Docu-theatre about three generations, adoption, Seoul, and the fluid boundary between fact and imagination
Amber Docters van Leeuwen
Location: Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, Grote Zaal
Dates:
- GENRE: Documentary theatre, Performance Art, Storytelling
- THEME: Connection, History Re-told, IdentiWho?
- LANGUAGE: Dutch, English
- Toilet for wheelchair users: yes, Wheelchair accessible: yes
duration of the performance: 50 min
This performance is accessible to both English and Dutch speakers through subtitles.
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Moving Narrative is the new docu-theatre performance by maker and performer Amber Docters van Leeuwen. Together with her daughter Lou (7), she travels to Seoul, South Korea, to explore the life story of her biological father, who only entered her life three years ago. To Lou, he is a grandfather; to Amber, a stranger.
The performance is a search for origin and connection, presenting adoption not as good or bad, but as a complex reality full of unexpected layers. Lou’s magical childlike perspective forms the heart of the narrative, where fact and fiction gradually intertwine.
Amber is the sole performer on stage, building a layered soundscape live using cello, electronics, and field recordings from Seoul. The audience finds itself immersed in this auditory reconstruction.
Moving Narrative is a sensory experience about origin, identity, and the often elusive traces of family.
Biography
Amber Docters van Leeuwen is a cellist, composer, and performer. Her work emerges from an investigative approach in which musical, theatrical, and documentary elements are intricately interwoven. The development of her artistic vision is rooted in the idea that sound is more than music: it is a form of language, a carrier of memory, and a way of thinking.
She studied cello at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and continued her education at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. During her studies, her fascination with sound design, dramaturgy, and the performative power of sound deepened.
In her working method, the creative process takes center stage. She works from personal or societal questions that resist clear answers but unfold through sound. Sound functions as a narrative element—not as support, but as an autonomous layer that generates meaning.
Through her platform EEFA Projects, she develops interdisciplinary performances that invite audiences to listen “differently.” In her search for new forms, she leaves space for doubt, for the unfinished, and for the imagination of the audience.
credits
Jochem Stavenuiter – director
Aukje Verhoog – dramaturgy
Rinse de Jong – sound design/engineer
Manuel Boutreur – light design
Hester Jolink – stage design
Johanna Trudzinski – costume design
Tamara Keasberry – business management
Leonie Dijkstra – marketing
