LOURIS VAN DE GEER

​Writer 

Louris van de Geer is a playwright and theatre maker from Melbourne, Australia.  She has been described as a “distinctive new voice" and her work as a "brilliant...study of human existence” by The Age. Her writing experiments with contemporary theatrical form and explores the impossible, the grim and the absurd; exposing them as deeply human. 
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Louris holds a Masters of Writing for Performance from the Victorian College of the Arts (Melbourne University), where she studied under Raimondo Cortese from Ranters Theatre. She was mentored by Arena Theatre Company Artistic Director Christian Leavesley through the Australia Council’s JUMP program. Louris has interned with writer and director Richard Maxwell from New York City Players; Marius von Mayenburg at the Schaubühne Berlin; and Ivo van Hove from Toneelgroep Amsterdam. Her work was finalist for the 2015 and 2016 Rodney Seaborn Award, the 2015 Griffin Award and the 2014 Edward Albee Scholarship. She is the recipient of the Malcolm Robertson Prize and was named as one of Melbourne Writers Festival’s ’30 Under 30’ best young writers in Melbourne.
 
Recent projects include: Louris’ adaptation of Elizabeth Jolley’s THE WELL directed by Sarah Goodes in a staged reading as part of Melbourne Theatre Company 2021 summer season; TUESDAY directed by Nell Ranney at Belvoir’s 25A; the world premiere of LOOKING GLASS directed by Susie Dee at fortyfivedownstairs; the Sydney premiere of TRIUMPH directed by Tessa Leong at UNSW; THE SON for Melbourne Theatre Company’s Cybec Electric; the world premiere of TRIUMPH directed by Mark Prichard at fortyfivedownstairs; and HELLO THERE, WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU for Next Wave and ACMI. 
 
Louris co-wrote the short film SUPER with Samara Hersch for Access Inc, which premiered in The Other Film Festival in Melbourne and had its international premiere at ReelAbilities in New York City. Her other projects include TUESDAY (MKA) which has now been adapted into a radio play for ABC Radio National, HUNNY-BUN & BABY DOLL (Dixon Place NYC & Melbourne Fringe Festival), DON’T LOOK NOW (St Martins) directed by Susie Dee, THEY’RE ALL IN THEIR LITTLE BOXES (St Martins). 
 
Louris has been commissioned by English Touring Theatre, Malthouse Theatre, and Melbourne Theatre Company.  She has several screen projects in development. 
 
Reviews of Louris’ work:
 
"Original and unsettling, this play knocks your socks and shoes off with its stark expression of human vulnerability and its shadow side, manipulation." Australian Stage
 
"Strong drama, a short intense wonderfully realized work, admirable in the way it refuses to judge or sensationalise some of our most mysterious behaviours. Fabulously and refreshingly understated." Australian Stage
 
"That these disparate, savage pieces deepen and darken one another is a testament to the skill of the playwright, who has taken an abstract concept and wrung real pathos from it...The entire production is indicative of a healthy and rigorous independent sector…" Time Out
 
"Triumph digs into deeply unsettled terrain, unearthing a story of suffering, survival, and a desperate longing to be heard above the chatter" Arts Hub
 
"(van de Geer's) writing lets her audience continually question and re-evaluate what they are seeing as they are drawn deeper, and more personally, into her stories. The result is a theatre that's engaging and fascinating and so complex that it's impossible to consciously take all of it in." Sometimes Melbourne
 
"Triumph is a dark look at how we are constantly looking for connections to other people, even if it is through tragedy or deceit...Van De Geer’s thought-provoking script allows you to come to your own conclusions as to how we should regard these people."  Theatre Pres
 
"Triumph is a perfectly balanced, beguiling piece of theatre that demands both empathy and condemnation of the characters onstage…van de Geer’s script is masterfully constructed."  Theatre People
 
“…van de Geer has produced a script that…delivers fascinating and flawed characters... it works brilliantly as a study of human existence and the extent to which people will go in order to be noticed.” Concrete Playground
 
“This portrait gives the fragmentary impression of a dream… van de Geer's is a quirky and distinctive new voice worth checking out.”   The Age
 
 “van de Geer draws on David Lynch's self-conscious mannerism, as well as his offbeat humour, hinting at the secrets behind the picket fences” The Age
 
“This is the most exciting piece of theatre I’ve seen this year...Tuesday is an incredible script. [Louris van de Geer] creates a vivid world that’s beautiful in its suburban dullness."  Aussie Theatre
 
”If you’re looking for humour and heartache in equal measure, Hello There… is not to be missed.”  Vulture

“Louris van de Geer has a keen eye.. a natural and engaging writing style that illuminates her characters’ interior worlds set against an increasingly sinister external one.”  The Age

“The detail in the writing is superb. The story is cleverly played out with moments of humour… Tuesday is a fine piece, ironic in parts and telling of lives rendered bereft by the ugliness of a mass consumption seemingly impossible to avoid.”  Arts Hub

“Armed with a wry wit and acute powers of social observation, van de Geer conveys the window of calm – even if for a split second – that people endeavour to find in their environment of noise, of confusion, of helplessness. Effectively, she demonstrates how they scavenge for control in a world altogether beyond their grip.”  To Dad With Love