In Development
Geez Louise: A playbook for surviving hard times
Geez Louise is a performance lecture on the art of survival.
Using character driven stand up and punk songs, this new show in development champions the idea that the point of surviving is to live. The work skirts desperation, defiance, hope and beauty like the band on the Titanic or a pre-war Berlin cabaret (with slides).
Made with support from Ad Infinitum through their “Momentum” artist development programme and Strike A Light’s “Let Artists Be Artists” scheme.
You Can’t See The Bars Until You Try To Get Out
This new play is set within the fictional Meridian Rape Crisis Centre, celebrating the indomitable spirit of the movement and the women who work and volunteer within it.
The play is a love song to hope and community in the context of unspeakable violence.
Commissioned by Rape Crisis England and Wales as part of their 50 year anniversary Heritage Lottery Funded oral herstory project “Rape Crisis: Exploring the Herstories and Futures of the Movement” with researchers at University of Oxford.
Available for Touring
Cutting Out
A powerful and deeply moving performance-installation – where theatre meets activism.
Cutting Out is an intimate, conversational show rooted in Viv Gordon’s autobiography from abuse to activism, from isolation to connection – told through the lens of her hands.
The combination of performance and installation frames Viv’s story as one of 11 million – drawing out bigger conversations about the politics of survival and contemporary culture.
Funded by ACE.
Currently available for touring.
Join the Cutting Out campaign (coming soon).
Creative Team
Viv Gordon
Writer & Performer
Tom Roden
Director & Co-Writer
Kate McStraw
Producer
Imogen Harvey-Lewis
Designer
Thomas Johnson
Composer
Previous Work
I Am Joan
A comedy dance theatre show about surviving trauma.
I am Joan is an autobiographical one-woman show about a woman living with trauma and finding empowerment through a cast of inspiring Joans – from Joan Rivers to Joan Jett to Joan of Arc.
Blending sharp humour and a heavy dose of glam rock – the show moves between laughter and tenderness, celebrating resistance, self-belief and the reality of survival.
Funded by Arts Council England South West & Strike A Light
Watch the trailer.
Creative Team
Viv Gordon
Writer & Performer
Tom Roden
Director
Sarah Blowers
Producer
Thomas Johnson
Composer
ORAL
A rebellious, sharp-tongued show about mouths, rising up and biting back.
ORAL is a gobby show exploring mouths – what goes into them, what comes out of them and what they are actually for.
Based on lived experience, Viv Gordon Company sink their teeth into child sexual abuse, dentistry and crocodiles.
Alongside the show, Viv piloted a research project collecting survivors’ experiences of oral health care, working with Bristol Dental School towards a survivor-led approach.
This work has now developed into our Beyond Trauma-Informed training offering for dental professionals.
Funded by Arts Council England. Co-commissioned by Strike a Light and Sick of the Fringe.
Read about ORAL at the Sick of the Fringe Care & Destruction Festival.
Creative Team
Viv Gordon
Writer
Viv Gordon, Gemma Prangle & David Reakes
Performers
Tom Roden
Director
Sarah Blowers
Producer
