PRiSM Writer in Residence Leo Mercer
PRiSM 2021 Writer in residence Leo Mercer
Leo is a Mancunian writer and creative producer. After studying at the Universities of Manchester and Oxford, he founded a music theatre company, leo&hyde. He works with composers and music producers to make drama out of current popular music, telling stories exploring post-internet life and the emotional and cultural impacts of new technology.
His Gogglebox-inspired adaptation of The Marriage of Figaro, The Marriage of Kim K (The Lowry, The Arcola), unpacked a couple’s arguments about what to watch on TV. It received multiple four and five star reviews, and was nominated for a Manchester Theatre Award.
His gay love story, GUY, captures online dating in the world of the 2010s. It premiered at Hope Mill Theatre and The Bunker in 2018, and has since been performed at over 20 venues nationwide, including Birmingham Old Rep and New Wimbledon Theatre. His poetry, often inspired by the language of Twitter, has been published in The North and The Cadaverine. In 2020 he created a digital poetry sequence, ‘Scroll’, for Manchester University. Most recently, he has been exploring virtual reality. He’s currently working on commissions combining music, VR and community engagement for St Helens Libraries and Lancashire Encounter Festival, and is extremely excited to delve deeper into the impact of VR on storytelling as part of his residency at PRiSM.
Though I’m a wordsmith, two things are at the heart of all my work: music and technology. I’m delighted to be part of a group of people asking cutting-edge questions in both those areas.
