Creativity Spotlight: Mariana Aristizábal

Our Creativity Spotlight series features advice on artistic practice, inspiration, and a glimpse into the worlds of artists working in a variety of disciplines.

Mariana is a Colombian performer, director and theatre maker living in London, UK. She is the wonderful director of Friday Night Love Poem.

For me, good theatre is like the art of cooking: mixing different ingredients, textures and flavours to create a wholesome dish and experience to share with others.

Tell us about yourself.

I am Mariana, I moved to London about 5 years ago. I am a Colombian theatre maker, I trained as an actor, but in the UK, I started working as director and facilitator. I'm not entirely sure how that happened, but after the initial discomfort of feeling that I was just pretending to be something I was not, in a different language than mine, I realised that actually I could do these things as well. As years went by, I started feeling more comfortable wearing different hats, and I can create from different angles. I still have a lot to learn about acting, directing and facilitating, but I am constantly working to improve my skills.

I am fascinated by London's multiculturalism and the interactions in the city. I enjoy how it is reflected in the architecture, the soundscapes, and how it can be captured through photography. I love wandering about the city, whether it is by foot or by bike. I am curious about learning, and so I am always taking classes or joining groups like African drumming, feminist singing, ukelele lessons, contact jams. I am an advocate for Latinx theatre, and I am interested in championing voices from my culture.

What does your creative practice like?

I am a theatre maker focused on collaboration, devising and multicultural work. I am particularly interested in the fluidity of working methodologies that have as a base horizontal relations. For this reason, I like rehearsal rooms where everyone has a position and opinion on the creative process, and where we can swap roles, even for a couple of minutes, to discover new points of view. For me, good theatre is like the art of cooking: mixing different ingredients, textures and flavours to create a wholesome dish and experience to share with others.