ONE CURTAIN CALL AT A TIME

They say performance art finds you when you need it most - and in my case, it found me somewhere between textbooks and existential dread. What started as a curious detour from Health Sciences quickly turned into a lifelong love affair with the stage. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of performing in everything from dark one-man shows to glittering telenovelas, from children’s theatre in rural schools to festival premieres and full-blown feature films.

This blog is a walk through my entire performance journey - one production at a time. Some projects changed my life. Some just changed my posture. All of them taught me something. So whether you’re here for the theatre, the queer joy, the behind-the-scenes chaos, or just a good old-fashioned glow-up story - welcome.

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Significant Works

AND HOW THEY FORMED ME

LEOPARD (2014)

Directed by Daniel Marais

Leopard was a silent short film - but it said plenty. Shot in stark black and white, this student thriller followed my character: a lone, unsettling figure stalking a woman through the city with eerie precision, like a predator locked on its prey. No dialogue. Just shadows, glances, and the tension of what isn’t said. When he finally drags her unconscious body into an elevator, the screen fades… and the rest is left to the audience’s imagination.

Henri Strauss's performance in LEOPARD, directed by Daniel Marais (2014)

The year my path swerved from Health Sciences into the wild unknown of the arts. It was my first real taste of performing - my unofficial debut - and also the year I saw an adaptation of Equus, choreographed by Bailey Snyman, and a production that shook me to my core. That show didn’t just leave an impression - it rerouted my life. I walked out of the theatre knowing I had to switch lanes, drop the stethoscope dreams, and start studying Drama the very next year.

EQ (2017)

Choreographed by Bailey Snyman and David April

Full circle moments? This was the one. Years after watching Equus and deciding to commit my life to theatre, I found myself embodying Alan Strang - the very role that once lit the fuse. Bailey Snyman’s physical theatre adaptation turned this psychological thriller into a visceral, muscle-and-bone experience, and I was front and center, unraveling the fragile threads between obsession and faith. It was raw, demanding, and deeply personal. From audience to actor, this production marked the poetic climax of my student journey - and the start of something much wilder.

Henri Strauss's performance in EQ, choreographed by Bailey Snyman and David April (2017)

I like to think of my performance in EQ (Equus) as a love letter to theatre - a heartfelt thank you to the journey that shaped me. It marked the end of my undergrad years and the beginning of something new: finding my own creative voice, creating original work, and discovering what I’m truly capable of. It was also a privilege to work under the direction of Bailey Snyman and David April in this production. Bailey, my mentor since first year, pushed me to become the best artist I could be - and I’ll always be grateful for that. David April brought joy into every rehearsal room. He reminded me that performance isn’t only about depth and discipline - it’s also about play. About fun. He passed away on 10 May 2025, and I’ll always carry his laughter, wisdom, and warmth with me.

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WHAT FRANK REMEMBERS (2017)

Directed by Dene Janse van Rensburg

My one-man-show debut, and what a deliciously dark way to start. What Frank Remembers dove headfirst into the twisted psyche of Armin Meiwes - the infamous German cannibal whose date night plans took a rather… meaty turn. Playing Frank, I embodied the chilling calm of a man preparing dinner - with his guest on the menu.

Henri Strauss's performance in WHAT FRANK REMEMBERS, directed by Dene Janse van Rensburg (2017)

Intimate, intense, and unsettling in all the right ways, this production set the stage (pun intended) for the kind of daring, character-driven work I’ve been drawn to ever since. A solo act that proved I could hold a stage - and an audience - in the palm of one bloodstained hand.

VESTIGE (2017)

Choreographed by Rachel Swanepoel

Vestige was delicate devastation - a dance about the ghosts we carry and the traces they leave behind. With a cast of four, including myself, the performance explored internal battles like depression, memory, and loss through gesture-heavy physical theatre. Every twitch, every breath, every shift in weight became a scream in slow motion. It was about what lingers when the moment has passed - what we bury, what resurfaces, and how the smallest movements can echo the loudest truths. Minimalist, haunting, and full of emotional residue, Vestige whispered what words could never say.

Henri Strauss's performance in VESTIGE, choreographed by Rachel Swanepoel (2017)

BEYOND EVIDENCE (2017)

Directed by Jo-Ann Mcquirk

Beyond Evidence brought the drama off the stage and into the corridors, quite literally. Think Cluedo come to life: one murder, a cast of suspicious characters (I proudly played one), and a theatre audience-turned-detective squad roaming a building, grilling suspects and hunting for clues. Each room revealed a new twist, and every audience question forced us to stay sharp and fully in character. It was immersive, unpredictable, and demanded fast, witty improv - no two nights were ever the same. Whodunnit? That was for them to find out. For us? It was a thrilling game of cat and mouse in costume.

Henri Strauss's performance in BEYOND EVIDENCE, directed by Jo-Ann Mcquirk (2017)

PRISM (2017 and 2019)

Created by Westley Smith & Max Breytenbach

PRISM was more than a performance - it was a protest, a pulse, a personal turning point. This hauntingly beautiful physical theatre piece unpacked the aftermath of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, exploring the lived experiences of the LGBTQ+ community in intimate, shattering detail. My segment portrayed a gay narrative marked by trauma and survival - a sexually assaulted character whose story shook audiences, and unknowingly, reshaped my own life.

Henri Strauss's performance in PRISM, created by Westley Smith & Max Breytenbach (2019)

My mother was in the audience. She saw the truth in my performance, and afterwards, she asked me if I was gay. I told her I was. That night, PRISM became my unspoken coming-out story. Because sometimes, theatre doesn’t just reflect life - it reveals it.

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JAN EN DIE BOONTJIERANK (2017)

Directed by Riaan Terblanche

Jan en die Boontjierank was a towering achievement - literally. I played the Giant in this Afrikaans musical take on Jack and the Beanstalk, hidden inside a massive two-storey puppet contraption while voicing and puppeteering the beast (with two brave souls helping me operate the arms). It was pure theatre magic for the kids - but unfortunately, performed in a politically charged moment during the Fees Must Fall protests. With rising tension around the Afrikaans language on campus, we only managed one performance before the show was shut down. Still, the joy on the children’s faces that day? Giant-sized.

Henri Strauss's performance in JAN EN DIE BOONTJIERANK, directed by Riaan Terblanche (2017)

After the Jan en die Boontjierank protests, the kind of work I chose to be part of began to shift. Not as a performative gesture, but as a conscious reflection on my place as a white male artist in South Africa. I wasn’t driven by guilt, but by a growing sense of responsibility.

Ironically - or maybe perfectly - Tselane and the Giant came next. A reimagined, community-focused version of Jan en die Boontjierank, it introduced me to the other side of the spectrum. It was joyful, human, and healing - and I’m deeply grateful for what it taught me.

TSELANE AND THE GIANT (2017)

Directed by Gavin Matthys

Sometimes the most magical theatre happens under the sun, not the spotlight. Tselane and the Giant was a vibrant, laugh-out-loud reimagining of Jack and the Beanstalk, set in a uniquely South African context - designed to teach children in under-resourced communities about safety and stranger danger (because yes, the giant will snatch you if you’re out after dark). Touring rural schools and community halls, this production was packed with playful storytelling, bold costumes, and infectious energy. The joy was real, the lessons landed, and the selfies with the kids? Unforgettable.

Henri Strauss's performance in TSELANE AND THE GIANT, directed by Gavin Matthys (2017)

Race may never have been a personal obstacle for me - but it’s part of the world I create in, and that matters, and so came the creation of Three, Pandora and Intramuros.

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THREE (2017)

Choreographed by Palesa Olifant

Three was tangled, tender, and totally unpredictable. This physical theatre trio dissected the dynamics of intimacy between one white man (me) and two black women - shifting through every possible emotional and romantic configuration: girl and girl, boy and girl, all three together, jealousy, betrayal, reunion, reversal. It was a choreography of chaos and chemistry. While two dancers might be lost in a sensual duet, the third would quietly fold origami swans - delicate symbols of how we fold, mould, and sometimes crumple each other in love. Visceral, poetic, and bold in its vulnerability, Three made relationships feel like performance art - with paper cuts.

Henri Strauss's performance in THREE, choreographed by Palesa Olifant (2017)

PANDORA (2018)

Co-created by Henri Strauss and Palesa Olifant

Pandora was a love letter—wrapped in cultural tension, sealed with post-apartheid complexity, and performed with sweat, soul, and symbolism. Palesa Olifant and I co-created this physical theatre piece to explore what it means to love across South Africa’s deeply rooted racial and cultural divides. A literal box on stage—our Pandora’s box—became a container of tradition, identity, and uncertainty. From emerging out of it myself, to the slow unfurling of a wedding dress and ceremonial blanket, each object challenged the boundaries between duty and desire. The ladder? A stark reminder of economic disparity. It was bold, it was beautiful, and audiences felt every beat of it.

Henri Strauss's performance in PANDORA, co-directed by Henri Strauss and Palesa Olifant (2018)

INTRAMUROS (2018)

Choreographed & Composed by Henri Strauss

Intramuros, “within city walls” - wasn’t just a performance, it was a portrait of everything I’d spent years trying to untangle - gender, race, faith, identity - all expressed through movement. Four dancers from different cultural, racial, and sexual backgrounds embodied the contradictions and connections that shaped my experience growing up queer in a conservative Afrikaans household. I stepped into the work physically and emotionally, shining a spotlight on layered narratives while others carried my story through their bodies. I also composed the original score - every note a reclamation, every beat a form of healing. This was choreography as catharsis. A dance through the city I’d been building inside myself all along. A dance through the internal city I’d spent years building. This piece laid the foundation for my creation of Ravenous, and ultimately, Hunger.

INTRAMUROS, choreographed by Henri Strauss (2018)

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RAVENOUS (2018)

Written & Directed by Henri Strauss

My directorial debut - and what a feast for the mind it was. Ravenous was a psychological deep-dive into trauma, identity, and the fractured psyche, told through a surreal lens of Freud’s Id, Ego and Superego. Set in a liminal, symbol-laden dreamscape, the piece tackled PTSD, gender, race, and desire with equal parts intellectual bite and visceral power. The red velvet chair. The zinc bath. The birdcage. Each space held its own haunting truth. It was daring, unflinching, and unapologetically strange—and it paid off. The production nabbed three major theatre awards, including Best Written Production. My first full-length play, and a roaring, ravenous start.

RAVENOUS, written and directed by Henri Strauss (2018)

HUNGER (2018 and 2019)

Created & Performed by Henri Strauss

Hunger was the naked truth - quite literally. In this one-man, dance-based physical theatre piece, I stripped back more than just layers of clothing. Drawing from Pina Bausch’s Tanztheatre and Bame Nsamenang’s African theory of selfhood, Hunger became an autoethnographic journey through life’s psychological phases - from birth to death, through trauma, desire, faith and fear. The performance space was raw, elemental, and intimate: a spotlight on dirt, a body in motion, and a suitcase full of metaphor. It was theory in motion, a solo in every sense, and an unapologetic reflection of what drives us to move - emotionally, physically, spiritually.

HUNGER, created and performed by Henri Strauss (2018)

This production was so close to my heart, and I had the privilege to perform it again at the Pretoria State Theatre during the Dance Umbrella Festival of 2019 in front of the legendary Mamela Nyamza. She walked away saying she "felt heavily inspired" by my work, and that has truly stayed with me ever since.

Postgrad done, voice found, bags packed, and I head of to Johannesburg, ready to take on the big theatre world. Three major productions crossed my path in that following year: Blood Wedding, Two-Way Mirror, and Love, and How. Things were going exactly as planned.

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BLOOD WEDDING (2018)

By Federico García Lorca, directed by Raissa Brighi

Performed with passion, dirt, and bare feet, Blood Wedding was where Spanish tragedy met South African physical theatre - and I got to play the brooding, stubborn Father of the Bride (El Padre De La Novia). Our adaptation, supported by the Embassy of Spain, brought Lorca’s poetic fire to stages like the Market Theatre, the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, and the Masker Theatre in Pretoria. It was movement over monologue, heat over hush, and I was right in the thick of it, navigating family, fate and an unstoppable undercurrent of blood-tied destiny.

Henri Strauss's performance in BLOOD WEDDING, by Federico Garcia Lorca and directed by Raissa Brighi (2018)

TWO-WAY MIRROR (2018)

Choreographed by Bailey Snyman

Two-Way Mirror was a hypnotic exploration of identity, perception, and the silent performances we give the world. Dressed in our own versions of black, four dancers - including yours truly - shared the stage with massive, wheeled mirrors that became partners, barriers, and brutal truths. One side gleamed with reflection, the other masked in matte black—mirroring the human condition to a tee. We danced with what we show, what we hide, and what unintentionally escapes through someone else’s reflection. A poetic, physical theatre piece that asked: do we truly see ourselves, or only what we’re brave enough to reveal?

Henri Strauss's performance in TWO-WAY MIRROR, directed by Bailey Snyman (2018)

LOVE, AND HOW (2019)

Directed by Emil Haarhoff

Dark, daring, and disarmingly naked - Love, and how wasn’t your average couples therapy session. I played one half of a queer couple grappling with desire gone disturbingly abstract. My character’s fixation with inanimate objects spiraled into a surreal transformation of his partner, piece by piece, until love quite literally objectified the beloved - into a lifeless, perfect installation. A haunting metaphor for emotional erasure in modern relationships, the piece blurred the line between devotion and destruction. Directed by Emil Haarhoff as part of his groundbreaking doctoral research on nudity and intimacy in performance, this production pushed boundaries in all the right (and deeply uncomfortable) ways.

Henri Strauss's performance in LOVE, AND HOW, directed by Emil Haarhoff (2019)

During this time, I also slipped in two smaller projects to keep the acting muscles warm- Fine Line, a physical theatre piece, and a student short film called FIVE AM. Nothing big, but just enough to keep the bones oiled and the craft alive.

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FINE LINE (2019)

Choreographed by Zelne Anderson

Fine Line blurred boundaries - between emotion and movement, interpretation and instinct. I was one of three core dancers in this experimental, tech-integrated performance where we presented the same choreography twice, each time guided by a different emotional undercurrent. The twist? The audience didn’t know what we’d been given - they had to feel it. Via an app, they voted on which emotion they believed was fuelling each performance. 

Henri Strauss's performance in FINE LINE, choreographed by Zelne Anderson (2019)

FIVE AM (2019)

Directed by Lucia Temple

FIVE AM was a raw, atmospheric student short that dove headfirst into blurred lines, hidden truths, and the toxicity of silence. I played a wealthy, quietly conflicted gay teen entangled in a situationship with his straight best friend - messy, magnetic, and doomed. When a cryptic note from a girl arrives, they spiral into a pseudo-mystery that leads them to a tragic house party, where she takes her own life… and a horrifying truth surfaces: the friend had taken advantage of her. A dark, gripping ending leaves my character with a weighty choice - and a gun.

Henri Strauss's performance in FIVE AM, directed by Lucia Temple (2019)

Then COVID hit, and like the rest of the industry, everything shut down—for nearly two years. During that time, I had to pivot, and ended up running a successful online personal styling business (because theatre kids will find a way). After the lockdowns, I shifted behind the camera for a while - but that’s a story for another blog. It wasn’t until 2023 that I dipped my toes back into the performance world… and not long after, I landed Diepe Waters - a bit out of my comfort zone, as I'm primarily theatre trained, but I did it anyway and it ended up being a role that’s marked a major turning point in my career.

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DIEPE WATERS (2023)

Produced by Penguin Films for kykNET

In Diepe Waters Season 2, I dove into the role of Chris van Staden—a philosophy student, poet at heart, and quiet revolutionary of the Afrikaans world. Portraying Chris was more than just a job—it was a reflection of my own journey. As Chris came out on screen, I could feel the echoes of my younger self in every line, every pause, every terrified moment of truth. His relationship with Brian stirred conversations across the country, but for me, it stirred something deeper: pride. I’m grateful to kykNET for trusting me with such an important, personal storyline—and for letting queer kids like me see a version of themselves on screen, surviving and thriving.

Henri Strauss's performance in DIEPE WATERS, produced by Penguin Films for kykNET (2023)

After my time on Diepe Waters wrapped, I felt confident enough in my screen acting capabilities and jumped straight into my first proper kykNET short film - Alleen vir Kersfees. A festive little milestone that marked my official entry into the world of professional film.

ALLEEN VIR KERSFEES (2024)

Directed by Lizé Vosloo

Cue the twinkly lights and mistletoe - Alleen vir Kersfees was my cinematic sleigh ride debut! Starring alongside Amalia Uys and David Viviers, I played Gerdus, Maxine’s delightfully eccentric assistant with a knack for Post-it notes and perfectly timed one-liners. The film follows a workaholic woman forced to rediscover the magic of Christmas (and life) when she’s stuck with a man who basically is Mariah Carey in flannel. Heartwarming, hilarious, and aired on kykNET, this feel-good festive flick officially marked my first time on film - and what a jolly good time it was.

Henri Strauss's performance in ALLEEN VIR KERSFEES, directed by Lizé Vosloo (2024)

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Continuing the Creative Journey

After Alleen vir Kersfees, I landed my first official full-length feature film—Khaki Fever—which is set to premiere at Silwerskermfees in Cape Town later this year, before heading to cinemas and eventually Showmax. I can’t say much just yet… but watch this space.

While we wait for Khaki Fever to drop, I had a quick run at the Market Theatre with a dramatic script reading of Bang Bang Andy, where I stepped into the surreal and glittery mind of Andy Warhol.

BANG BANG ANDY (2025)

By Henque Heymans, directed by Marilyn Vanrenen

BANG BANG ANDY was a staged reading with a twist of acid-pop philosophy and just the right amount of surrealism. Written by Henque Heymans, the play fractures the mind of a fictional writer named Telly Rawiya - who imagines, conjures, and converses with the likes of Andy Warhol, Valerie Solanas, and a chorus of inner voices. I stepped into the imagined, eccentric, and ever-iconic shoes of Andy himself - Warhol as Telly imagines him: flamboyant, fragmented, and hauntingly charismatic. The piece danced between delusion and genius, real and imagined, making this one-night-only reading feel like performance art in motion. A cerebral swirl of queer legacy, mental health, and the modern myth-making machine.

Henri Strauss's performance in BANG BANG ANDY, by Henque Heymans and directed by Marilyn Vanrenen (2025)

Funny story - I’ve been begging to get my hands on the Bang Bang Andy script ever since I first heard about the project. The play was originally co-written with Henque Heymans by Dawn Liebenberg, who was a senior during my first year of studies. She was an extraordinary creative soul who left a lasting mark on the industry, even though her time with us was tragically short - she passed away during COVID.

Fast forward to this year, and I finally got to read for Andy Warhol in a public script reading of the play. It’s a role I’ve wanted with every fibre of my being. If the production end up being selected for a full season at the Market Theatre, I can only hope I get to step into Andy’s silver shoes. Look, I've been doing TV and Film now for 4 years and I haven't been on a stage since 2019, but theatre will always be my first love. Could this perhaps be another full-circle moment that signals my return back to theatre?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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