An analysis of the main companies, groups and practitioners producing text-based theatre in the Netherlands in the last few years provides a backdrop for a more detailed examination of the work of writer/director Gerardjan Rijnders. Further, special focus is given to the work of the greatest theatre innovator of the last two decades, Jan Joris Lamers, and two young theatre collectives are presented as representative of a broader movement of playwrights, actors and directors, who perform in smaller black-box theatres.