Lara van Huyssteen

Lara is a South African theatre practitioner and performer who is currently based in London.

Her aim is to create new artistic, social and political experiences for theatregoers. In her work, she uses writing, scenography and performer practices to create a temporal space that forces the past and the present into a confrontation. She follows a holistic approach to making, working with all the visual and aural components of an idea in the studio so it can be tried and tinkered.

In 2024, Lara presented her original performance That Boy Has No Shoes at The Camden Fringe. That Boy Has No Shoes is a scenographic encounter wherein four South African artefacts appear onstage to tell stories of events they witnessed during Apartheid. The work was honoured with 4-star reviews that praised the emotional script and immersive staging. That Boy Has No Shoes will be performed at Voila! Theatre Festival in November and in South Africa in 2025.

Lara is a co-founder and company member of Et al. Performance, a new London-based theatre company that specialises in making durational work.

Website: https://www.laravanhuyssteen.studio/

Credits

Creator/Performer, That Boy Has No Shoes, Upstairs at the Gatehouse - Voila! Theatre Festival, 1 performance, 2024

Creator/Performer, That Boy Has No Shoes, Camden People's Theatre - The Camden Fringe, 4 performances, 2024

Creator/Performer, ABUNDANCE by Et al., Golden Goose Theatre, 5-hour durational performance, 2024

Creator/Performer, Jeté! by Et al., Camden People's Theatre, 10-hour durational performance, 2023

Creator/Performer, Unqualified Attempt Vol. 1, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, 8 minutes, 2022

Director, Til Death Do We Part, Wimbledon College of Arts, 1 week, 2022

Assistant Director, Attempts on Her Life, Wimbledon College of Arts, 1 week, 2021

Director, All Men Are Bad (An adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello), Online - Interactive Video, 25 minutes, 2021

Sound Editor, Forgetting How to Fly, Online - Audio Performance, 45 minutes, 2020

Training

- Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, MA Advanced Theatre Practice (Distinction), 2022 - 2023
- Euripides Laskaridis, Devising Workshop, 2022
- Caroline Steinbeis, Directing Workshop/R&D, 2022
- People Show, Devising Workshop/R&D, 2022
- Wimbledon College of Arts, BA (Hons) Contemporary Theatre and Performance (First), 2019 - 2022
- The Pappy Show, Movement Workshop, 2019
- Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, CertHE in Acting, 2018 - 2019