Lorna Vassiliades

Lorna Vassiliades

Lorna is a theatre-maker, writer and practice-based PhD researcher at Queen Mary University of London. Her work explores autobiographical performance, migration and embodied heritage.

Her first career was as a journalist writing about lifestyle and psychology, which led to authoring three books for Psychologies Magazine. During this time, she also began performing and considered training in drama or theatre studies before discovering the MSc in Creative Arts and Mental Health. This brought together her interests in performance and psychological enquiry.

Her MSc research focused on refugees and mental health. Her dissertation (later published in the journal Studies in Social Justice) examined the play The Jungle as a site of collective witnessing, exploring how theatre can open conversations around displacement, identity and mental health.

Her practice-based PhD examines solo autobiographical theatre by artists with immigrant heritage. Her own solo play The Suitcase: Losing Famagusta sold out at the Camden Fringe Festival 2024 and received 4- and 5-star reviews. Inspired by the personal objects her family took with them when forced to flee Famagusta during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, she explores memory, migration, loss and displacement.