About Me
Welcome to my website!
I am a Brazilian theatre-maker and cabaret artist based in London. I am completely passionate about theatre, performance and cabaret and during my 16 years of experience I’ve been working as actress, director, stage manager, playwright and producer. I am a theatre-maker 24/7, addicted to the sensation of being related to the stage. My creations always have a mix of comedy, physical theatre with a bit of a very personal tropical - surrealist - burlesque-drag aesthetic.
I’ve trained at East15 Drama School in UK and at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (BA Acting) in Brazil. My BA was a 4-years full time undergraduate program with a strong physical approach coming from: Grotowsky, Barba, Stanislavsky, Laban, Gaulier and Lecoq to name just a few. The MA Acting International at East 15 offered me a more traditional British training, focused on Realism and Naturalism psychological acting. Besides that, it has given me the opportunity of a residency at Globe Theatre, studying Shakespeare. I also did Cabaret & Drag Lab at Soho Theatre in 2018.
Since 2003 I've been working professionally as an actress and in 2009, in Brazil, I’ve founded, with two more actors, my own theatre company called Teatro Enlatado (Canned Theatre). Our self devised show Drive-Thru became a massive success in Brazil, being presented in many venues all over the country. Still in Brazil I also had the opportunity to work with very well known Brazilian theatre companies, such as Cia Dos Outros, Cemitério de Automóveis and Satyros.
As a Brazilian in London during the Brexit and Trump era, my final monologue at East15 was a dark comedy about immigration, called Tropicalia Island. This monologue written by me tells the story of a tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean receiving Europeans refugees after a mud flood catastrophe. I presented short versions of the show at Etcetera Theatre (Camden Fringe), ZOO Southside Edinburgh Fringe and Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Tropicalia Island had its official premiere at VAULT Festival 2019, directed by Ramiro Silveira marking the Tropical Company, our theatre company in UK. The show is part of Clout and CASA Festival and Ventnor Fringe in July 2019. More info here.
In 2016 and 2017 I was part of the Young Directors residency at StoneCrabs Theatre Company, where I directed The End of All Miracles, by Paulo Santoro, staged at Albany Theatre in London. In 2017 I also won the Press Award UK 2017 (award given by the Brazilian International Press) category Theatre Producer.
Apart from that, since the beginning of my career I’ve been always looking for improving my background with workshops on playwriting, acting for camera, producing, clowning (Mick Barnfather), melodrama, Physical Theatre (Gecko), contemporary dance, Flamenco and yoga, among others.
In London, my credits as actress include: Where We Began (Camden People’s Theatre, HighTide Festival and national tour); A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (Barbican), Brazil Diversity (Theatre 503), I Walk in your Words (RichMix and Omnibus Theatre); Turmoil (Cervantes Theatre, Wandsworth Festival, Courtyard Theatre); For Elise (Embassy of Brazil in London), Border Force (Camden Centre and Brighton Dome), Sweetness & Light (Colchester Arts Centre), among others. I also directed the show The End of All Miracles at Albany.
Recently I was commissioned by Arts Council in the programme Developing Your Creative Practice to research more about the language of Cabaret. Thanks to that I graduated at The Art of Drag School with Michael Twaits, and at Queerlesque Course with Rubyyy Jones. As Lola Del Fuego, my cabaret persona, I’ve already performed at Duckie, Bar Wotever, Soho Theatre, VAULT Festival and Barbican, with Taylor Mac. With my colleagues from the Drag course we created a collective called Drag What?! that has several gigs confirmed in the cabaret scene of London for 2019.
Navigating in this website you'll be able to know me a little better. Don’t hesitate to contacting me for new projects and to book Lola. I love challenges and I am keen on working with new people.
You can also find more information about me on my Spotlight , Mandy Actors and Social Media.
Beijos!
Fernanda
Photo by Leandro Facundo
