SEXODUS

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Theater Utrecht, URLAND, Nicole Beutler Projects, O.

View performance dates
SEXODUS . Fotografie Dion Bal Art direction Ulkuhan Akgul
''AS LONG AS I LIVE, I WILL BE AGING. MY ONLY OTHER OPTION IS TO DIE''

In SEXODUS, we see an actress at the threshold of her forties. She knows that in the Western world, she is expected to keep looking like a twenty-four-year-old until she’s far into her sixties. So, she adapts. Again. And again.  

Her body is marked by centuries of aesthetic oppression. What starts as compliance turns into resistance. In an exhilarating revenge fantasy, she takes the weapons of the arts, the entertainment industry and social media into her own hands. Through fashion, live video and music, she challenges a global system that thrives on female insecurity, hoping to get a glimpse of what lies beyond. 

SEXODUS offers an honest look into the female mind and shows how a woman’s body is being shaped, used and reclaimed.  

How I get through the next 90 minutes defines who I’m going to be for the rest of my life.”    

SEXODUS is a physical rollercoaster in which Naomi Velissariou shapeshifts into a storm of female archetypes, under the meticulous direction of Nicole Beutler. The uncompromising language of Bregje Hofstede and Naomi Velissariou is carried by the crafty sound and sharp imagery of performance collective URLAND, which plays with references to pop culture, history and the arts. All this is amplified by the daring costume design of artist Ülkühan Akgül. This teamwork results in a one-woman show that is as multifaceted as woman herself.   

English spoken.

Trigger warning: This performance contains strobe lighting and explicit nudity. It explores themes of body image, self-criticism, and distorted body perception.

About Naomi Velissariou

Naomi Velissariou is a Greek-Belgian director, writer, actor, and performance artist with a fascination for the fluidity of contemporary identity and the ways in which it is deployed within today’s image culture. She represents a generation of engaged performing artists and is not afraid to take a stand on behalf of this generation. Velissariou creates poetic spectacles that immerse audiences with merciless lyrics, pounding beats, and dazzling visuals.

In 2017, Naomi Velissariou received the Charlotte Köhler Prijs, an encouragement award from the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. In 2019, she won the Directing Award for Part I of her PERMANENT DESTRUCTION trilogy, The SK Concert. In 2021, she received the Theo d’Or for Part III, Pain Against Fear. Her performance HARDKOOR was nominated for the VSCD Mime/Performance Award 2025.

Performance dates

di 19 mei
20:30u

SEXODUS

Try-out
Utrecht|SPRING
wo 20 mei
19:00u

SEXODUS

Try-out
Utrecht|SPRING
wo 27 mei
20:15u

SEXODUS

Performance
Rotterdam|O.
do 28 mei
20:15u

SEXODUS

Première
Rotterdam|O.

Credits

Concept, text, performance: Naomi Velissariou

Text, dramaturgy: Bregje Hofstede

Director: Nicole Beutler

Assistant director (intern): Dóra Dankó-Kiss

Assistant: Lindsy Dias

Sound design, composition: Jimi Zoet

Set, lighting, video design: Marijn Alexander de Jong

Costume design: Ülkühan Akgül

Technical production: Thomas Lloyd

Sound and video operator: Bart Coenen

Lighting operator: Mart Hielema

Video stage management montage: Charlie Smeets

Production management: Seline Gosling, Daniel Valkenburgh

Costume maintenance and surtitles operator: Merel Kamp

Marketing & communication: Naomi Lantveld, Kelly de Haan

Campaign Image Photography: Dion Bal

Campaign Image Costume & Art Direction: Ülkühan Akgül

Graphic design: Modern Story Studio

Production: Theater Utrecht, Nicole Beutler Projects, URLAND, O.

With support from: Ammodo Art

Thanks to Bregje for opening up my world, thanks to Nicole for carrying me on her shoulders, thanks to the SEXODUS team for the patience and devotion with which they created a female playground beyond the electric wire of shame, thanks to Seline and Thomas for lovingly safeguarding this project and making it practically possible, thanks to Anne for the calm and trust that allowed these ideas to become art, thanks to my love for his everything-relativizing humor, and thanks to the friends, lovers, and therapists who continually encourage me to dare to be myself.