Playwright, community artist and ghost writer
About
Dr Mia Gordon is a writer, director, community practitioner and lecturer. She has directed and written a variety of work in the UK, Holland, Poland, Germany and Canada. She is also a ghost writer.
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Mia's first play 'Mirjam' won an Edinburgh Fringe First. She has directed and written work for main stages such as the ICA London, Traverse Edinburgh, the Tramway and Citizens in Glasgow as well as more site-specific work (for instance a former Labour camp in Germany, the wings of a prison, and a touring Tate Modern Exhibition about the work of Ben Nicholson in Norwich Castle).
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Mia worked as a Writer in Residence at HMP Whitemoor where she helped 28 inmates receive Koestler Awards for their writing and helped write their life stories. She has ghost written offender biographies. Mia has also worked as a community artist with recovering alcoholics in Glasgow and with young people in Hereford and Tenbury Wells, helping to bring young artists to the stage and encouraging local storytelling through biography and verbatim theatre.
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Mia's Ph.D in the Holocaust led to her writing a number of performances and biographies inspired by Holocaust survivors including, most recently 'Eli and the Golem' for Strangeface Theatre
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Mia is currently the joint course leader for BA Performing Arts at Hereford College of Arts and Principal of the Regal School of Creative Arts in Tenbury Wells.
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Her most current project is a devilish contemporary adaptation of John Gay's Beggar's Opera with co-writer Jack Hughes and composer Pete Thorogood, coming to the Courtyard this summer.
Recent Projects:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Eli and the Golem
Strangeface Theatre
Based on true testimonies, award-winning Strangeface presents Eli and the Golem. A Jewish refugee anxiously awaits his child's arrival on a Kindertransport at Liverpool St station in early 1939. As he waits, he tells of his own journey from a happy childhood in Prague to becoming a refugee fleeing for his life from Nazi occupation.
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Eli and the Golem was performed at Trinity in Tunbridge Wells and JW3 London in Autumn 2021. It also was performed in Dover as part of an intervention with Little Amal the giant puppet at the heart of The Walk.
"The Amal walk and the events at Folkestone and Dover have been great, but Amal meeting Eli was so powerful. Eli's character, handlers and great narration were all brilliant. Such a resonant & powerful story for today's Britian."
Little Amal travelled 8,000km in support of refugees, walking across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK to focus attention on the urgent needs of young refugees. Find out more about how she operated on her journey from her creators Handspring Puppet Company.
Recent and Current projects
The Little Princess
Original Musical with Pete Thorogood
Regal School of Creative Arts
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Original Musical with Pete Thorogood
Regal School of Creative Arts
Christmas Carol
Regal School of Creative Arts, Tenbury Wells.
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Regal School of Creative Arts, Tenbury Wells.
Using traditional music hall songs and acts, the cast leads the audience through the adventures of Alice a.k.a 'The Incredible Shrinking Woman'
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An original adaptation of Frank L. Baum's book with original songs written by Pete Thorogood
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Regal Theatre Tenbury Wells
A musical montage of stories and verbatim interviews woven into a theatrical journey celebrating the history of the town, the struggles and triumphs of its people including the 2020 floods. First performed in July 2022 to great acclaim, the script is now being expanded into the 2023 Tenbury Community Play and Mia is hard at work interviewing war veterans, counsellors, and various inhabitants of the area. The Community Show will showcase the stories and talents of a wide cross-section of the people of Tenbury and involve live music.
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Previous Plays
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For adult actors and audiences:
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Pigland. A dystopian black comedy. Hereford Courtyard Theatre
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And Fade to Black. A black comedy. Hereford Courtyard Theatre "Mia Gordon has created an engagingly credible piece of work full of laughter, pathos and insight." Hereford Times​
Lady in Red. One man show. The Garage, Theatre Royal Norwich
Carol’s Christmas. Modern Reworking of Dicken's classic. Norwich Arts Centre. "A gripping play which raised more questions than answers." Eastern Daily Press
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Dracula, Kabala of Fiends, Norwich Arts Centre. With Stephen Hornby. "A funny, profane and expressionist readiing... a new play with raw energy" Eastern Daily Press
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Heart of Darkness. The Arches Theatre Glasgow. "Live and dangerous" The List
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In Silence and Tears. Glasgow Mayfest, Arts Council. Revived for the Edinburgh Festival Bedlam Theatre and revived for Netherbow Theatre and Traverse Theatre. "The fragile nature of female emotions are the crux of the play and the lack of voice these women feel is expressed quite beautifully via the flute and violin; their loss of communication reflecting the vanishing culture of the Highlands" The Scotsman. "A complex and densely packed piece: plotllnes and timescales interweave... with an almost teasing sense of suspense." The Glasgow Herald
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Mirjam. Based in interviews with Holocaust survivors. Edinburgh Fringe First Winner, Demarco European Arts Foundation. Tour: Tramway, Glasgow and ICA. "The artistic achievement is considerable" The Independent. "A balletic hymn to the memory of these women. Snatches of music and dance are interlocked with scenes of appalling suffering." The Scotsman. "A stark but brilliant meditation on the horrors of the Holocaust... powerful and genuinely moving drama" Scotland on Sunday.
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Mengele. Edinburgh Fringe "Expressively delivers distressing material against the odds... impressive" The Independent
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For youth theatre:
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What the Dickens. Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds
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David Copperfield. Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich
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Dumping of the Snark. Sherman Theatre, Cardiff and Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guilford (Arts Council Commission). Revived/re-written for the Sherman and Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
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Juliet’s Revenge. A reworking of Romeo and Juliet. Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Acting School, The Pleasance
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Korzak’s Children. Historical drama about the Jewish orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto.Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh Acting School Festival, The Pleasance
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Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The Pleasance Theatre Edinburgh, Edinburgh Acting School, The Pleasance
Translations
Woyzek (Buchner) Gateway Theatre Edinburgh
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Une Scène Jouée Dans La Memoire (Delbo) Glasgow Mayfest Commission at The Citizens’ Theatre and European tour.
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