Michael Southan

Michael Southan is a playwright and poet from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. He has just been awarded Arts Council England funding for R&D for a new theatre piece, YOU SHOULD BE DANCING, which draws very much on his own experience as a person with Cerebral Palsy who uses a power chair. Seventeen years ago, Michael thought it would be a really good idea to get a GCSE in dance, so he did. Now nearly two decades later he’s written a show about it. YOU SHOULD BE DANCING tells the story of good teachers, supportive family, adequate arts in education funding; and how a regular Wolverhampton comp embraced the power of ‘yes’ to get Michael’s tyres moving. The YOU SHOULD BE DANCING R&D will be directed by Tessa Walker, in partnership with The Production Exchange and The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton.

His play KERBS (Graeae Theatre Company) opened at Belgrade Theatre Coventry in February 2022. FRED AND GINGER(Gritty Theatre) toured fringe venues and festivals across the UK. He is an alumni of Graeae Theatre Company’s Write To Play; a development programme for deaf and disabled artists, and Birmingham REP’s Foundry scheme. In 2018 he was accepted onto BBC Writersroom’s inaugural Writers’ Access Group.

Michael’s radio play, A MOMENT'S PAWS was part of the Connections series, nominated for a BBC Audio Drama Award in 2021. His first full length audio drama HOW TO BUILD A DJ (Naked Productions) was transmitted on BBC Radio 4 in 2023.

Michael is also a spoken word poet, having been commission by Apples and Snakes. His debut poetry pamphlet was published in 2020 by West Midlands spoken word collective Poets Prattlers and Pandemonialists

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