Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke

PLAYS & PRODUCTIONS

• BARDO
  A short film directed by Abid Khan and produced by EyeFive Films. Inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, BARDO explores dream states and the confrontation of guilt and blame.  Screenings include the Cannes Festival Short Film Corner (May 2015), the Portobello Film Festival (September 2014), Zealous X Festival (January 2016).
• Shrapnel
  A play that reflects on the impacts of war –  historically, currently, physically and psychologically. Set against the backdrop of political race riots, it examines notions of ‘Broken Britain ’ through the exploration of race, displacement, guilt and redemption. Supported by an Arts Council grant as part of its Escalator Plays initiative. Rehearsed reading (9 May 2012) at HighTide Festival Symposium, Suffolk.
• Lo
  A contemporary stage adaptation of Nabokov’s Lolita, exploring pederasty, power and the gendered assumptions surrounding sexual exploitation. Reversing the gender dynamics of the original novel, this adaptation centres on Lo, a pre-teen boy, using the shift in gender to interrogate how audiences perceive victimhood, desire, culpability and abuse when gender roles are disrupted.
• Her
  Exploring abuse, alienation and redemption, this short play interrogates the fragile construction of the self and asks what remains when our sense of identity has been fractured by the actions of others.
• Beat – ‘Av It
  A young reveller relies on the beat of the music to keep his heart beating. Beat was produced as part of ‘Av It at the Coming Up Later Festival, Old Vic Tunnels (July 2010). Directed by Natalie Ibu and created by 50 writers, performers and DJs, ‘Av It was a collaborative performance recreating the final hour of a nightclub.
• Millionaire
  A musical commissioned and produced by Mayhem Theatre Arts at Hertford Theatre (April 2011). When Yorkshire factory worker Stella wins the lottery, she is whisked off to London to star in a reality TV show, trading one life for another in a world where fame and fortune come at a price.
• Nappies & Nazis
  A monolgue, first performed at the Feast of Nympha festival, Blacks, Soho (August 2011). An unconventional prostitute shares her paraphilic tales. “It was like the best bits from the first hour of Fight Club in monologue form.” –  review by Daley James Francis
• Merry F*cking Christmas
  An award-winning monologue produced by Crystal Clear Creators and broadcast on Verulam Radio (April 2008). A woman offers a candid and sharply comic account of life with a retired porn star, where domesticity proves anything but ordinary.
• Fag
  Monologue performed at Loughborough University new writing evening (2005). Who said smoking was bad for you? An absurd call to arms against conformity, good behaviour and being told what’s best for us.
• Gracing Scorpios
  A short film (2004). A journalist investigating a fatal nightclub arson discovers that reporting the story isn’t always enough. Sometimes you just have to make the news…

PUBLICATIONS

• Crystal Voices (2015) – anthology of poetry and prose celebrating ten years of Crystal Clear Creators, featuring Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke’s prose, ‘The Paget Arms’.
• Hearing Voices 4 – anthology of poetry and prose, featuring Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke’s monologue, ‘Beat’
• Hearing Voices 3 – anthology of poetry and prose, co-edited by Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke, Alex Plasatis and Jonathan Taylor. Published by Crystal Clear Creators, May 2011
• Speaking Words: Writing for Reading Aloud (2005) – anthology of poetry and prose, featuring Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke’s poem, ‘The Paget Arms’

• Fallen
  A collection of surreal and disturbing short stories exploring mental illness, fractured identities and maternal bonds. In Fallen, a young man believes himself to be the Archangel St Michael; Cloud descends into a nightmare of violence and suicide in an alternate reality; in Mercy’s Corner, a man attempts to cure his father’s alcoholism by impersonating his dead mother; and in Child 13, a woman’s obsessive desire for motherhood drives her to increasingly desperate and disturbing acts.

DIRECTION

• Theatre directing credits for Rare Productions include: Grease (May 2014), Les Miserables (November 2013),  Footloose (April 2013 ), Annie (Nov 2012),  Oliver ( April 2012);  Camp Rock ( Nov 2011); and for Mayhem Theatre Arts,  Millionaire (Asst. Director, Hertford Theatre, April 2011)

ACTING

• Theatre credits include: UK premiere of Richard Foreman’s play Pearls for Pigs,  Moliere’s The Hypochondirac, Willy Russell’s Our Day Out, Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker (St. Robert Martin Theatre, Loughborough); Timberlake Wetenbaker’s Our Country’s Good,  Cuba (St.Albans), Peter Pan, Toad (Watersmeet Theatre, Rickmansworth); The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice (Rickmansworth); The Factory Children (Queen Elizabeth Hall)

AWARDS

• Hearing Voices 3
  Anthology of poetry and prose, co-edited by Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke, Alex Plasatis and Jonathan Taylor. Listed seventh in the ‘Top Twenty U.K. Small Press Magazines of the Year 2011’ by Purple Patch Publishing.
• Soliloquized Crystal Clear Creators competition, 2005
  First prize for Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke’s monologue, ‘Merry F*cking Christmas’.

EDITING & JUDGING

REVIEWS

• Award-winning review of Wilder Girls by Rory Power (2026).
• Award-winning review of The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (2025).

LINKS

• Jonathan Taylor – Associate Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester and a hugely talented author. My PhD supervisor, my mentor, my friend.
• Rare Productions Ltd – UK’s largest youth musical theatre company.
• Mayhem Theatre Arts –  Performing arts centre, producers of Millionaire.
• Everyone’s Reviewing – an excellent source for book reviews, event reviews, interviews with authors.