From June 12 to 21, 2026, Oerol Festival 2026 transforms the island of Terschelling into an international stage for site-specific theatre, live music, street theatre, spoken word and visual arts. From celebrations at festival heart de Deining to large-scale and intimate performances in extraordinary locations across the island. The 45th edition takes place across more than 40 locations from west to east, stretching from North Sea beaches to Wadden Sea dikes, and from forests and dunes to the streets and squares of Terschelling’s villages.
This year, Oerol presents 27 site-specific theatre productions, 11 visual art installations, 18 street theatre acts, 30 spoken word performances, 70 live music acts, DJs, talks, performances and a rich food line-up. 22 productions will premiere during the festival.
Dune valleys, beaches and a derelict hangar
In the lead-up to the festival, theatre companies work closely with Oerol to find the perfect location for their productions. For their Privilege Trilogy — a site-specific theatre triathlon exploring the privileged position of Western society — Oerol newcomer Collectief Blauwdruk has chosen no fewer than three locations surrounding Heartbreak Hotel in Oosterend.
Created exclusively for Oerol, TOBAL presents AZC de Musical on the site where a refugee reception centre once stood. Luxury holiday apartments have since replaced it. George Tobal explains: “It’s hugely symbolic: you remove an asylum centre, build luxury homes in its place, and meanwhile the reception crisis continues. The location itself already contains a conflict.”
Het Zuidelijk Toneel leaves the traditional theatre space behind for Not Quichot, set on an industrial site in West-Terschelling. “We take the audience on a wild road trip — this location allows them to imagine an entire world for themselves,” says director Sarah Moeremans.
High atop the Seinpaal dune on West-Terschelling, Monki Business is building a seven-metre climbing structure for Uitkijkers, where four acrobats search for balance while imagining the wildest futures possible.
Tonnenloods take-over
A historic site in West-Terschelling temporarily opens during Oerol as a space for film, multimedia and stories from the island. Here, visitors can immerse themselves in the Wadden region, the history of Oerol and life on Terschelling through the eyes of artists, islanders and makers. From the project ’t Paradiis about island dialects to works in which different generations reflect on Oerol’s past and future.
The exhibition JUNO is also on view here: a tribute to Terschelling-born trans woman and underground icon Juno Dijkshoorn. A project about love, friendship and nightlife as a safe haven.
Dance between the pines
Together with Silbersee, choreographer Dunja Jocić brings Chronos to a pine forest scattered with gigantic structures between the trees, like the skeleton of a world that once existed. Five figures dance, move and sing among the remains of a mysterious passage to another time.
Not far away, De Dansers invite audiences to quite literally step into their world of movement and music. From the vastness of the forest to perhaps the smallest theatre in the Netherlands: together with Productiehuis Mozaïek, KRUMP dancer Erwin Kiene takes over the West-End Theatre with MYST, a deconstruction of his own identity.
From language-driven cabaret to poetic spoken word
The Bostheater offers a rich programme of spoken word artists and performers. Tom Lanoye presents his ReinAard exclusively for Oerol over five consecutive days in the form of a serialised feuilleton. Dolf Jansen brings his HalfJaarsConference to Oerol, performing across the entire island — indoors and outdoors, in forests, dune valleys, barns and on existing stages. But where better to begin than the Bostheater itself.
Orkater also returns with special Oerol editions of Aisa Demeter featuring Anne-Fay Kops and En ze maakte een kind with Meral Polat. In Van de Gekken!, Elfie Tromp intertwines the story of Dutch performer Adèle Bloemendaal with her own life and experiences of becoming a mother.
Troupe Courage presents Harlekino, a one-woman show that also touches on motherhood. The music is composed by harpist Remy van Kesteren, who is simultaneously creating Threads especially for the island’s motocross track — a site-specific performance built around live loops and electronics.
Born from rebellion
Music at Oerol is not only entertainment, but also an art form that reveals movements within society. One genre born out of rebellion and now making a full return is punk. On the main stage at de Deining — the festival heart near West aan Zee — artists and bands such as MOJA, Vals Alarm, Artodese, Grote Geelstaart, Maria Iskariot and Fellatio embrace punk in all its forms, ranging from psychedelic noise rock to avant-garde disco.
Kaat van Stralen brings a punk rock anthem for women, outsiders and the deeply sensitive. Pedro Kastelijns and QBAE explore a crossover between Brazilian musical traditions and a modern, abstract rock sound. Hausmagger, known for their rough-edged Dutch-language songs and poetry, presents De Andere Kant at Oerol: acoustic, raw and unapologetically good.
The calm before the storm as a stage
How do you take action when the threat is too vast to fully comprehend? How do you visualise processes unfolding on a timescale the human mind can barely grasp? The artists in this year’s visual arts programme — Suzette Bousema, Valerie van Leersum, Dennis van Tilburg, Ivan Henriques, SoAP/Rita van Hoofwijk & Rain Wu, Marjolijn Boterenbrood and Nullshima Studio — do not shy away from these questions. They work with wind, water, currents and air as active collaborators. The sea becomes a co-creator, and the calm before the storm their stage.
Winner of the Symbio Art Prize 2025, Nullshima Studio presents My Little Tragedy: a video installation in which a weathered My Little Pony toy, recovered from the MSC Zoë shipping disaster, invites audiences to an uncomfortably festive karaoke about everyday plastic consumption.
De Streken, the tidal artwork by Marc van Vliet, will return to the Wadden Sea dike for the final time this year, also marking the farewell of Marc van Vliet / TUIG after 20 years at Oerol.
Street theatre in the villages
Oerol and street theatre are inseparable. Across the streets of West, Midsland and Hoorn — as well as at festival heart de Deining — theatre makers, musicians, circus performers and dancers appear throughout the day with short performances and interventions.
The Air Between Us is a unique aerial dance performance that brings two performers together through a shared passion. Belgian artist Florent Devlesaver, who uses his wheelchair as an extension of his body, and New Zealand choreographer Chloe Loftus float, spin and balance high above the ground in a celebration of equality and empowerment.
In Mission Arnold Schwarzenegger by Austrian collective KRA, audiences create their own action movie about climate heroes. Participants become both film crew and extras in this interactive performance exploring the climate crisis.
Ticket sales start on May 15. Presale for Friends of Oerol begins on May 12.
