A box is mailed to the theatre.

The instructions are clear:
Invite a group of people, on a specific night, at a specific time.
Let the audience take their seats.
Place the box at the centre of the stage.
The audience is waiting.
And then an audience member stands up and opens the box.
The show has started.

Handle with Care is a theatre performance in a box. No actors, no technicians. Just a box. And you. 

In Handle with Care, Ontroerend Goed gives you complete control. For an hour, you’ll experience something unique — one-off and unrepeatable. Here. Now. Together.
No one is watching. Can you create something meaningful?

Handle with Care was awarded the Breakthroughs in Storytelling Award by Columbia University (US).

Sat 3 October, 2026
Gent, BE
CC Meulestede
Sat 3 October, 2026
Gent, BE
Groot Begijnhof
Sat 3 October, 2026
Gent, BE
Bij De Vieze Gasten
Sat 3 October, 2026
Gent, BE
Kapel Petit
Fri 9 October, 2026
TW
Light Traveling Taipei
All playdates

'I spent a sweetly harmonious hour experiencing Handle with Care, a show like a cross between a Pandora’s Box myth and an unboxing video'

****
The Scotsman
Joyce McMillan

'A forward-looking, eco-aware, minimalist design — and the core of what theatre is: a group of people gathering to make stories happen.'

****
ayoungishperspective

'Because if the performance makes you aware of anything, it is the potential excitement to be found in the here and now, even if—both inside and beyond the walls of this theatre—you have only limited control over where it all leads. No matter how fervently you try to anticipate. Every second lived can, if you choose, be seen as a small adventure.'

Theaterkrant
Shira Keller

‘beautifully organised chaos.’

*****
TheatreWeekly

‘Ontroerend Goed understand the potential for theatre is everywhere in the world.’

*****
Binge Fringe

‘Life-affirming, joyful … It’s a true unicorn, evaporating afterwards leaving nothing but a joyful memory.’

*****
One4review
concept & creation Alexander Devriendt, Karolien De Bleser, Samir Veen, Leonore Spee & Charlotte De Bruyne design Nick Mattan & Edouard Devriendt translations Martine Bom (FR), Aurélie Lannoy (FR), Samir Veen (EN), Tiffer Hutchings (editor EN), Lore Meesters (DE), Hong Zhan (CN), Tai Yin Chang (CN), Mima Simić (HR), Dayoung Jeong (KR), Andrea Romano (IT), a.o. voices Silvio Vovk (HR), Jong Wook Yang (KR), Gina Beuk (DE), Karolien De Bleser, Leonore Spee, Samir Veen, Charlotte De Bruyne, Aurélie Lannoy, Alexander Devriendt, i.a. production team Lynn Van den Bergh, Leda Decleyre, Willie-Marie Hermans & Hannes Pieters photography Ans Brys, Joëlle Desmet video Aaron Denolf production Ontroerend Goed co-production NTGent (BE); Stadttheater Schaffhausen (CH); Melbourne Fringe (AU); Theatre Royal Plymouth (UK); Take Me Somewhere, Glasgow (UK); CCAM Scène Nationale de Vandœuvre (FR); IDFA, Amsterdam (NL); De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL); YOUNG Theatre, Shanghai (CN);  Hexagone Scène Nationale, Meylan (FR); MAIF Social Club – Biennale Némo, Paris (FR); La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand (FR); Lowry, Salford (UK); Scène Nationale Carré-Colonnes, St. Médard (FR); Theater RAMPE, Stuttgart (DE); The Zoom Arts Center, Seoul (KR); Hong Kong Arts Festival (HK); Cambridge Junction (UK); The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (HR); Théâtre La Mouche, Saint-Genis-Laval (FR); Sapienza CREA - Nuovo Teatro Ateneo, Rome (IT); Gothenburg English Studio Theatre (SE); Teatro do Bairro Alto, Lisbon (PT); Perpodium, Antwerpen (BE); i.a. with the support of the Flemish Community, the city of Ghent, the Tax Shelter measures of the Belgian federal government & Cronos Invest many thanks to Angelo Tijssens, Wouter Lambrechts, zwartopwit, Speelkaartenmuseum / Rock Paper Pencil, Turnhout

Read more

Interview with Alexander Devriendt & Samir VeenAn interview with Samir Veen on participation and co-operation in Ontroerend Goed’s ‘Handle with Care’Mouvement MagazineCamera Obscura