AMANDA PAYNE - Librettist, Performer.
Original works
Playwright & Librettist
Performer
Bio
Contact
@amandaepayne
AMANDA PAYNE - Librettist, Performer.
Original works
Playwright & Librettist
Performer
Bio
Contact
@amandaepayne
PERFORMER
Selected performance work across theatre, opera, and music-driven productions.
De Keizerin (2025)
by Amsterdam Poet’s Theatre
De Keizerin is a morbid monologue for two performers, a reflection on sleep and sleeplessness, late-night wanderings, senseless cruelty, broken relationships… and flowers.
Theaterkrant: ‘Payne’s speelstijl sluit daarbij aan. Ze hanteert een insteek die aan monologen in de recente Britse traditie doet denken, zoals die van Sarah Kane, Martin Crimp en Dennis Kelly – duister, beheerst, hoofdelijk, emotionally repressed. Ze is altijd in controle, zelfs als ze in woede uitbarst tegenover haar man, die vanwege zijn comateuze staat buiten haar bereik blijft.‘
Photo by Artun Alaska Arasli
De Brakke Grond - Amsterdam
In demons possessed (laughing women), two costumed performers holding a plastic bag full of flowers between them walk backwards throughout the exhibition space, leading the audience in a parade of sorts. During their walk, the performers repeat a simple song for two voices, imitating the sounds of backing cars and laughing women. Throughout the repetitions, the performers have the freedom to play with the emotional scale, ranging from menacing to happy to sad, so that no two repetitions are the same.
Presented at O. Festival, the Sandberg Instituut Graduation Exhibition, and in SIGN.
Photo by LNDW Studio
Door Open Space - Amsterdam
Seeking Solace delves into the stark contrast between the outward face of professional life and the internal struggles modern individuals face. The lyrics are inspired by candid and confessional videos found on TikTok, highlighting the profound duality between the open expressions people share online and the guarded fronts they present in their everyday lives. The impostor syndrome in the lyrics becomes even more apparent by juxtaposing the unhinged confessions and the archaic folk songs. While the lyrics are intimate and unrelenting, the folk songs are reassuring and comforting - a paradox that many relate to from their own lives in regard to their inner dialogue as opposed to external circumstances.
Presented in POST, at ‘Boekie Woekie & Friends’ in Arti et Amicitiae
BONUS MATERIAL: RE:MASTER OPERA (Music-driven performances)
a site-specific performance commissioned by the Dutch National Opera and the Opera Forward Festival. The starting point for the performance was the concept of instruction scores, a working method that balances the improvisational skills with rehearsed sequences.
Photos by Isabell Janssen & Ben van Duin
Dutch National Opera - Amsterdam
The terminus a quo for the performance was the opening of H’art Museum’s exhibition about Julius Caesar I came, I saw, I met my doom and Elif Murat’s sound piece Sonic Phantasmagoria.
Photos by Hildur Elísa
H’Art museum - Amsterdam