Lotte van den Berg (1975) is a theatre director who favours a minimalist style with little text. Occasionally she makes theatre at the community-level, such as with inmates and guards of an Antwerp prison.

Lotte was born in 1975 in Groningen. Already in her infancy Lotte was fascinated by theatre. As a little girl she sat in the wings to follow the work of her father, the theatre maker Jozef van de Berg. For a short while she studied Law at the University of Amsterdam, only to continue in Theatre Studies and Philosophy. But it became increasingly clear to her that she wanted to make theatre herself, and in 1998 she was accepted into the director’s course at the Amsterdam School for the Arts. Already during her studies Lotte ended up in Antwerp, where in 2001 she directed ‘The Alchemist’ in HETPALEIS. That same year she won her first prize, the Top Naeff Award for ‘best graduate’ at the Amsterdam theatre school.

After graduating Lotte immediately started working as a freelance director for various Flemish and Dutch companies. She directed (among others) for the NNT in Groningen, The Youth Theatre Lab in Utrecht (the Netherlands), Theater Malpertuis in Tielt and Theater Stap in Turnhout (both in Belgium). She often works on location, both for children and adults, and chooses not only to work with professional actors, but also with young people and amateur actors. In 2003 she once again returned to HETPALEIS for the creation of ‘Waarom is het verschil van dat’ (Why is the difference of that). Later that same year Lotte directed the first version of ‘Het blauwe uur’ (The blue hour) for Theater Artemis in ’s Hertogenbosch. This marvelous performance was nominated for the 1000Watt-Prize and would later be produced at the Toneelhuis in Antwerp. In 2004 Lotte made ‘Ik zou mezelf willen weggeven, maar ik weet niet aan wie’ (I’d like to donate myself but I wouldn’t know to whom) for Het Huis aan de Amstel in Amsterdam. This performance was selected for the Theatre festival and earned her the Erik Vos Award, a Dutch prize for young directors.

In 2005, Toneelhuis Antwerp invited Lotte to direct a unique site-specific project in the Antwerp prison. ‘Begijnenstraat 42′ (the prison’s address) is a compelling, almost wordless performance in which inmates share the stage with wardens and professional actors. By means of simple improvisation exercises Lotte Van den Berg developed penetrating theatrical imagery. After her intense experience in the Antwerp jail, Lotte briefly returned to the Netherlands. She directed ‘In het verleden behaalde resultaten bieden geen garantie voor de toekomst’ (Results obtained in the past are no guarantee for the future) for NNT and Braakland (Wasteland) for Compagnie Dakar. After those productions, she was invited by Guy Cassiers to return to Antwerp. In June 2008, Lotte was appointed artistic director of the new incarnation of Dogtroep.

Watch a video interview with Lotte about her work in Antwerp prison.  Download link