Photo by Rosa Koolhoven at Nika Nika Studio
Theodora van der Beek creates live performances and short films that disrupt the gender binary and explore the mechanics of power and privilege. Using mixed art forms, pop references and wild, outlandish characters she tells fantastical stories that invite audiences to laugh and then recoil in horror as they see themselves reflected. Mischievous, joyful and messy, her work delights in the bleakness and absurdity of the human condition.
With an innovative, dynamic approach and a lo-fi, homemade aesthetic she creates different worlds in which the strange feels familiar and the familiar turns strange, asking audiences to re-examine the world around them with fresh eyes.
She is supported by Arts Council England and her six solo shows, My Death, Egg, The Adventures of the Bearded Lady, Drink Your Pink, Ram of God and Mr Creep have been programmed at fringes and theatres around the world.
Awards
Off West End OffFest Award nomination 2021 (Ram of God, the film); Shortlisted for the Jerwood Live Work Fund 2021; Alternative Film Fest 2020 - Winner: Best Dance Film (No One Cares), nominated Best Comedy and Best Actress (Ram of God) and nominated Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy (My Beautiful House); Morley College Ed Fringe Award 2017 (Egg)
Programmers
BBC3, Soho Theatre, Richmix, Camden People's Theatre, Old Vic Tunnels, The Pleasance, Glastonbury Festival, Shoreditch House, The Barbican, VAULT festival, Gilded Balloon, You Me Bum Bum Train, Artichoke, Hornsey Town Hall, CUNTemporary, ITV, Perth fringe, Melbourne fringe, Wellington fringe, Living Record Festival, Stockholm fringe, Leicester Comedy festival, Wilderness festival, Latitude festival, Ebay, Virgin Trains and Lidl.