Writer & Theatre Biography

Ben Yeoh is a London-based playwright, theatre-maker and writer whose work spans stage, radio and performance.

He studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University before studying science, dramaturgy, playwriting and other arts at Harvard University. His arts teachers included poet Forrest Gander, photographer Chris Killip, playwright Adrienne Kennedy, sculptor Patrick Strzelec and dramaturg Gideon Lester.

Ben’s plays include Nakamitsu, winner of the Gate Theatre Translation Award and produced at the Gate Theatre; Yellow Gentlemen at Oval House; Lemon Love at the Finborough Theatre; and Lost in Peru at Camden People’s Theatre.

His radio work includes Places in Between, adapted from Rory Stewart’s account of walking across Afghanistan for BBC Radio 4 and selected as Pick of the Day by both The Times and The Guardian; Patent Breaking Life Saving for the BBC World Service; and The Inventor of Fireworks for BBC Radio 3.

Ben has also been closely involved with collaborative and participatory theatre. He is currently a board member of Improbable, and was previously Chair of Coney and Talawa Theatre Company.

His current creative work includes Mirror Man, a performance-lecture moving between story, science, memory and audience participation to explore faces, inheritance, race, ageing and identity.

Selected work

Nakamitsu
Gate Theatre, directed by Jonathan Munby. Winner of the Gate Theatre Translation Award.

Yellow Gentlemen
Oval House, directed by Bronwyn Lim.

Places in Between
BBC Radio 4, directed by Steve Canny.

Patent Breaking Life Saving
BBC World Service, directed by Jessica Dromgoole.

The Inventor of Fireworks
BBC Radio 3, directed by Jonathan Man.

Lemon Love
Finborough Theatre, directed by Elizabeth Freestone.

Lost in Peru
Camden People’s Theatre, directed by Sarah Levinsky / Mapping4D.

Ben has also written for projects including House of Cards with Coney and Historic Royal Palaces, and his theatre development has included the Royal Court writers programme and BBC Radio writers programme.

Reviews

“Rare and riveting.” — The Times, Nakamitsu

“A vertiginous sense of possibility and regret in Yeoh’s intelligent script.” — Time Out, Yellow Gentlemen

“Superb dramatisation… entertaining and informative.” — The Guardian, Places in Between

Elsewhere

Mirror Man — current performance work
Start Here — writing, conversations and other work
BenjaminYeoh.com — short biography and links
Contact