Paul Koek (1954) studied percussion at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. In 1985 he joined Johan Simons’ Theatergroep Hollandia, which resulted in many years of internationally renowned collaboration. In 2003, Koek set up Veenfabriek, a musical-theatre ensemble that presents itself in many different forms and configurations. For the past two years, as artist in residence for the Red Sofa series at Amsterdam’s De Doelen, Paul Koek has worked on the musical-theatre concert Replica, which he created along with Ton van der Meer, Johan van Kreij and theatre-maker Benjamin Verdonck. Koek is also the brains behind the new T.I.M.E. - This is Musical-theatre Education - a Masters course offered by the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague since 2010.
The key features of Paul Koek’s creations are the use of locations and the sheer musicality of his performances. For example, he performed the musical production Haar leven, haar doden - which was selected for the Nederlands Theaterfestival - in a Vroom & Dreesman department store, Kasimir en Karoline at the Avignon Theatre Festival and Machine Agricole on a farm in Warmond.
His works have won the European Prize for New Theatrical Realities, the Noord-Hollandse Theatre Trophy and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Theatre Prize.
Arthur - following on from Medea in 2011 - is the second collaboration between Veenfabriek and Muziektheater Transparant.