F*CK LOLITA
How does a young woman discover her sexuality? And who gets to tell that story? Director Silke van Kamp has long been fascinated by Nabokov's 1955 scandal novel Lolita, in which a young woman is stripped of her own journey of sexual fantasy and longing. For decades, Lolita has been cast as a romanticised object of desire, her story retold in countless versions.
Festival Nederlands Theater Festival
Duration 2 hours and 10 minutes - no break
Genre Theater
Language Dutch
F*CK LOLITA describes the sexual abuse of a minor. This may be considered disturbing.
Reshaped from a female perspective
Seventy years on, Silke turns Nabokov's literary classic radically inside out: in F*CK LOLITA, the story is reshaped from a female perspective. Lolita steps out of the cage of the male gaze and reclaims her story and her body — not as a victim of abuse, but as someone fighting free from the grip of the male perspective.
With text by Annet Bremen (nominated for the Toneelschrijfprijs 2023), F*CK LOLITA becomes a volatile, sensuous and complex duet between Lolita and Humbert Humbert. Lolita reclaims her artwork: about herself, as herself.
Raw beauty of young female sexuality
"From a young age I was curious about sexuality, falling in love and the pursuit of those feelings. You want to be able to fantasise about that freely, without anyone reading it as an unintended invitation. In this production I want to explore both the raw beauty of young female sexuality and the taboo surrounding it. Let's talk about this." — Silke van Kamp
3-13 september 2026
Nederlands Theater Festival
The Nederlands Theater Festival (NTF) marks the official start of the new theatre season each year. For eleven days, starting on the first Thursday in September, the festival presents a selection of the finest and most impressive productions of the past year in Amsterdam.
Credits
Direction & concept: Silke van Kamp
Text: Annet Bremen
Performance: Joep van der Geest and Keja Klaasje Kwestro
Dramaturgy: Michiel Bijmans
Costume design: Daphne de Winkel
Photography: Sofie Knijff
Technics: Arco Middendorp
Assistant director: Floor van der Niet
With thanks to: Babette Kalker & Joachim Robbrecht
Silke van Kamp
Silke van Kamp is a theatre and film director. That dual skill set enriches her work. In 2019 she was nominated for the BNG Bank Theatre Prize for her graduation production Chimo Zei Lila. Her work is defined by its layered quality, raw edge, humour and affinity with the visual arts. She is drawn to the darker corners of society — the places where we hide what is difficult or threatening — and by illuminating a widely held idea, assumption or norm from a different angle, she gives it new meaning.
Het Zuidelijk Toneel
Het Zuidelijk Toneel is the theatre company of the south, touring from its home city of Tilburg across the Netherlands and Flanders. From the smallest to the largest stages, the company's new permanent ensemble of six true performance animals is let loose — provoked rather than tamed by the company's first female artistic director, Sarah Moeremans. Together with a colourful roster of house directors, Het Zuidelijk Toneel makes productions that excite, move and recharge you with new energy. Among them the successful productions Een Leuk Avondje Uit, Crashtest Ibsen and Shut Up and Play with Me, which became favourites with press and audiences alike.