Samatar Elmi
Award-winning poet, writer and musician whose work brings poetic syntax into collision with myth, history, diaspora and political critique.
Theatre & Performance · In Development
After Cordelia
A stage reimagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear commissioned by Fio Theatre, directed by Mathilde Lopez and written by Samatar Elmi.
Project overview
Logline & Commission
What endures in the silence following catastrophe.
After Cordelia is a new theatrical work reimagining Shakespeare’s King Lear. Commissioned by Fio Theatre, the play investigates inheritance, patriarchal power, filial refusal and the linguistic fault lines that fracture between loyalty, displacement and statehood.
Commission
Commissioned by Fio Theatre as part of ongoing contemporary stage development.
Collaborators
Creative team
Confirmed key artistic collaborators involved in development.
Mathilde Lopez
Renowned theatre director known for bold, visually inventive, boundary-pushing contemporary stagings and multidisciplinary performance.
Fio Theatre
Cardiff-based theatre company making fearless, high-quality theatre with and for ethnically diverse artists and global majority narratives.
Development history
R&D Scratch Performances
Early testing with live audiences in Cardiff.
Afternoon Scratch
A 30-minute work-in-progress presentation exploring initial staging, vocal rhythm and physical choreography with live audience feedback at Chapter Arts Centre.
Evening Scratch
Second 30-minute scratch sharing followed by creative team evaluation, deepening dialogue around character motives and dramaturgy.
Chapter Arts Centre
Cardiff’s landmark international centre for contemporary arts, hosting the initial research and development period.
Dramaturgy
Form & themes
Poetic language in conversation with the classical canon.
Cordelia’s initial utterance in Shakespeare’s tragedy—“Nothing, my lord”—is not an absence of emotion, but a refusal to commodify affection for dynastic gain. After Cordelia interrogates what happens when that refusal reverberates through the diaspora, through generational memory, and through imperial collapse.
The work combines lyrical verse, multilingual cadences, and contemporary physical dramaturgy, creating an intimate yet epic theatrical encounter that speaks directly to the political and ecological fractures of our present moment.
Core Themes
Inheritance · Refusal of flattery · Colonial and imperial legacies · Father-daughter lineages · Silence as resistance.
Project status
Current status & next steps
Progress following successful 2026 R&D.
Following two capacity scratch presentations in Cardiff, After Cordelia is in active script development for full production and touring.
Creative materials and dialogue with commissioning partners, co-producers and venues are currently underway.
Bookings & Partners
Performance & production enquiries
For festival programmers, venues, co-producers and artistic directors.