Victor Esses is a London-based, multidisciplinary artist of Jewish-Arab descent. His practice comprises live and filmed performances, installations, and writing that often centre on nuanced, intersectional auto/biographical experiences (e.g. Latinx and queer) of belonging, resilience, and intimacy – encouraging audiences to reflect on what makes us most human.

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He is an Associate Artist with CASA Festival. His work has been featured on BBC Radio 3’s The Verb, Barbican’s Fertility Fest, and Forest Fringe TV. His work has been nominated for the LUKAS Awards and twice for the Emerge Performance Prize. He performed on The Guardian’s Audio Long Read podcast; his solo Where to Belong is published by Oberon Books (Methuen Drama); The Death & Life of All of Us is published by Polari Press; and he curated the texts for Global Jewish Plays (Methuen, Bloomsbury), with a focus on queer and Arab-Jewish works.

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Performance/Maker credits include The Death & Life of All of Us (CPT commission, Soho Theatre, The Lowry, JW3); Unfamiliar (stage: Arcola Theatre/CASA Festival; digital tour: The Lowry, Cambridge Junction, Shout Festival, artsdepot and others);

Where to Belong (CASA Festival, Summerhall, UK tour: HOME, Chapter, Oxford Playhouse and others), Dis Place (Arts Admin, The Glory, Latitude Festival).

 

Directing includes: Venus Flytrap (Theatre 503, performed by Jonny Woo), Tapped Out! (Tristan Bates Theatre), The Assault (Old Red Lion Theatre) and The Last Days of Gilda (Arcola Theatre, shortlisted for Brazil Focus Award). Performing includes: Tunguska Event – History Marches on a Table (Whitechapel Gallery), Trojan Horse, Rainbow Flag (film by artist Ian Giles) and Faraway, So Close (Old Fire Station). Curating includes: Global Jewish Voices (Bush Theatre), We’re Here! (BAC) and They Shall Not Pass (Limehouse Town Hall).

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contact: esses dot victor at gmail dot com