Rieks Swarte, born in 1949 in Heemstede (Netherlands), graduated from the theatre school in Amsterdam as a theatre director in 1975. After gaining some practice in various theatre groups in the Netherlands, he developed an own artistic style which he called the toy performances, where the visual and the theatrical are brought together. Examples for his method of creating, also involving the format of lecture-performances are pieces like Het Tapijt (The Tapestry), The art of memory and Lorentz Tour. Additionally, he directed and designed many times for youth theatre groups such as the Toneelmakerij (artistic director: Liesbeth Coltof) and, amongst others he created family theatre productions with the ROTheatre. In 1992 he started his own company, the FIRMA RIEKS SWARTE and, as the company closed down, he set up a new company called SWARTE KUNST.

Past roles: