{"id":1168,"date":"2026-03-31T15:01:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/?post_type=event&#038;p=1168"},"modified":"2026-06-07T10:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T09:35:27","slug":"main-performance-zoe-mcwhinney-rafael-evitan-grombelka","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/en\/event\/main-performance-zoe-mcwhinney-rafael-evitan-grombelka\/","title":{"rendered":"Main Performance: Rafael Evitan Grombelka &amp; Zo\u00eb McWhinney"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Take a seat at the performance by Zo\u00eb McWhinney and Rafael Evitan Grombelka. This is the moment to get to know Visual Vernacular, a physical form of poetry that draws on sign language, mime, and theatre as well as the person who performs the piece.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not familiar with sign language? No problem. This programme is accessible to everyone, with both captioning and sign language interpreters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zo\u00eb McWhinney (GBR) is among the international top of Visual Vernacular artists. With her background as an actor and director, her performances have a cinematic style. Perspectives shift and characters follow one another in a pace and rhythm driven purely by physical movement. The result is a visual, immersive form of poetry that can be followed directly, even without knowledge of sign language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rafael Evitan Grombelka (GER) is a Deaf performer, poet, and actor working at the intersection of sign language, theatre, and poetry. Through expressive facial expressions and precise movement, he makes poetry visible on stage. Grombelka has appeared in various theatre and film productions and performs internationally as both a performer and workshop facilitator within the world of sign language art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Please note:<\/strong> the guests use International Sign (IS) and Dutch Sign Language (NGT). The conversation is translated into NGT and spoken Dutch. The performances themselves are not translated or interpreted.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"event_date":"2026-06-07","footnotes":""},"venue":[265],"event_type":[113,97],"route":[],"class_list":["post-1168","event","type-event","status-publish","hentry","venue-lantarenvenster-1","event_type-performance","event_type-reading"],"acf":{"event_location":265,"event_location_source":{"label":"Locatie","type":"taxonomy","formatted_value":265},"event_category":[113,97],"event_category_source":{"label":"Categorie","type":"taxonomy","formatted_value":[113,97]},"language":["dutch"],"language_source":{"label":"Voertaal","type":"select","formatted_value":[{"value":"dutch","label":"Nederlands"}]},"spoken_languages":"British Sign Language, German Sign Language, International Sign Language","spoken_languages_source":{"label":"Gesproken talen","type":"text","formatted_value":"British Sign Language, German Sign Language, International Sign Language"},"language_label":"spoken","language_label_source":{"label":"Label","type":"select","formatted_value":"Gesproken talen"},"subtitles":["dutch"],"subtitles_source":{"label":"Boventiteling","type":"select","formatted_value":["Nederlands"]},"has_interpreter":true,"has_interpreter_source":{"label":"Tolk NGT\/Schrijftolk","type":"true_false","formatted_value":true},"poets":[272,639],"poets_source":{"label":"Dichters","type":"relationship","formatted_value":[{"ID":272,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2026-02-19 16:38:33","post_date_gmt":"2026-02-19 15:38:33","post_content":"<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Zo\u00eb McWhinney (GBR) is among the international top tier of Visual Vernacular artists. VV is an autonomous art form through which deaf performers can tell expressively without spoken or written words. Both the hands and the entire body serve as the medium. For poetry lovers, this is a rare opportunity to experience word art in a completely new way and to expand your sense of what poetry can be.\u200b<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>How you might know this poet<\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Shortlisted for British Sign Language Poet Laureate (2023\u20132024 and 2025\u20132026).\u200b<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Co-adapted Ilya Kaminsky\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Deaf Republic<\/em>&nbsp;for the Royal Court Theatre.\u200b<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Nominated for the Forward Prize (2025) for&nbsp;<em>The Portrait and The Skylight<\/em>, one of the United Kingdom\u2019s most important poetry prizes.\u200b <\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->","post_title":"Zo\u00eb McWhinney (GBR)","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"zoe-mcwhinney","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-05-28 08:51:26","post_modified_gmt":"2026-05-28 07:51:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/?post_type=poet&#038;p=272","menu_order":0,"post_type":"poet","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":639,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2026-04-01 09:16:52","post_date_gmt":"2026-04-01 08:16:52","post_content":"<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Rafael Evitan Grombelka (DEU) is a deaf artist based in Cologne and Hamburg, known for his work as a sign language interpreter, actor, sign language singer, poetry performer, director, and lecturer. He combines movement, sign language, and poetry to create performances that are visually compelling and accessible. For over ten years, he has led Deaf Slam workshops across Germany and collaborates with theatres and operas to promote artistic sign language performance on stage.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>How you may know this artist<\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>German Deaf Theatre Festival Best Actor 2006 &amp; 2022.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Finalist on <em>Das Supertalent<\/em> (2020).<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Eurovision Song Contest 2016 sign language interpreter.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Director of theater production <em>Mynona<\/em> (2025).<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->","post_title":"Rafael Evitan Grombelka (DEU)","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"rafael-evitan-grombelka-deu","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-05-28 08:59:08","post_modified_gmt":"2026-05-28 07:59:08","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/?post_type=poet&#038;p=639","menu_order":72,"post_type":"poet","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}]},"hosts":"","hosts_source":{"label":"Hosts","type":"relationship","formatted_value":""},"day":"sunday","day_source":{"label":"Dag","type":"select","formatted_value":"Zondag"},"doors_open":"","doors_open_source":{"label":"Deuren open","type":"time_picker","formatted_value":""},"start":"17:00:00","start_source":{"label":"Starttijd","type":"time_picker","formatted_value":"17:00"},"end":"17:45:00","end_source":{"label":"Eindtijd","type":"time_picker","formatted_value":"17:45"},"tickets":"https:\/\/poetry.stager.co\/shop\/festival-2026","tickets_source":{"label":"Link naar tickets","type":"url","formatted_value":"https:\/\/poetry.stager.co\/shop\/festival-2026"},"price_presale":"","price_presale_source":{"label":"Pre-sale prijs","type":"number","formatted_value":""},"price":"","price_source":{"label":"Prijs aan de deur","type":"number","formatted_value":""},"event_route":false,"event_route_source":{"label":"Route","type":"taxonomy","formatted_value":false},"related_events":[933,1199],"related_events_source":{"label":"Gerelateerde events","type":"relationship","formatted_value":[933,1199]},"subtitle":"Where sign language, theatre, and poetry meet","subtitle_source":{"label":"Ondertitel","type":"text","formatted_value":"Where sign language, theatre, and poetry meet"},"sidebar_content":"","sidebar_content_source":{"label":"Zijbalk content","type":"wysiwyg","formatted_value":""}},"lang":"en","translations":{"en":1168,"nl":1155},"pll_sync_post":{},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/1168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/event"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/1168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3083,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/1168\/revisions\/3083"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/1199"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/933"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/poet\/639"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/poet\/272"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"event_type","href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_type\/97"},{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"event_type","href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_type\/113"},{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"venue","href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/venue\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"venue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/venue?post=1168"},{"taxonomy":"event_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_type?post=1168"},{"taxonomy":"route","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry.nl\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/route?post=1168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}