Stichting The English Theatre

STET is an international theatre organisation based in The Hague, founded in 2006. We strive to bring new and diverse theatre to our international and local audiences. You can find most of our performances in Het Nationale Theater, or in unexpected outdoor places in The Hague. Our education department offers exciting workshops and plays for children and young adults of all ages throughout the country.

From 2020, STET’s new vision incorporates a new contemporary programme with emerging and well-established artists from all over the world. With a new ambitious team on board, STET takes a new direction with bringing diverse and international theatre shows to The Hague, accessible to a wide range of audiences. Watch our new promo video below and read more about it here.

STET’s Manifesto:

• Our theatre company continues to provide high-quality inclusive professional English language theatre in the Netherlands.
• We present international and national emerging theatre makers that create independent work from around the world and create an environment of learning both artistically as well as politically.
• STET Spotlight Talks promotes a platform that generates interactive debate and discussion opportunities to create a long-lasting effect for each theatrical experience we provide.
• We use English surtitles for those performances that use another language and provide English spoken workshops and after show talks.
• STET aims to become a place for connections, inspiration, gathering experiences in a unique and stimulating environment among audiences, artists and communities.
• With STET NO LIMITS we programme shows from disability-led companies and every show that we programme will be accessible to everyone, thus creating a precedent for the future of accessibility in the performing arts.
• STET EDUCATION offers workshops, masterclasses and performances to our audiences, professionals and schools all over the Netherlands.

STET’s History

In 2004 Dutch native Elske van Holk returned to the Netherlands from the UK after having worked for 6 years at  Southwark Playhouse, an innovative and leading fringe theatre in South London. Soon she started laying the groundwork for what would become STET The English Theatre in 2006 with a performance by British theatre company Illyria who have been returning every year since.

In the following years Elske has brought important, fun, endearing, political and mesmerizing performances by established and emerging artists from all over the globe to The Hague with highlights like The Hague’s Shakespeare festival of 2016. She, very passionately and with a big heart, has connected many artists and audiences alike and has done a great job at promoting English theatre from every part of the world.

Since then the team has grown with an amazing international team of professionals in the departments of education, production, programming, marketing, technical assistance and of course our amazing volunteers.