MICHAEL&CAJA CUSTOM MADE THEATER / THEATRICAL PERFORMERS

MICHAEL&CAJA (Caja van der Poel & Michael Driebeek van der Ven) are specialists in ‘custom made’ theatre performances and plays, that celebrate human imperfections. They perform world wide.

With Michael’s fascination (obsession) for structure and Caja’s strong (headed) eye for detail, they make the perfect team. They met at drama school, recognising their common love for aesthetics, which still inspires them today.

"Our drive, is to show to the world the beauty of mankind, in all its imperfections. These imperfections are what makes us human; they define and unite us. We are not so very different from eachother. No matter where we grew up, we are all just men and women trying to communicate and build a life. It is as simple as that!

We believe that there are many ways to help build a better world. One of these ways is to offer beauty, joy and optimism.

Our lives as individuals and as a team have given us years of experience abroad. In these years we’ve found what has become our source of inspiration: that it is not our differences, but the similarities between all men and all women of the world that speak the loudest."

For the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2010 (UK) they’ve created “A way of man”, a storytelling performance based on one of Holland’s most famous literary works. This work traveled a.o. to New York City.
Next to plays they’ve created a wide variety of performances. This resulted, among others, in “Candy Angels” for the Rotterdam Film Festival, “50’s Radio” and “50’s Education” as part of the SWITCH program for NDT’s annual benefit and “2 chairs” for Body in the Blue Festival, Düsseldorf Germany. Assignments are piling up, flying them all across the globe with their “Flight Plays”.

Michael&Caja are based in The Hague, The Netherlands.
They are part of NOORDVOLK theatre company, founded in 2003, and work closely together with Annemieke Wauters (dramaturgy & dance) and costume designer Asalia Khadjé.

Both are trained at drama schools in The Hague and Amsterdam (NL). Michael studied (2011) Biographical & Non-fictional Storytelling at the International School of Storytelling (UK). Caja graduated (2008) there in Fictional Storytelling.

www.michaelandcaja.com

Plays:
2010-2011: “A way of man” by Frederik van Eeden
2009: “Don’t get boxed in!”
2007: “Then there will be no grand-children!”
2006: “Olympia” by Kiki Verbeek
2005: “Alice#2” by Paul Pourveur
2004: “MAN WOMAN DOG” by Indira Parthasarati
2003: “Play on two chairs” by Michael West

Some Performances:
2011: "The Toad"
2010: “Love Boat”
2010: “Flirtclass”
2009: “Pillow Fight”
2009: “50’s Education”
2008: “50’s Radio”
2007: “Candy Angels”
2006: “Aqua-rel”
2005: “Fabergé in Mineur”
2004: “The 4th Wall”