F*CK LOLITA

How does a young woman discover her sexuality? And who gets to tell that story? Director Silke van Kamp is fascinated by Nabokov’s scandalous 1955 novel Lolita, in which a young woman’s journey of sexual fantasies and longing is taken away from her.  

For decades, Lolita has been portrayed as a romanticised object of desire, with countless versions of her story. After 70 years, Silke radically turns Nabokov’s literary classic inside out and in F*CK LOLITA reshapes the story from the female perspective. Lolita steps out of the cage of desire object and reclaims her story and body. Not as a victim of abuse, but as someone who fights free from the grip of the male gaze.  

With a text by Annet Bremen, nominated for the Toneelschrijfprijs 2023, based on an idea by Silke van Kamp, F*CK LOLITA creates a capricious, sensuous and complex duet between Lolita and Humbert Humbert. Lolita reclaims her artwork: about herself, as herself. 

• Silke van Kamp is a theatre and film director. In 2019, she was nominated for the BNG Bank Theatre Prize with her graduation performance Chimo Zei Lila. Her work is characterised by layering, a raw edge, humour and an affinity with the visual arts. She likes to find inspiration in the darker corners of society, where we hide what is difficult or threatening. Het Zuidelijk Toneel is the theatre company of the south of the Netherlands, touring from its home city Tilburg throughout the Netherlands and Flanders. Led by the company’s first female artistic director, Sarah Moeremans.