Bait are Michelle Madsen and Liz Margereson  

‘Legendary theatrical troublemakers’ Bait have been making anarchic, playful physical performance since 2017 which Michelle and Lizzy met at an activist workshop and had a fight about fairytales and feminism. They developed their first show Kill The Princess in front rooms, out of hours bars, squats and attics and are now supported by Arts Council England, Trestle Arts Base, The University of Greenwich’s Bathway Theatre Network and Cambridge Junction. Bait  create playful subversive work, fusing movement, live art and clowning to create intimate performance, club nights, queer cabaret acts and full theatrical productions (Cronivision 2021, Kill the Princess 2019) – both live and online. Bait’s Office Party has become a mainstay on the queer cabaret circuit in London – they are resident artists at VFD in Dalston, bringing acts such as Seyonce, Marnie Scarlett and Tahita Bulmer to a growing audience of devoted ‘company employees’.

The people

Michelle is an Argentinian/Danish British-born multidisciplinary artist. She makes performative installations and happenings which use sound, movement and ritual to queer dominant narratives. She is co-director of the award-winning theatre company Bait (Cronivision, Kill The Princess, Desperately Seeking Circe) and her poetry has been performed and published internationally (Alternative Beach Sports, Burning Eye, La Ninfa Eco). Michelle is the host of Bears at a Picnic Naked and Laughing (Resonance FM). Her recent work has been performed at Odin Teatret, Denmark (Off With Her Head) and as part of Berlin’s 2021/22 Performing Arts Festivals (Bar Was Immer, Artwat) She has collaborated with artists including Kate Tempest, Salena Godden and Marianne Costa and her journalistic work has been broadcast on the BBC (My Fake News WhoDunnit). She is a Visiting Lecturer at City University and is exploring collaborative and disruptive practices as  a member of the Make-Up artist collective in Berlin. She holds an MA-certificate in Integral Movement and Performance Practice at the Thomas Prattki Center (Lispa/Arthaus Berlin), where she is also part of the core teaching team.

Liz is rising star on the UK’s storytelling and physical comedy circuits. Works with the charity The Flying Seagull Project; taking clowning to refugee camps and vulnerable communities internationally. Liz graduated from Lecoq in 2016 and is part of Paris-based Collectif 2222 which has toured their award winning debut show at Mimos (Perigeux), Eclat(s) La Rue (Caen) and at Grande Synth and Bagneux . She is a movement director and worked on the YAM award winning show ‘A Shoe Full of Stars’ by Opera Shmopera and for Gestalt Arts.