Carl Miller’s plays have been commissioned and produced by theatres all over England and around the world, including the National Theatre in London. From work created for solo performers to large cast spectacles, he creates drama that entertains, provokes and delights audiences in spaces from the intimate to the epic.
His writing finds playful theatrical forms appropriate to each new creation.
His work with composers creating musicals and music theatre ranges from outdoor festival song theatre with Helen Chadwick to the internationally produced Brontë musical Wasted with Christopher Ash.
“essential viewing if you’re interested in the future of the British musical”
WHATSONSTAGE on Wasted at Southwark Playhouse
Carl has been exploring LGBTQ+ characters, stories and themes throughout his career.
“nothing less than a compressed history of gay identity itself … dazzling writing”
TIME OUT on Carl’s book Stages of Desire
His work by, for and with young people includes original stories and adaptations for family audiences, plays specifically written for large casts of young people and workshops encouraging young writers.
“Exhilarating … Carl Miller has a long and honourable record as a writer and adapter of plays for young people”
FINANCIAL TIMES on Emil and the Detectives at the National Theatre
He also continues to develop immersive work combining live and digital performance.
“a technological triumph”
MORNING STAR on Frankenstein for the National Youth Theatre
IN DEVELOPMENT
ASPERN
original queer psychological thriller
THE HOUSE ON FITZROY STREET
queer Victorian TV drama series
THE NAUGHTY CARRIAGE ON THE ORPHAN TRAIN
for British Youth Music Theatre with composer Luke Saydon and director Emily Gray
THE HOUSE ON FITZROY STREET
queer Victorian TV drama series
WISH
family musical with composer Zara Nunn
THE SMUGGLER’S DAUGHTERS; or THE BALLAD OF DEAD MAN NED
dramatic comedy adventure for all ages
THEATRE
RED RIDING HOOD
directed by Robert Shaw Cameron (Theatre Royal Stratford East)
‘who needs glass slippers or magic lamps when a show is as inventive as this one? … a great big glitterball of joy”
★★★★★ Sam Marlowe THE TIMES
“Miller’s take on this evergreen fable is an absolute delight… Pure magic’
★★★★★ Paul Vale THE STAGE
FRANKENSTEIN (including Virtual Reality sequence)
from the book by Mary Shelley, directed by Emily Gray (National Youth Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, published by Oberon)
‘This exuberant production from the National Youth Theatre’s Rep company bursts with contemporary twists and takes on Shelley’s classic’
Arifa Akbar THE GUARDIAN
‘Carl Miller’s innovative reworking… is of the moment, nimble and very clever’
Susan Elkin SARDINES
‘a riveting version for the technological age… a lively, fast-paced, emotional roller-coaster – a thrilling thriller’
Gill Martin BELLE ABOUT TOWN
WASTED
music by Christopher Ash, directed by Adam Lenson (Southwark Playhouse)
★★★★ This grittily exhilarating show is essential viewing if you’re interested in the future of the British musical WHATSONSTAGE
★★★★ Inspired. It’s delightful to see the formal boundaries of the genre given such a joyously energetic workout and heralds rich creative times to come EVENING STANDARD
★★★★ fantastically witty, mischievous and camp musical THE GUARDIAN
A LITTLE PRINCESS
from the work of Frances Hodgson Burnett, music by Marc Folan, additional lyrics by Adey Grummet, directed by Emily Gray (National Youth Music Theatre, The Other Palace)
LUCKY PETRA
music by Christopher Ash, directed by Tony Graham (workshop presentation, NYU New Plays for Young Audiences, Provincetown Playhouse New York)
STRANGE CASE OF DOCTOR JEKYLL AND MISTER HYDE
from the book by Robert Louis Stevenson, directed by Emily Gray (Trestle)
OSTRICH BOYS
from the book by Keith Gray, directed by Tony Graham (Belgrade Theatre Coventry, National Theatre Company of Korea, large cast youth theatre version directed by Hannah Phillips, Birmingham Rep, published by Methuen)
★★★★★ superbly and funnily adapted by Carl Miller … everything one could wish for: a scintillating show, mostly comic but also tinged with guilt and tension … it’s impossible to fault this show. Worth six stars – I couldn’t recommend it too highly COVENTRY TELEGRAPH
THE H WORD
music by Christopher Ash, book and direction by Carol Russell (One Spirit Productions, showcased at BEAM Park Theatre London)
I AM
from interviews exploring gay British Asian life stories (conceived and produced by Bobby Tiwana / Tiger Strut, directed by Kate Chapman, workshop performances at Sheffield Theatres and across England)
PRECIPITATION (mini-opera)
music by Helen Chadwick, directed by Bill Bankes-Jones (Tête-à-Tête)
MEASURE FOR MEASURE (adaptation)
directed by Rosamunde Hutt (RADA)
EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES
from the book by Erich Kästner, directed by Bijan Sheibani (National Theatre, published by Oberon)
the dialogue is snappy and funny; full of pace and wisecracks. It’s a brilliant adaptation by Carl Miller HUFFINGTON POST
★★★★ Exhilarating … Carl Miller has a long and honourable record as a writer and adapter of plays for young people … without ever condescending or watering down FINANCIAL TIMES
★★★★ a thrill … In Carl Miller’s savvy version this 1929 adventure story feels like a precursor of Harry Potter and is conceived on a remarkably grand scale EVENING STANDARD
★★★★ an ambitious and entertaining adaptation… as rousing and inventive as any show around THE TIMES
★★★★ not a child or an adult didn’t sit through it entranced or emerge delighted THE ARTS DESK
WHITE SUIT
music by Helen Chadwick, directed by Helen Chadwick and Mia Theil Have (Greenwich and Docklands International Festival)
NIGHT DANCE (short opera)
music by Michael Taplin, directed by Stuart Barker (Guildhall School of Music and Drama)
THE THREE MUSKETEERS
from books by Alexandre Dumas, directed by Rosamunde Hutt (Unicorn)
THE BIRTHDAY OF THE INFANTA
from the story by Oscar Wilde, directed by Emily Gray (Trestle)
THE TEMPEST (adaptation)
directed by Tony Graham (Unicorn)
THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY
from the book by Siobhan Dowd, directed by Rosamunde Hutt (Unicorn)
RED FORTRESS
directed by Tony Graham (Unicorn)
RETURN
directed by James Williams (Watford Palace Theatre and Hertfordshire County Youth Theatre)
BLACK-EYED SUSAN
version of the play by Douglas Jerrold, directed by Colin Blumenau (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds) (also versions of Wives as they Were and Maids as they Are and Every One Has His Fault by Elizabeth Inchbald)
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
from the book by Arthur Conan Doyle (published by Collins Drama)
THE COMING OF THE KING
directed by Jonathan Dawes (City Lit)
THE SAME LANGUAGE
from the book by Ben Duncan, directed by Colin Blumenau (Hotbed Festival Cambridge)
JOURNEY TO THE RIVER SEA
from the book by Eva Ibbotson, directed by Rosamunde Hutt (Theatre Centre and Unicorn)
SPELLSHOCK
music by Maurice Ravel, directed by Tony Graham (New Visions New Voices, Kennedy Center, Washington DC)
SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE ATHENAEUM GHOUL
directed by Colin Blumenau (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds)
HANSEL AND GRETEL
directed by Colin Blumenau (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds)
JANET AND JANE
directed by Sue Rosser (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds Youth Theatre)
DESCENT
directed by Pip Minnithorpe (Birmingham Rep)
THE DUCHESS OF MALFI (textual adviser)
by John Webster, directed by Phyllida Lloyd (National Theatre)
THE LAST ENEMY
directed by David Benedict (Gay Sweatshop)
MASTER BETTY
directed by Carl Miller (Man in the Moon)
PRINCESS
directed by Elaine Kidd (Man in the Moon)
Book
STAGES OF DESIRE
Gay Theatre’s Hidden History (Cassell)
Film
CHARIOT RIDERS (short)
produced by Bobby Tiwana, directed and animated by Kate Jessop (2016)
LITTLE ELEPHANT (short)
produced by Bobby Tiwana, directed and animated by Kate Jessop (2015)
JEAN (short)
Elysian Films, directed by Anthony Fabian, with Susannah York, Gyuri Sarossy and Nicholas Clay (2000)