I have two fathers and one mother, David Greaves sadly he died of Malaria in Ghana, he was an English director from England, he mostly with young people, he believed in young talent. John Leerdam is also my father in theatre he gave me my first opportunity, he gave me a job which it was a big responsibility given to me he had so much trust in me, back then in Holland black female directors were rarely scarce like in South Africa.
Where is John Leerdam now?
Now he is in politics yet he gave me a hand to start off. Nita Lim is my mother in theatre she is a choreographer she was the partner in arts of David Greaves in a company called "Artisjok Nultwintig" we made a lot the shows together, she has worked in a show as a choreographer with Roel Twijnstra in a show called "No Kidding"
When did you develop your theatre identity?
Talent Development is a popular word now, when I was young there was no such thing as talent development old, 16-17 years ago that word didn't really exist. I feel and know that my work has brought the idea of 'give chance and opportunity' to young people without a degree in the arts to another level. We created theatre for young audience and by youngsters, it was in some cases made up of both amateur and professional talents.
Why did you go for the combination of amateur and professional?
There was a gap between amateur and professional in the industry, amateurs were not considered mainstream and they were not taken seriously I believe they can bring a lot to the table. I do not believe so much in high culture versus low culture. I believe in shaking things up a little, other than that I also took the colour-blind approach to castings my plays in terms of cultural diversity.
Shortly describe how your identity grew?
Iam known for 'talent development, colour blind casting . I look also look at society things that happen around me and im socially involve.
Who did you train and influence?
80% of young cultural diverse people in theatre met me somewhere, its a rewarding feeling when someone says im their mother in theatre sometimes we are more or less the same age so they would say im their older sister in theatre, its the young people that remind me why I do this in the first place.
What was your embarrassing moment?
(laughs) wow !mmm... I have a lot, oh yeah it was during a show I co-directed with Roel Twijnstra when one point an actor dislocated his shoulder on stage, another actor slit his chin and blood was dripping everywhere it was horrible, two days later Nicole who was our PR manager who was sick that weekend didn't hear anything about what happened on the show , she decides to send a reminder mail to the theatre critic and ask for the review, the critic review says well I thought I was not going to write it but if you insist I will. And so she did... lets just say we had better reviews. Nicole comes to work and says I did some work while I was at home I sent an email to the reviewer to remind her for the review and her reply was weird. And I was like oh no Nicole didn't you what happened Saturday, the critic was doing us a favour by not writing one ...that was embarrassing!
What was your favourite character you created?
Characters from real life or were alive I want to tell their story with an artistic twist.
Maya Bradaric: a teenage girl murdered by her friends. The show and her portrayal put a smile to his friends and parents faces. The actress who portrayed Maya was an amateur but felt and gave great justice.
Regilio Tuur: a successful boxer with anger management problems beat his girlfriend twice almost became the Dutch version of Mike Tyson. Regilio Tuur loved the piece which at first I feared he didn't {he said I managed to portray thing the way he did,}. It was magnificently portrayed by Raymi Sambo
Any final words?
Talent is good, lets treasure it and embrace it.
