. The makers carried their weight without overwhelming their audiences. Whether they chose the grand gesture or the quiet, small detail, they always managed to build a bridge between the unfamiliar and the recognisable. The result was encounters that stayed with you, and conversations that went well beyond the show itself.
About Delft Fringe Festival
What began in 2011 as a modest project has grown into a fully-fledged performing arts festival with an important role in the Dutch cultural landscape. For two weeks each year, at the end of May and beginning of June, performances fill the most beautiful historic locations in Delft. And beyond the festival itself, we remain active throughout the year.
Delft Fringe Festival gives new makers the space to grow within a professional environment and in front of a real audience. Because new talent deserves a stage. And audiences deserve makers who have something to say: young people with stories that move, surprise and offer an honest portrait of the world as it is today.
Edition 2027: 26th May - 6th June
The opening of the next edition of Delft Fringe Festival will take place on Wednesday 26th May 2027, at 19:30, at Theater de Veste.
Photo: The Falling Club, audience award winners 2026 with Collectief Teder, audience award winners 2025. Photographer: Jurjen Bolsenbroek
