For our final Dysbiosis artist spotlight, we meet director, writer, and performer Nuke Lagranje (he/they), whose work draws deeply from his experiences as a queer, neurodivergent person. In the first R&D phase in 2023, Nuke embodied one half of a two-headed, non-human creature—an abstract entity accidentally conjured by an artist. This creature weaves together elements of fairy lore, huldras, and other mythological beings, reflecting a connection to nature and the unseen.
Assistant Director Tasnim sat down with Nuke to discuss his creative practice, the intersections of queerness and nature, making new connections in the industry, and more.
Tell us about yourself and your creative practice.
My name is Nuke. I direct, write plays and prose and act now and then. My focus when I write or direct is usually magical realism, social activism and psychology. I produced, wrote and directed Constant Reprises. I am Spanish-Dominican, I grew up in Madrid, moved to England for university then moved to London after graduating from Portsmouth. I am queer, Black-Caribbean and… I love dogs.
What does ‘dysbiosis’ mean to you?
I didn’t really know much about ecology as I grew up in cities, so Dysbiosis opened a huge new world for me, studying how we interact with the world, because I didn’t really appreciate nature before. The way that it changed me, the way that nature has been decimated. It’s a joy to think that we are part of nature.
“From my seat at the court, I saw it all. Not that I cared at the time, but I saw it. All the bricks laid, the iron forged, the nature… subdued. Bent to the wishes of men, they built houses and palaces and the land was their domain. I saw them take the trees and the fish and the cattle. The children and the women. I saw the blood and I saw the smoke.” – Excerpt from DYSBIOSIS R&D by Nuke Lagranje
How does a queer lens help us understand or appreciate nature (if at all)?
I’m reading a book on the history of magic and it’s so interesting how we lost this sense of fluidity with nature. There’s binaries that we didn’t really have, there’s something about queerness that thrives in nature, nature is queer, how we understand the world in contemporary times, it can help us connect with nature again. There’s so many animals that change their gender just to fill a hole, they will change their genitalia, flowers can be multiple sexes, animals don’t care about gender whatsoever; queerness is constant in nature.
How did you find working collaboratively with creative practitioners from different disciplines?
Usually when I do devising processes it’s been a play script or the acting, it was a new process for me to create a show depending on the space we are in, and working with Paul (designer-director) was really fantastic and opened different pathways in my brain about how shows can be staged. I enjoyed how varied the experience of everyone in the room was. Everyone had their own experience… It made me appreciate making things from scratch. Hearing everyone’s stories of putting on a show and issues that they hadn’t planned really helped with my own practice and how to better it. Things I don’t really consider when putting on a show that changes the trajectory of it.
Could you share with us a piece of work that has stayed with you from the latest R&D week?
Fran made that video talking about feminism, gender and the politics of environmentalism, she filmed toy dinosaurs to explain things. It was such a cool mix-match of things, it was hectic how she was able to feed off each other’s thoughts, and she managed, without being in the room, she was able to put it in a video. I thought that was so sick.
Can you recommend a book/theatre/music recommendation that relates to Dysbiosis’ themes?
“Science separates people from the world, whereas magic immerses us in it, raising also questions of our moral relationship with the universe in a way that science does not.” – Chris Gosden, Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present
I’m reading Magic: A History by Chris Gosden and it’s such an interesting view of history and the material reality of civilisations from Ice Age to now and how they might have seen the world and the energies of the world and of nature collaborating with their own life and trying to co-exist with it. Really interesting thinking about it, how we’ve always seen nature as something that’s part of us. Really really good read!
Any final thoughts?
Working with all these artists and people that we haven’t met before has made my life richer. Everyone was so lovely, like, I’ve hung out with Kathryn outside of the space a few times, Yael and I are now working on something; they’ve asked me to help them with their show. Tasnim cast me in a show she directed recently… It’s such a beautiful way to connect with people.
