Riah Knight (b. 1996) is a British-Romani artist based in Berlin whose interdisciplinary practice spans acting, music, writing, and dramaturgy. Rooted in feminism and social justice, her theatre work deconstructs hegemonic knowledge systems and re-centres the female gaze. Her latest music release, Wicked Laughter, explores the darker sides of femininity - woven within traditions of R&B, folk, trip-hop and performance poetry, it creates a sonic landscape for the political reimagining of female aggression and desire.
Knight has worked at Gorki since 2017, when she had her stage debut in ROMA ARMEE, directed by Yael Ronen. The production, which Knight co-composed music for, was nominated for the DER FAUST award and featured in the European Theatre Prize. Knight went on to collaborate frequently in Ronen’s ensemble-based productions at the Gorki, contributing both text and music. She performed in YES BUT NO (2018), REWITCHING EUROPE (2019), and the »almost musical« SLIPPERY SLOPE (2021), for which she is also a co-author. The work was invited to the 2022 Berliner Theatertreffen, and in the same year Knight was nominated by Theater Heute critics as one of the »Best Upcoming Actresses of the Year«.
She was a member of Marta Górnicka’s POLITICAL VOICE INSTITUTE and has appeared in various festivals and performances at the Studio Я. Her latest Gorki production is CARMEN (2025), directed by Christian Wiese, in which she performed the role of Micaela whilst also contributing as a writer and dramaturg.
Knight is one of the artistic directors of Glossy Pain, a collective that explores pleasure beyond oppressive structures while critically examining social norms around gender, race, and sexuality. With them she staged BANG! (TD, 2021), SEYMOUR (TD, 2022), WOYZECK (Theater an der Ruhr, 2023), and LIE WITH ME (TD, 2023), a solo show that received four stars at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
