Nicole Ratjen

Canadian born. European Trained. Nicole has brought her highly physical no-holds barred approach of clowning to stages across Canada, throughout Europe, around Australia.

She is one of the founding performing members of the Babaren Barbies, which premiered their inaugural Wild Women Circus show with overwhelming success in 2021 and the author of a self-titled Book 33 X Nikki: A selection of coming-of-age monologues. In she 2019 debuted her ( work in progress) solo show What wont she do? at the Berlin Fringe Festival and In 2018 she was accepted to the roster as a Clown for Cirque du Soliel and in 2017 alongside her fellow Bloody Bawdy Villains they created and toured a rip roaring hilarious version of Hamlet? directed by Lily Sykes. Nicole spent the majority of 2016 and 2017 on tour performing as the clown in the show SOAP/ WET directed by Markus Pabst & Maximilian Rambaek.

Previous selected credits (in no particular order with various productions) Tollhaus, Isny Theater Festival, Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Zeit für Zirkus, Zirkus Mond, Nirgendwo Berlin, Pfefferberg Berlin, Wintergarten Berlin, Norwich Festival, Comedy Cafe Berlin, Alles Muss Raus Festival, Art Projects Australia, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Expat Expo Berlin, 100° Festival Berlin, Performing Arts Festival Berlin, Sziget Festival Budapest, English Theatre Berlin, GOP Munich, GOP Hannover,  GOP Essen, GOP Bonn, Micro Festival Dortmund,  Batard Festival, Nuit Blanche Toronto, Next Stage Theatre Festival, Toronto Fringe Festival, Edmonton International Fringe Festival, Victoria Fringe Festival, Vancouver Fringe Festival, Calgary Fringe Festival, Toronto Festival of Clowns, Toronto Circus Festival, Next Stage Theatre Festival Toronto, FireWorks Festival, Director's Lab North and the New Ideas Festival Toronto

Her sassy humour is everywhere where you find your podcasts and comedy Improv festivals alike. It all started with her early teenage years at the Canadian Improv Games and since then she hasn't looked backed. Nicole has brought her highly physical improv approach to the stage and one third of GLB,  Berlin’s longest running English-language longform improv team. Selected Improv Credits: Warsaw Improv Festival, Pandora Improv Festival Italy, English Theatre Berlin, The Del Close Marathon in New York, Finland International Improv Festival, Reyjkavik International Improv Festival, Comedy Bar Toronto, Second City Toronto and Obviously Improv Calgary.

Nicole is a storyteller at heart and with over 15 years of creative creation experience under her belt, she puts her skills to use whether it’s producing, creating new works, or performing. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from York University in Toronto. She furthered her training at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France. After studying at Lecoq in Paris and with Teatro Punto in Amsterdam she developed a keen interest in mask work, construction and sculpture in a theatrical context Nicole studied under the tutelage of renowned Italien mask sculptor Donato Satori for The Art of the Mask International Workshop at The Center of Mask and Gestural Sculptures and participated in The Master Class Festival: The Way of the Mask, at the International Mask Museum of Amleto and Donato Satori with Dario Fo, Fabio Mongolini and Mummenschanz in Abano Terme, Italy. Since 2016 she is an active company member of Theatre Fragile, a mask theatre company based in Berlin. Performing and touring with the production of We Meet in Paradise and facilitating mask building and performance workshops. Most recently she worked as mask consultant for Toronto based theatre company Soulpepper on their award winning production of Animal Farm and designed the masks for Pinocchio at YPT (Young Peoples Theater) in Toronto.

She has lent her playful voice animation talents to various productions and you may have seen her in action on screen or on stage. She continues to direct and assist in the creation of new theatrical productions.

Fostering and growing the artistic community is incredibly important to Nicole. As an instructor she has brought her talents to teaching the techniques of theatre such as Improvisation, Mask, Clown, Devised Theatre, and classical text to one on one stage coaching. Crossing over to the corporate sector Nicole has extensive experience hosting events, facilitating team building exercises, leading workshops and coaching professional individuals for public speaking and interviews. Selected teaching credits: Schauspielhaus Lübeck, Schauspielhaus Köln, Schauspielhaus Hannover, Netflix, Met Film School, Catalyst Berlin, Dbs Berlin, Sheridan College, The Director’s Lab North, The Design Exchange Canada, CCB Training School Berlin, Pandora Festival, Italy, Traattori, Saatchi, GISMA, FunWorks, Kickstarter, Comedy Sportz Berlin, Sir Mowat Collegiate Institute Scarborough, The Classical Theatre Project in Toronto, John F Kennedy School in Berlin and The Valhalla Institute of Fine Arts in Western Canada.

This is one born and raised Canadian who likes to travel while she continues to develop and create new works for the screen and stage.