
Jesse Vandamme (°1996) is a director, writer, producer and sound artist. He studied Performance at the Theatre Academy Maastricht and Drama at KASK in Ghent. During his studies, he collaborated as a writer, co-director and musician on Überdramatik at theatre Frascati and acted as an ‘inside eye’ (coaching for text and acting) on Hannah de Meyer's performance New Skin.
Together with Lucas Van der Vegt, Joeri Happel, Louise Bergez, Lucie Plasschaert and Laurens Aneca, he founded collective Werktoneel. He directed the performances 7 Solo's, Scènes, Giants, Solipists, Gruis / Aan de Twijfel en Aan de Start van de Brug. As a director, Vandamme coaches the actors in a way that stays close to their own personality: each actor speaks his own performative language.
At Camping Sunset, Vandamme worked as a coach for the film Happiness in 2020 and for the third part of Ten Oorlog in 2021. Several of his performances have been shown at the Love At First Sight Festival and Theater Aan Zee.
Jesse is fascinated by the psychology of people and researches the aesthetic application of literary criticism on capitalism. Byung Chul Han, Radiohead, Meg Stuart, Bifo Berardi and Zizek inspire him. Jan Steen's acting style and performances have also greatly influenced his methods.
In the coming years, Jesse will be creating an album, several solo performances, a group performance and an artistic work which will be displayed in a public space. Together with Arne de Tremerie and Princess Isatu Hassan Bangura, he is one of the young artists who get the chance to further develop his artistic practice at NTGent.
In 2023, Werktoneel, directed by Jesse Vandamme, made Gruis / Aan de twijfel, a performance at NTGent based on the oeuvre of Dutch literary great Willem Frederik Hermans. The performance was voted the very best of 2023 by Belgian newspaper De Standaard and was part of the selection for the 2024 Theatre Festival in Belgium.
- update October 2024
Jesse Vandamme
"I always collaborate intensively with the same people; you learn to understand each other very well"