Zoë wonders: where are the queer characters?

Theatre has always been a magical place for Zoë. “As a child, I couldn’t quite put into words why. But I strongly felt that theatre offers comfort. A form of softness in a harsh world. In theatre, you find humour, warmth, dance and music. Theatre can also help people try to understand each other better,” she explains.

From a young age, Zoë, who grew up in Veenendaal, took musical theatre classes in Amsterdam. “My parents saw how important this was to me and drove me to the capital every week,” she recalls. Zoë’s entire childhood revolved around dancing, singing and acting. “I performed in several musicals that toured the Netherlands and Belgium.”

At the time, Zoë mainly performed on instinct and feeling, she says. “It was only at the School of Acting that I really developed my technique, through classes in singing, text work, movement, dramaturgy, philosophy and improvisation, among other things. I got to know and train ‘my instruments’, such as my voice and body, better, and learned how to use them more consciously. I first noticed this during my work placement production BEEST by Theater Sonnevanck. It also comes in handy at auditions; I’m much less naïve than I used to be.”

As Zoë got older, she also developed a more critical perspective. She began to notice that the emotional lives of the characters she played often had little in common with her own inner world. “It increasingly bothered me that women are often given superficial, clichéd roles: the girl next door, the sexy seductress, the victim. They have very few lines, and their stories almost always serve the stories of men. Their own development is rarely the focus. As a queer woman, I usually don’t see much of myself in these characters.”

Zoë emphasises that everyone sometimes needs to find recognition and representation in theatre. “Queer audience members should also be able to lose themselves in a love story between women on stage.” Moreover, Zoë explains, normalising love between women in the arts can also encourage audiences to reflect. “People see it and think: oh, this is something completely normal and beautiful. Hopefully, this will lead to greater understanding in everyday life.”

According to Zoë, gay men have made significant progress in the theatre world in recent decades. “Think, for example, of productions such as Weg met Eddy Bellegueule by ITA and Edward II the gay king by Oostpool. But this is much less the case for lesbian and bisexual women. This needs to change. Because in the future, I want to be able to play dramatically interesting female roles.”

In her graduation performance Lucy speelt Lucy, Zoë offers a glimpse of the layered female characters she would like to see more of. “I play a strong female character. Drugs, alcohol and acting help her stay on her feet and cope with the world. I also sing a song I wrote myself, based on People, Places, Things by Duncan Macmillan.”

She has received positive reactions to the performance. “Among other things, viewers said they appreciated seeing an unpredictable, diverse and raw female character.”

The performance is also about what acting can be: Zoë portrays the various characters Lucy plays, such as Medea and Antigone. “But also modern women, like me.”

Young makers and performers have a responsibility to showcase diverse perspectives, she continues. “It’s not just about the perspectives of queer women, but of everyone who is underrepresented in society and on stage. It’s important that everyone can see themselves reflected in art.”

Zoë believes it can be quite daunting to put these stories at the heart of your work. “These days, it’s easy to worry about saying the wrong thing because of the current cancel culture. But I want to start the conversation. Besides, if we don’t make all these perspectives more visible, who will?”

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This story is part of the series ‘Young creatives working towards greater queer representation’.