Bio
Ursula Martinez is a London based theatre maker, performer and director. She makes bold, innovative, funny, disruptive and accessible live performance, often drawing on autobiography, lived experience and the body to explore wider contemporary issues and human behaviours.
She has performed and directed work in esteemed venues around the world including Sydney Opera House, Skirball (New York), Téâtre de la Ville (Paris), Kampnagel (Hamburg) Madrid’s Matadero & Teatro Abadia, and London’s SouthBank. She has won numerous awards including an Olivier Award – Best Entertainment (2004) for C’est Barbican, a co-creation with performance collective Duckie.
Raised in the UK with a Spanish mother and English father, she earned her chops performing solo on the London cabaret scene before creating her first theatre show A Family Outing (1998). This groundbreaking autobiographical piece starring herself and her parents, toured for several years, including Belvoir Street Theatre (Sydney), Södra Teatern (Stockholm) and Trafo House Of Contemporary Arts (Budapest), establishing Martinez internationally as an important British contemporary theatre maker.
Martinez created two more autobiographical shows, which together with her first, were presented at London’s prestigious Barbican as a retrospective trilogy entitled ‘Me, Me, Me!’ (2006).
‘My Stories, Your Emails’ (2009) was commissioned by Barbican and toured internationally for ten years, including La Fondation Cartier (Paris), Sydney Opera House, Brighton International Festival and New Zealand Festival of the Arts.
‘Free Admission’ (2015) was commissioned by South Bank in London and presented at Push Festival (Vancouver), Arts Centre (Melbourne), El Matadero (Madrid) Project Arts Centre (Dublin) and Soho Theatre (London), to name a few.
In 2017 Martinez co-created ‘Wild Bore’ with Adrienne Truscott (USA) and Zoe Coombs Marr (Australia) plus special guest Krishna Istha. Winner of the Greenroom Award for Best Ensemble, this audacious and hilarious critique of the critique of theatre premiered at Melbourne International Comedy Festival followed by performances at Traverse (Edinburgh), Carriageworks (Sydney), Skirball (New York), Soho Theatre (London) and Sophiensaele (Berlin).
In 2019, Martinez was Artist in Residence at Perth Festival, Australia, where she premiered A Family Outing – 20 Years On. Commissioned by Barbican, S!CK Festival and Perth, it was a celebratory reinterpretation of her very first production and was performed by Martinez and her 84 year old Mother, Milagros, who was living with dementia. International touring was cut short from COVID and Milagros passed away in 2022.
After 20 years making and performing theatre, cabaret and live art, Martinez naturally fell into directing. Working with artists who also seek to disrupt conventional narratives, Martinez has directed many internationally acclaimed and award-winning shows.
These include:
‘Batshit’ (2022), an Australian production by celebrated Brisbane artist Leah Shelton, which received 6 awards in Australia and 3 in the UK, including the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe First (2024).
Laura Murphy’s multi award-winning circus/theatre fusion ‘A Spectacle of Herself’ (2022) .
A trilogy of work with one of UK’s most provocative performance artists, Lucy McCormick: “Lucy and Friends’ (2023) ‘Post Popular’ (2019) and ‘Triple Threat’ (2017),
Casting Lear (2024) a co-direction with Spanish theatre maker Andrea Jimenez, which won the Max Award (2025) for Best Theatre Show.
Martinez is an original cast member of the international trailblazing cabaret show La Clique, which won an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment in 2009.
Despite all her theatrical accolades, Ursula is probably most wellknown for her infamous magic/striptease act Hanky Panky. Because of the internet millions of people around the world have seen how she can make a handkerchief disappear and reappear from a truly magical place!