Raised in Croydon, she began wowing the crowds with her comic suburban flamenco extravaganza Viva Croydon, described by Attitude magazine as “One of the funniest and most original acts on the London cabaret scene”.
Ursula had a huge hit at the 1998 Edinburgh Festival with her highly original theatre show Family Outing, starring herself and her parents which subsequently toured to Europe, the UK and Australia.
A highly acclaimed international artist, Martinez produces live performance for different contexts, such as theatre, site-specific, installation, cabaret and night club and has performed in a number of prestigious venues such as The Royal Opera House, The V&A, The Sydney Opera House and The Barbican, London. An associate artist with performance collective Duckie, she co-created the Olivier Award winning C’est Barbican as well as smash-hit Office Party which was one of the biggest hits on the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe. Her latest show My Stories, Your Emails sold out its entire run at the Barbican in 2010 and received fabulous press reviews and audience acclaim.
However her massive international following means that she remains one of the most memorable stars of the smash-hit cabaret show La Clique and Hanky Panky has helped elevate her to the point of becoming one of the most sought-after corporate entertainers in the world.
Press Quotes
Ursula Martinez takes the genre of comedy magic and makes it entirely her own, incontrovertibly proving that it’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it. She also demonstrates that there is always a place for as lady to keep her kerchief, even when she is naked
– La Clique, The Scotsman, 24 August, 2004
Ursula Martinez takes the genre of comedy magic and makes it entirely her own, incontrovertibly proving that it’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it. She also demonstrates that there is always a place for as lady to keep her kerchief, even when she is naked
– La Clique, The Scotsman, 24 August, 2004
Ursula’s strip. Now, I’d heard about it from Eve but I couldn’t imagine that removing a jacket, skirt and underwear with a bolshie attitude could be that empowering. She had a body you could write to a catalogue for and she was going to have the best possible fun with it. She threw in a little light magic with a scrap of scarlet silk, and finished by removing it from a place that brought howls of appreciation from every corner of the roundest of venues. Like Gypsy Rose before her, Ms Martinez had the last laugh on generations of the exploitations of her sex.
– La Clique, Maureen Lipman, The Guardian, 5 June, 2006
Viva Croydon: One of the funniest and most original acts on the London cabaret scene
– Attitude magazine
A Family Outing: Hilarious, devilish and brilliant: Martinez has, if you like, created a new theatrical genre.
– La Clique, Independent On Sunday
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