If you were at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 you may well have come across Mimi Nation-Dixon’s sell out show ‘Sit Or Kneel’, a one woman play about a young vicar that is both poignant and funny, and explores faith, belonging and being human. 

If you didn’t manage to see it back then, the good news is that you can see it in London this week, as the show is staged at The Other Palace studio. 

I wanted to find out more about the show and how it came together, as well as finding out more about Mimi herself, so put some questions to her ahead of opening night. 

CM: Can you start by telling us about the content of ‘Sit Or Kneel’? Who is it about? Does it tell a story?
MN-D: ‘Sit Or Kneel’ follows Margot, a young, newly ordained vicar finding her feet in a rural parish that is as eccentric as it is endearing.

She is desperate to do good, to be good, yet isn’t entirely sure what that even means. It is a story about faith, identity and belonging, but mostly about being human in all its awkward, funny and tender glory.

It is a one-woman show, but the world around her is vivid and full. Through her eyes, we meet an entire parish: the regulars, the sceptics, the over-sharers and the well-meaning meddlers.

At its heart, the piece is about the collision between what we show the world and what is really going on underneath.

CM: What are the themes and aims of the show?
MN-D: It explores identity, purpose and the longing to be seen. I have always been fascinated by people whose exterior completely contrasts with their interior. Those who seem composed on the outside but are quietly unravelling within. It is that Shakespearean duality of masks and truths.

Margot embodies that tension. She is a woman of faith who doubts, a leader who feels lost, a professional listener who struggles to be heard herself. I wanted the play to ask whether we can ever be truly known, and what happens when the version of ourselves we have built starts to crack.

Above all, I wanted it to make people laugh, think and perhaps leave feeling a little more connected to their own messiness.

CM: How would you describe it in terms of style or genre? What manner of show should audiences expect?
MN-D: It is a dark comedy with a warm heart.

Think ‘Fleabag’ meets ‘The Vicar Of Dibley’. Tonally, it straddles that line between comedy and quiet heartbreak. One moment you are laughing, the next you are caught off guard by something that stings a little.

It is direct, honest and conversational. Audiences should expect to feel part of it, almost as if they are Margot’s confidants.

CM: Where did the idea come from? What made you want to explore these themes?
MN-D: It actually began on Christmas Day. A local vicar asked what I had studied and when I said Theology at Durham, he laughed and said, “You’ll be after my job next”. I absolutely wasn’t, but it got me thinking: what if someone like me did become a vicar? And from that, Margot was born.

I have always been intrigued by faith, not necessarily in a religious sense, but in the way people search for meaning. And then there is the notion of masks: the roles we play, the ways we try to appear fine. The Church felt like the perfect setting to explore that, because its rituals are literally performative.

Originally, ‘Sit Or Kneel’ was conceived as a TV series inspired by the strange, hilarious goings-on of my rural village. I wanted to see if Margot resonated with audiences and to see how deeply I could get under her skin.

CM: What was your creative process like? Write-y or devise-y?
MN-D: A bit of both. I tend to write in fragments, moments, lines and little snapshots of emotion, and then piece them together like a jigsaw. Once the scenes existed on paper, I would test them aloud, reshaping based on how they landed in the room.

The beauty of theatre is that it is alive. You can write the perfect sentence on the page, but if it does not breathe on stage, it does not belong. So yes, some moments were very much devised. I had to train myself to treat it all as a bit of a game, otherwise my inner perfectionist would never let it see the light of day.

CM: The show had an Edinburgh Fringe run, didn’t it? How did that go? Would you take another show there?
MN-D: It did, and it was one of the most surreal, exhilarating and exhausting experiences of my life. I had never been to the Fringe before, so I arrived with this romantic idea that it was a utopia of artists and art-lovers, united by creativity. And in many ways, it was.

I do not think I realised at the time how well the show was actually going. You hear the mythic Fringe fairytales, but what you do not hear are the hundreds of artists quietly grafting, creating something special in their own right.

I went in without fear of failure, which was oddly freeing. My only aim was to have fun and give it a go. That naïveté probably saved me.

Would I do it again? Absolutely, though perhaps when my finances have recovered and when the Fringe itself finds a way to become more accessible for emerging artists. It is a phenomenal platform, but it is not easy to sustain.

CM: Did you always plan to perform the piece yourself? What is it like being responsible for the whole thing?
MN-D: Yes, from the start I always knew I would play Margot. She feels too deeply woven into my own voice for me to hand her over.

It can be terrifying, of course. You are responsible for every beat, every silence, every shift of energy in the room. But I remind myself that it is me and the audience together. We are all part of the story. I imagine them as my fellow cast members, which makes it feel far less lonely up there.

CM: Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What drew you to working in the arts?
MN-D: I have always loved stories, writing them, performing them and sending far too many long letters to friends and family. Even as a child, I understood that stories have power. They can lift a mood, mend a day, make sense of something that hurts.

Acting and writing were just the natural extensions of that impulse. They make people feel less alone, and that, to me, is the best kind of magic. My path may have taken an academic turn for a while, but at its core, it has always been about storytelling.

CM: What have been the highlights of your artistic career thus far?
MN-D: Playing Tatties The Singing Potato in a Year Three production. Still yet to be topped, if I am honest.

CM: What aims and ambitions do you have for the future?
MN-D: To keep creating work that makes people laugh, cry and squirm, sometimes all at once. I would love to bring ‘Sit Or Kneel’ to screen and that is something I am already working towards.

Beyond that, I want to keep building worlds and characters that feel honest and alive. What I love most about this work is the unity that comes when a group of strangers share a story. The moment an audience laughs together, or goes quiet together, or sees something of themselves in a character, there is such power in that.

I want to carry on facilitating those moments, bringing stories to life, working alongside audiences, and creating spaces where people can feel something and feel seen.

CM: What is coming up next for you after this?
MN-D: There are a few projects in motion, including developing ‘Sit Or Kneel’ for television. I am also working on new writing and taking time to learn as much as possible. And after that? Probably a very long lie-in.

‘Sit Or Kneel’ is on at The Other Palace Studio from 21-26 Oct. Head to the venue website here to book your tickets.

LINKS: theotherpalace.co.uk | mimination-dixon.co.uk | instagram.com/mimi_nationdixon