Podcasts about Sheffield Theatres

Millie from Blackpool Grand Theatre's Creative Learning department is joined by former teacher, Glen to discuss Pig Heart Boy ahead of its arrival to Blackpool Grand Theatre from 14 May - 17th May 2025. Cameron is thirteen, and all he wants is to be normal – have friends, go to school, and dive to the bottom of his local swimming pool. But he desperately needs a heart transplant and time is running out. When he's finally offered a new heart, Cameron must choose how far he'll go to get his life back.Wed 14 May - Sat 17 MayStarting From £15.50 *includes booking fees but exclusive of any per transaction, collection, or delivery fees.Audio Described: Sat 17 Mar 2pmRecommended for ages : A thought-provoking theatre experience for children 9-12yrs (ideal choice Key Stage 2 and 3 students)From the multi-award-winning writer Malorie Blackman OBE, author of Noughts and Crosses, this brilliant novel is brought to life in a brand-new adaptation by Winsome Pinnock and is directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu in a Unicorn co-production with Sheffield Theatres and Children's Theatre Partnership.Pig Heart Boy was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and adapted by the BBC into a Bafta award-winning TV series***** 5 stars“Pig Heart Boy is a gorgeous piece of theatre that will not only delight younger audiences with the stunning set and strong performances, but will leave them open to new experiences.” and “A fantastic adaptation, Pig Heart Kid is a sure fire hit.”Adventures in Theatreland***** 5 stars“This really is wonderful; hilarious, uplifting, profound, and, if you'll pardon the expression, full of heart.”Whatsonstage***** 5 stars“A stunning production.” and “A must for your diary.”West End Best Friend

Millie from Blackpool Grand Theatre's Creative Learning department is joined by former teacher, Glen to discuss Pig Heart Boy ahead of its arrival to Blackpool Grand Theatre from 14 May - 17th May 2025. Cameron is thirteen, and all he wants is to be normal – have friends, go to school, and dive to the bottom of his local swimming pool. But he desperately needs a heart transplant and time is running out. When he's finally offered a new heart, Cameron must choose how far he'll go to get his life back.Wed 14 May - Sat 17 MayStarting From £15.50 *includes booking fees but exclusive of any per transaction, collection, or delivery fees.Audio Described: Sat 17 Mar 2pmRecommended for ages : A thought-provoking theatre experience for children 9-12yrs (ideal choice Key Stage 2 and 3 students)From the multi-award-winning writer Malorie Blackman OBE, author of Noughts and Crosses, this brilliant novel is brought to life in a brand-new adaptation by Winsome Pinnock and is directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu in a Unicorn co-production with Sheffield Theatres and Children's Theatre Partnership.Pig Heart Boy was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and adapted by the BBC into a Bafta award-winning TV series***** 5 stars“Pig Heart Boy is a gorgeous piece of theatre that will not only delight younger audiences with the stunning set and strong performances, but will leave them open to new experiences.” and “A fantastic adaptation, Pig Heart Kid is a sure fire hit.”Adventures in Theatreland***** 5 stars“This really is wonderful; hilarious, uplifting, profound, and, if you'll pardon the expression, full of heart.”Whatsonstage***** 5 stars“A stunning production.” and “A must for your diary.”West End Best Friend

LUCIE SHORTHOUSE is an award-winning actress who came to prominence for her highly acclaimed performance in Sheffield Theatre's production of hit musical EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE, which subsequently transferred to London's West End. For her “standout performance” (as ‘Pritii Pasha' in ETAJ) she won the 2018 WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical & the 2018 H100 Hospital Club's Rising Star Award.She was also nominated for the 2018 Stage Debut Award, the 2018 Mousetrap Theatre Award for Best Female Performer & the 2018 West End Wilma Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical.Other theatre work includes Chris Bush's ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS for Sheffield Theatres' 50th Anniversary; ROLLER DINER for the Soho Theatre; THE HOUSE OF IN BETWEEN for the Theatre Royal, Stratford East and THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE at the Charing Cross Theatre, London.Her breakthrough TV role came with Series Regular ‘Paige Pennington' in Sky One's BULLETPROOF.She plays Series Regular ‘Momtaz' in WE ARE LADY PARTS for NBC/WTTV on Channel 4 & Series Regular ‘Zara' in Caroline Moran's new BBC Two comedy,  HENPOCALYPSE.She will be seen in 2024 as ‘DCI Siobhan Clarke' in Eleventh Hour Films' reboot of Ian Rankins' REBUS.She has also appeared in LINE OF DUTY, CLEANING UP and THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! Lucie can currently be seen as a co-lead alongside Richard Rankin in new BBC One Scottish detective drama REBUS, as DC Siobhan Clarke. Currently airing weekly with all eps dropped on BBCiPlayer - the six part series is a new adaptation of Sir Ian Rankin's best-selling Inspector novels, reimagining John Rebus as a younger Detective Sergeant drawn into a violent criminal conflict. Lucie can also be seen reprising her regular lead role in series two of Channel 4 hit show 'We are Lady Parts' - more info here with the series available here. 

In this episode Elaine chats with actor, writer, comedian and Drag King Daisy Doris May about How To Mate The Ted XXX Talk. We chat the inspiration of the show and the characters, embracing call yourself what you, the drag world and much more. HOW TO MATE - Assembly Roxy - Upstairs Dates: 1st-24th August @ 9.45pm Tickets available here:https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/how-to-mate-the-ted-xxx-talk Steve Porters HOW TO MATE The Ted XXX Talk Last year Steve aced feminism. The result? A girlfriend. In this latest instalment, he's venturing beyond second base and sayin' yes to luv! Join Guildfordian iPod-DJ for a spicy seminar where you mite just find ur special someone. Note: Only appropriate for anyone who isn't afraid of feelings. Live. LOL. Lube. Daisy Doris May won Europe's biggest Drag King contest, Man Up, in 2022, just a couple of years after becoming a Drag King during lockdown. Daisy comments, “Steve's back at Edders for his next series of the TED XXX seminars. He's put his own flirting skills into practice and now he is officially boyfriend material. Or so he thinks. Don't miss the opportunity to learn from his “new found wisdom”… He's done the listening, learning and loving. Now it's time to commit, connect and cum … to serious conclusions.” Daisy Doris May Actor, Drag King, writer and producer Daisy Doris May is also the Director of HÄUS OF DONS aiming to platform Drag Kings both on screen and stage. As an actor and writer, they are represented by 42. As an actor, Daisy has appeared in Sex Education, Whitechapel, Lewis, Professor T, Genius, The Last Kingdom, Downton Abby. Stage credits include seasons at the Tobacco Factory, for which they received an Ian Charleston nomination for playing Celia in As You Like It, and Sheffield Theatres in the recent 50-year anniversary celebrations of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Following the success of last year's Edinburgh Fringe show, the character of Steve Porters is currently being developed into a mockumentary with SISTER and SOUTH OF THE RIVER. www.daisydorismay.com www.instagram.com/daisydorismay/ HIPA GUIDES: HIPA GUIDES OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Email – persistentandnasty@gmail.com Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE

Today Elaine chats with playwright Maureen Lennon about her new show Dead Girls Rising, the importance of regional theatre, the power to art and artist have to ask the difficult questions and much more. Ticket details for Dead Girls Raising: https://www.silentuproarproductions.co.uk/coming-soon Maureen Lennon Maureen is a Hull based writer, a graduate from the English and Theatre Studies BA from The University of Bristol and the Writing for Performance and Publication MA from The University of Leeds. She is an Associate Artist of Middle Child Theatre, a Leeds Playhouse FUSE writer 2019, a BoxFresh Writer 2023 and Sphinx30 playwright. In 2020 her play Helen was shortlisted for the Theatre 503 International Playwriting prize. In 2018/19 she was longlisted for the Alfred Bradley Bursary for Radio Drama. Her credits include Baby He Loves You (Middle Child Theatre 2024), Helen (Theatre 503/ Terrain Theatre 2023), The Coppergate Woman (York Theatre Royal 2022), Us Against Whatever (Middle Child Theatre 2019), and Bare Skin On Briny Waters (Bellow Theatre 2017/18). She has also written work for Paines Plough, Hull Truck Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, and Pilot Theatre. Dead Girls Rising A brand-new production from Hull-based Silent Uproar, Dead Girls Rising is an angry, joyous, punk protest that doesn't pull any punches. Written by Maureen Lennon, with music and lyrics from Anya Pearson (international punk artist featured on BBC Radio 6 Introducing ), Dead Girls Rising is an explosive exploration of what it takes to live and survive within a violent patriarchy. Katie and Hannah love murder. They go to bed listening to podcasts about serial killers; they clutch blankets watching gruesome documentaries. They're in deep. They're not sure if they can stop, and they're not sure if they want to. Dead Girls Rising interrogates themes of true crime, Greek mythology, patriarchy and women's safety, with a furious soundtrack and moments of horror and magic on stage. Co-directed by Silent Uproar's Ruby Clarke and Alex Mitchell, it stars Helen Reuben, Angelina Chudi, Izzy Neish, Zoe West and Rebecca Levy. HIPA GUIDES: HIPA GUIDES OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Support In The Room - https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/in-the-room Email – persistentandnasty@gmail.com Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE WeAudition offer: For 25% off your monthly subscription quote: NASTY25 Backstage Offers: Get a free 12 months Actor Subscription: https://join.backstage.com/persistentnasty-uk-12m-free/

Carolyn Downing is an award-winning sound designer working in a variety of fields including exhibitions, fashion, theatre and live events. Creativity and collaboration are at the heart of her work from initial concept development with fellow designers through to realisation with technical and project delivery teams. Carolyn's most memorable projects include Goya And Munch: Modern Prophecies for Munch Museet in Oslo; Life Of Pi with Sheffield Theatres & Simon Friend Entertainment created for West End, Boston A.R.T, Broadway, the UK Tour and beyond, for which she was awarded a Tony in 2023 & nominated for an Olivier in 2022; The Commonwealth Games 2022 Opening Ceremony performed at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham; The Nightwatchman by Prasanna Puwanarajah, a one-woman show with Stephanie Street for the National Theatre; Jean Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure exhibition shown in NYC & Los Angeles; Ness a geo-located audio experience based on Robert McFarlane's poetical work. Most recently, Carolyn has enjoyed collaborating on Mark Ravenhill's new play Ben & Imo at The Swan Theatre, RSC.

In this episode, we dive into the vibrant world of London theatre with two remarkable productions making waves in the West End - For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy and Standing at the Sky's Edge. Plus Darren talks exclusively to writer Barry McStay and director Tom Radcliffe about their new project Breeding.  For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy: First up, For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy returns to London's West End in 2024 after three previously sold-out runs. This thought-provoking play, inspired by Ntozake Shange's ‘For Coloured Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf', delves into the complexities of Black masculinity and life in Britain. Join six young Black men as they navigate father figures, lost loves, and the highs and lows of existence in a powerful exploration of survival. Following its critically acclaimed runs, this Olivier Award-nominated production promises a captivating experience for theatregoers at the Garrick Theatre. Standing at the Sky's Edge: Next, we shift our focus to Standing at the Sky's Edge, the multi-award-winning new musical transferring to the West End after sold-out runs at the National Theatre and Sheffield Theatres. Hailed as ‘the most exciting new British musical in years', this production is a love letter to Sheffield, weaving together the hopes and dreams of three generations over six decades. With irresistible songs by legendary singer-songwriter Richard Hawley and a poignant book by Chris Bush, "Standing at the Sky's Edge" offers a heartfelt exploration of community and the meaning of home. Directed by Sheffield Theatres' Artistic Director Robert Hastie, this Olivier Award-winning musical is not to be missed. Interview with Barry McStay and Tom Radcliffe: As a bonus, Darren sits down for an exclusive interview with director writer Barry McStay and Tom Radcliffe to discuss Breeding. This funny and moving drama, which premiered in 2023 to critical acclaim, returns to The King's Head by popular demand. Get insights into the making of this compelling production and discover what makes Breeding a must-see theatrical experience.

Traditional Variety has been a lifelong fascination for poet and playwright Amanda Dalton. She grew up in a family that included several amateur and professional entertainers and from an early age the world of Variety Theatre was ‘in her blood'... During WW2, her dad organised and performed in a night of entertainment at King Farouk's palace in Cairo, She recalls her mum tap dancing in the kitchen as the dinner burnt. One of her most precious and prized possessions is a poster, retrieved from her uncle's home, for a variety show at the New Hippodrome, Darlington in 1938 - acts including Waldini's Famous Gypsy Band, Billy Brown Upside Down and his wonderful dog Lady and her uncle himself, Barry Phelps. With Idina Scott Gatty, Entertainer. As a child, Amanda never missed Sunday Night at the London Palladium or the Good Old Days on TV. Variety shows were her parents' favourites - her obsession with them is perhaps not surprising.The acts that have always most fascinated her are those ‘speciality' acts that disturb even as they entertain, designed to bamboozle the audience and mess with the mind. These essays will explore Amanda's relationship with the different kinds of acts that thrived as UK Variety emerged from the embers of Music Hall (1930s – 1950s). Listeners are introduced to some of the key performers, a fascinating collection of unusual and striking characters with extraordinary skills and showmanship. In That's Entertainment...? Variety and Me, Amanda revisits some of the acts that made up this form of light entertainment, exploring how they connected with her own family's life and considering their personal and cultural meaning for her both as a child and as the writer she is today. Essay 1: Singing, Dancing and Having a Laugh: The Backbone of Variety.The first essay of this series introduces listeners to the world of Variety as it morphed from Music Hall and journeyed into televised entertainment. It considers the backbone of the Variety Show – song, dance and comedy – through the lens of Amanda's personal memories of growing up in a rather unusual family.Writer and reader, Amanda Dalton Producer, Polly Thomas Exec Producer, Eloise WhitmoreA Naked Production for BBC Radio 3.Biog Amanda Dalton is poet, playwright and essayist based in West Yorkshire. She has written extensively for BBC Radio 4 and 3 and for theatres including Manchester's Royal Exchange, Sheffield Theatres, and Theatre By The Lake, Keswick who are premiering her radical adaptation of Francis Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess during Winter 2023-4. Her poetry collections are published by Bloodaxe Books and she has pamphlets with Smith|Doorstop and ARC. A new collection – Fantastic Voyage – is forthcoming from Bloodaxe in May 2024 and includes some poems about magic!

Traditional Variety has been a lifelong fascination for poet and playwright Amanda Dalton. She grew up in a family that included several amateur and professional entertainers and from an early age the world of Variety Theatre was ‘in her blood'... During WW2, her dad organised and performed in a night of entertainment at King Farouk's palace in Cairo, She recalls her mum tap dancing in the kitchen as the dinner burnt. One of her most precious and prized possessions is a poster, retrieved from her uncle's home, for a variety show at the New Hippodrome, Darlington in 1938 - acts including Waldini's Famous Gypsy Band, Billy Brown Upside Down and his wonderful dog Lady and her uncle himself, Barry Phelps. With Idina Scott Gatty, Entertainer. As a child, Amanda never missed Sunday Night at the London Palladium or the Good Old Days on TV. Variety shows were her parents' favourites - her obsession with them is perhaps not surprising.The acts that have always most fascinated her are those ‘speciality' acts that disturb even as they entertain, designed to bamboozle the audience and mess with the mind. These essays will explore Amanda's relationship with the different kinds of acts that thrived as UK Variety emerged from the embers of Music Hall (1930s – 1950s). Listeners are introduced to some of the key performers, a fascinating collection of unusual and striking characters with extraordinary skills and showmanship. Essay 2: Gokkle o' Geer: Ventriloquists and their DummiesFascinated by the ‘speciality' acts that disturb even as they entertain, in this second essay of the series Amanda turns her attention to ventriloquism. Rooted in Amanda's personal experience, she considers ventriloquism's extraordinary relationship with the human gut and traces its origins to the ancient belly prophets – or gastromancers. What might the anarchic truth-speaking of the ventriloquist's doll have to tell us about both our physiology and our minds?Writer and reader, Amanda Dalton Producer, Polly Thomas Exec Producer, Eloise WhitmoreA Naked Production for BBC Radio 3.Biog Amanda Dalton is poet, playwright and essayist based in West Yorkshire. She has written extensively for BBC Radio 4 and 3 and for theatres including Manchester's Royal Exchange, Sheffield Theatres, and Theatre By The Lake, Keswick who are premiering her radical adaptation of Francis Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess during Winter 2023-4. Her poetry collections are published by Bloodaxe Books and she has pamphlets with Smith|Doorstop and ARC. A new collection – Fantastic Voyage – is forthcoming from Bloodaxe in May 2024 and includes some poems about magic!

Traditional Variety has been a lifelong fascination for poet and playwright Amanda Dalton. She grew up in a family that included several amateur and professional entertainers and from an early age the world of Variety Theatre was ‘in her blood'... During WW2, her dad organised and performed in a night of entertainment at King Farouk's palace in Cairo, She recalls her mum tap dancing in the kitchen as the dinner burnt. One of her most precious and prized possessions is a poster, retrieved from her uncle's home, for a variety show at the New Hippodrome, Darlington in 1938 - acts including Waldini's Famous Gypsy Band, Billy Brown Upside Down and his wonderful dog Lady and her uncle himself, Barry Phelps. With Idina Scott Gatty, Entertainer. As a child, Amanda never missed Sunday Night at the London Palladium or the Good Old Days on TV. Variety shows were her parents' favourites - her obsession with them is perhaps not surprising.The acts that have always most fascinated her are those ‘speciality' acts that disturb even as they entertain, designed to bamboozle the audience and mess with the mind. These essays will explore Amanda's relationship with the different kinds of acts that thrived as UK Variety emerged from the embers of Music Hall (1930s – 1950s). Listeners are introduced to some of the key performers, a fascinating collection of unusual and striking characters with extraordinary skills and showmanship. Essay 3: It's The Animal In Me: Animal Acts in Variety TheatreIn this third essay of the series Amanda looks not only to the dancing dogs, disappearing doves and rabbits pulled from hats, but to the wild animal acts that at one time were a regular feature of Variety. A lifelong animal lover who grew up in a houseful of pets, she recalls her uneasy childhood experiences of watching animals on stage – something she loved and hated in equal measure - and asks what is the appeal of watching animals ‘perform' and what can the lens of Variety reveal of our attitudes to other species and ourselves? Writer and reader, Amanda Dalton Producer, Polly Thomas Exec Producer, Eloise WhitmoreA Naked Production for BBC Radio 3.Biog Amanda Dalton is poet, playwright and essayist based in West Yorkshire. She has written extensively for BBC Radio 4 and 3 and for theatres including Manchester's Royal Exchange, Sheffield Theatres, and Theatre By The Lake, Keswick who are premiering her radical adaptation of Francis Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess during Winter 2023-4. Her poetry collections are published by Bloodaxe Books and she has pamphlets with Smith|Doorstop and ARC. A new collection – Fantastic Voyage – is forthcoming from Bloodaxe in May 2024 and includes some poems about magic!

Traditional Variety has been a lifelong fascination for poet and playwright Amanda Dalton. She grew up in a family that included several amateur and professional entertainers and from an early age the world of Variety Theatre was ‘in her blood'... During WW2, her dad organised and performed in a night of entertainment at King Farouk's palace in Cairo, She recalls her mum tap dancing in the kitchen as the dinner burnt. One of her most precious and prized possessions is a poster, retrieved from her uncle's home, for a variety show at the New Hippodrome, Darlington in 1938 - acts including Waldini's Famous Gypsy Band, Billy Brown Upside Down and his wonderful dog Lady and her uncle himself, Barry Phelps. With Idina Scott Gatty, Entertainer. As a child, Amanda never missed Sunday Night at the London Palladium or the Good Old Days on TV. Variety shows were her parents' favourites - her obsession with them is perhaps not surprising.The acts that have always most fascinated her are those ‘speciality' acts that disturb even as they entertain, designed to bamboozle the audience and mess with the mind. These essays will explore Amanda's relationship with the different kinds of acts that thrived as UK Variety emerged from the embers of Music Hall (1930s – 1950s). Listeners are introduced to some of the key performers, a fascinating collection of unusual and striking characters with extraordinary skills and showmanship. Essay 4: Girls! Girls! Girls! Women in Variety For today's essay, Amanda turns her attention to female variety acts including those frequently unnamed, scantily clad ‘glamorous assistants.' Built around the rediscovery of her mum's 1920s and 30s scrapbook which charts her ventures into the world of entertainment, Amanda considers the role and frequently disturbing representation of women in old Variety Theatre, and her own mum's journey through this landscape.Writer and reader, Amanda Dalton Producer, Polly Thomas Exec Producer, Eloise WhitmoreA Naked Production for BBC Radio 3.Biog Amanda Dalton is poet, playwright and essayist based in West Yorkshire. She has written extensively for BBC Radio 4 and 3 and for theatres including Manchester's Royal Exchange, Sheffield Theatres, and Theatre By The Lake, Keswick who are premiering her radical adaptation of Francis Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess during Winter 2023-4. Her poetry collections are published by Bloodaxe Books and she has pamphlets with Smith|Doorstop and ARC. A new collection – Fantastic Voyage – is forthcoming from Bloodaxe in May 2024 and includes some poems about magic!

Traditional Variety has been a lifelong fascination for poet and playwright Amanda Dalton. She grew up in a family that included several amateur and professional entertainers and from an early age the world of Variety Theatre was ‘in her blood'... During WW2, her dad organised and performed in a night of entertainment at King Farouk's palace in Cairo, She recalls her mum tap dancing in the kitchen as the dinner burnt. One of her most precious and prized possessions is a poster, retrieved from her uncle's home, for a variety show at the New Hippodrome, Darlington in 1938 - acts including Waldini's Famous Gypsy Band, Billy Brown Upside Down and his wonderful dog Lady and her uncle himself, Barry Phelps. With Idina Scott Gatty, Entertainer. As a child, Amanda never missed Sunday Night at the London Palladium or the Good Old Days on TV. Variety shows were her parents' favourites - her obsession with them is perhaps not surprising.The acts that have always most fascinated her are those ‘speciality' acts that disturb even as they entertain, designed to bamboozle the audience and mess with the mind. These essays will explore Amanda's relationship with the different kinds of acts that thrived as UK Variety emerged from the embers of Music Hall (1930s – 1950s). Listeners are introduced to some of the key performers, a fascinating collection of unusual and striking characters with extraordinary skills and showmanship. Essay 5: How Did They Do That? Magic and MesmerismIn this final essay, Amanda explores the world of magicians and hypnotists - the blurred line between acts of illusion and the apparently paranormal, the moment when the solidity of our logical, rational narrative of the world starts to fall away and we enter a state of bewilderment. The essay springs from Amanda's memories of her own childhood fascination with magic and her desire for it to be ‘real', despite her terror of psychic phenomena - a fascination that is still with her today and continues to inform her writing. “That's entertainment??” asks the essay, as it ponders the connections between amusement, thrill, escapism and fear.Writer and reader, Amanda Dalton Producer, Polly Thomas Exec Producer, Eloise WhitmoreA Naked Production for BBC Radio 3.Biog Amanda Dalton is poet, playwright and essayist based in West Yorkshire. She has written extensively for BBC Radio 4 and 3 and for theatres including Manchester's Royal Exchange, Sheffield Theatres, and Theatre By The Lake, Keswick who are premiering her radical adaptation of Francis Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess during Winter 2023-4. Her poetry collections are published by Bloodaxe Books and she has pamphlets with Smith|Doorstop and ARC. A new collection – Fantastic Voyage – is forthcoming from Bloodaxe in May 2024 and includes some poems about magic!

In this two-part episode, Jill sits down with accomplished UK arts leader Tom Bird (Chief Executive at Sheffield Theatres). Drawing inspiration from Nina Simon's book, "The Art of Relevance" and their own personal leadership experiences, Jill and Tom engage in a rich dialogue about how to keep audiences at the center of every decision and what relevance means in today's arts and cultural industry. For additional resources and to sign up for the podcast newsletter, we invite you to visit our website at leadingthewaypodcast.com. 

In this two-part episode, Jill sits down with accomplished UK arts leader Tom Bird (Chief Executive at Sheffield Theatres). Drawing inspiration from Nina Simon's book, "The Art of Relevance" and their own personal leadership experiences, Jill and Tom engage in a rich dialogue about how to keep audiences at the center of every decision and what relevance means in today's arts and cultural industry. For additional resources and to sign up for the podcast newsletter, we invite you to visit our website at leadingthewaypodcast.com. 

Olivier nominee Gabrielle Brooks most recently starred as Ti Moune in the London revival of Once on this Island at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Next up, she's set to star in Mlima's Tale by Lynn Nottage and directed by Miranda Cromwell at the Kiln Theatre.Some of Gabrielle's early theatre credits include understudy Gary Coleman in Avenue Q (UK & Ireland Tour), Our House (Savoy) and understudy Chenice in I Can't Sing (London Palladium). In 2015, Gabrielle was nominated for West End Frame's Understudy of the Year Award for understudying Nabulingi in the West End production of The Book of Mormon (Prince Of Wales).In this episode, Gabrielle discusses her path in the inudustry, including the decisions she made which resulted in her career heading in some very exciting directions. Some of Gabrielle's subsequent credits include: The Strangers Case (Liverpool Everyman), Red Snapper (Belgrade), Synergy Play Readings (Theatre503), Lazarus (King's Cross), Queen Anne (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Becca in Everybody's Talking About Jamie & Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (both Sheffield Theatres), The Way Of The World (Donmar), Twelth Night (Young Vic), Our Lady Of Kibeho (Royal & Derngate), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Regent's Park), Anna Bella Eema (Arcola) and J'ouvert (Harold Pinter).Additionally, Gabrielle is one of the co-creators of Mawa Theatre Company, the UK's first all-Black, all-female Shakespeare Company who most recently hosted a Monologue Slam at The Globe featuring classic pieces from Black and Black Mixed Race women. Follow Gabrielle on Instagram: @gabby_bro Hosted by Andrew Tomlins  @AndrewTomlins32  Thanks for listening! Email: andrew@westendframe.co.uk Visit westendframe.co.uk for more info about our podcasts.  

Ben Wilson is a blind actor, theatre maker and access consultant who has just started in post with Extant the UK's leading theatre company for blind and partially sighted performers and audiences as their first Trainee Artistic Director. Ben spent five years as the Ramps on The Moon Agent For Change at Sheffield Theatres and co-founded both creative audio description company Hear The Picture and theatre company Brick Wall Ensemble. He recently received a commendation at the National Theatre and Sunday Times‘ prestigious Ian Charleson awards. His credits as an actor and creative include Ramps on The Moon's productions of Oliver Twist and Much Ado About Nothing, Leeds Playhouse productions Macbeth and Road. Sheffield Theatres production of Guys and Dolls and with his company Brick Wall, Meic On The Mic and Henry 5, for which Extant provided support through the Tim Gebbels bursary. RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey caught up with Ben to firstly find out more about his theatre background and career so far before asking Ben why he wanted to apply for the Trainee Artistic Director role at Extant, how he sees the role evolving over the next couple of years and how he will work to build on the great success that Maria Oshodi has created over the last 25 years or so as CEO and Artistic Director of Extant.  To follow Ben's time at Extant as their first Trainee Artistic Director and to find out more about the great work Extant continues to do in providing opportunities and training within theatre and the arts for blind and partially sighted people do visit the Extant website - https://extant.org.uk Image: RNIB Connect Radio Bright Green 20th Anniversary Logo

Recorded at His Majesty's Theatre in time for the King's coronation we're joined by playwright Ryan Calais Cameron to talk about his new production Retrograde, now on at the Kiln Theatre. You may well know Ryan for his show For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy. We review The Motive and the Cue, a play by Jack Thorne, directed by Sam Mendes, starring Janie Dee, Mark Gatiss and Tuppence Middleton, now on at the National Theatre.We chat about royal plays, Phantom of the Opera and the news of Sir Kenneth Branagh set to direct and star in the West End's King Lear.Theatre critic Alice Saville joins us to review The Good Person of Szechwan, that's presented by the English Touring Theatre and Sheffield Theatres, now on at the Lyric Hammersmith.Plus we pay tribute to director and writer Adam Brace who has died aged 43. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We review four brilliant new shows in episode 89. Bonnie and Clyde staring Frances Mayli McCann and Jordan Luke Gage at The Garrick Theatre; The National Theatre's new musical export from Sheffield Theatres, Standing At The Sky's Edge featuring the songs of Richard Hawley; Further Than The Furthest Thing at The Young Vic, staring our favourite actor Jenna Russell; and a night of breath-taking new ballet at Sadler's Wells, Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends. - Opening/Closing Music: Little Lily Swing by Tri-Tachyonis:licensed under a CC Attribution License Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Accidental Gods podcast exists to set the conditions for emergence into a new system: to bring a critical mass of us to a place where emergence into a new system is a rewarding reality.  To get there, we bring to you some of the many astonishingly creative, compassionate, switched-on people who are working at the leading edge of change. Alan Lane is one of these people. He's the artistic director of the theatre company Slung Low, which in turn is one of the most innovative theatre companies in the UK, if not in the world. Absolutely embedded in the neighbourhood in which they work, Slung Low are committed to their core principles of 'Be Kind, Be Useful, Everyone gets to do what they want. Nobody gets to tell anyone else what they can't do.' (within obvious limits - as you'll hear). Alan is also the author of the book 'The Club on the Edge of Town' which is subtitled 'A Pandemic Memoir' but is so, so much more - this is the story of how Slung Low arose, how it came to be entered in the oldest Working Mens' Club in England (unable to change the name), and ultimately became a Food Bank during the pandemic. It's the story of standing in the rain, of keeping promises, of integrity and grit and sheer bloody-minded tenacity. Most of all, it's a story of how a small group of committed people made a huge difference to the lives of their neighbours and community. It is also the story of the culture clash that you'll hear more about in the podcast, and that led, ultimately, to Slung Low moving elsewhere in Leeds. Since then, their transformation to being part of the team that put on the utterly magical opening event of the Leeds Year of Culture 2023, where the city's most famous pop star spoke to a god - is the stuff of legend. In their new world, their core purpose is to make Awe and Wonder happen - and they are doing it with commitment, integrity, enthusiasm and raw inspiration. In this episode, Alan tells the story that led from standing in the rain in Nottinghill to creating technical magic on a stage in Leeds. We explore the power of story to change people's lives and the value of commitment to the things we believe in.  We dig deep into Alan's absolute moral imperatives and his compassion for the people around him, people he values, people he teaches to value themselves in a world that, in his words, 'teaches us we're cogs in a machine and we're scum' is heartbreakingly wonderful.  Truly, if the whole world was inspired as Leeds is being inspired, we'd be in a different place. (And the god that rose out of the river was a world first: made with drones, everyone said it was impossible. And Alan and the team made it happen anyway.  How good of a metaphor is that for what we have to do now in our emerging new system?)Bio: Alan Lane is Artistic Director of Slung Low directing most of their work over the last decade including projects with the Barbican, the RSC, The Almeida, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Liverpool Everyman, Sheffield Theatres, Singapore Arts Festival and the Lowry. Slung Low make large scale people's theatre work on stages, trains, castles, swimming pools, fishing boats and town centres.In 2017 Slung Low headlined Hull UK City of Culture 2017 with Flood by James Phillips: a 4 Part epic performed online, live and on the BBC. Over half a million people saw a part of Flood. It won a Royal Televisual Award Yorkshire for innovation in drama.In 2019 the company took over management of the oldest working men's club in Britain, The Holbeck in South Leeds. Initially, they ran this venue as a Pay What You Decide creative and community space, but during lockdown, they transformed into one of the only non-means-tested Food Banks in the country.  Their work there was transformative and Alan wrote the book 'The Club on the Edge of Town' out of their experiences there. Late last year, the company moved venues to a warehouse next to their favourite primary school and began to help organise the astonishing, miraculous, technologically outstanding (and magically wonderful) opening event to Leeds Year of Culture 2023, which culminated in Corrine Bailey Rae talking to a god in front of a rugby stadium filled with 10,000 artists.  Slung Low https://www.slunglow.org/Arts Together Leeds https://artstogetherleeds.co.uk/partner/slung-low/Leeds 2023 https://leeds2023.co.uk/Buy 'The Club on the Edge of Town' https://salamanderstreet.com/product/the-club-on-the-edge-of-town-paperback/The Club on the Edge of Town audio version https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Club-on-the-Edge-of-Town-Audiobook/B0B8TKMXWQ

This week we're talking about the award-winning musical Standing at the Sky's Edge, which finally transferred from Sheffield to The Olivier at London's National Theatre. It's based on the music and lyrics of songwriter, guitarist and producer Richard Hawley who's known both as a solo artist and for his work with the bands Pulp and The Longpigs. He collaborated with the award-winning playwright, lyricist and theatre-maker Chris Bush who deftly wove Richard Hawley's music into this compelling story. The musical tells the story of one flat in Park Hill, Sheffield's notorious brutalist housing project and moves from the early sixties, when Park Hill first opened, to today. Chris Bush intertwines three tales of the characters who lived there: an idealistic young couple seeing Park Hill as a step up, three asylum seekers escaping the Liberian war and finally a young middle-class woman from London fleeing a broken heart. It's directed by Rob Hastie the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres and he tells us about how this extraordinary project came about and why what happened to Park Hill is so symbolic of recent British history, from post-war socialist optimism, via the decline of our major industries, to today's attempts to regenerate our cities. It's had rave reviews, and if you like Richard Hawley's poetic music, you're in for an absolute treat. It's fast-becoming the most talked-about play, so listen in to find out more.

Graham confounds Charles with an early interruption about musician Pete Doherty's Yorkshire days. Charles reflects on the achievements of York Theatre Royal chief exec Tom Bird as he announces his move to Sheffield Theatres. Graham reports on #MeToo film of the moment She Said, prompting fellow hack Charles to join the discussion on journalism in cinema. Graham gives an update on Manchester's Northern Quarter venue, Night & Day, fighting for its right to present live music after complaints about its club night noise levels. Finally, Graham reports on his visit to the Deer Shed festival's Christmas Party at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds.

Critic Ben East and academic Catherine Love review Rock, Paper, Scissors, a trilogy of plays written by Chris Bush to mark the 50th anniversary of Sheffield Theatres and A Film About Studio Electrophonique, a documentary about Ken Patten's influential home studio in Sheffield. The three separate but interlinking plays will be performed simultaneously on the three stages of the Sheffield Theatres complex – Rock at the Crucible, Paper at the Lyceum and Scissors at Studio. A Film About Studio Electrophonique premieres this week at Sheffield DocFest. The documentary shines a loving spotlight on Ken Patten who built a recording studio in his council home in Sheffield and through his recording and mixing skills provided the launchpad for Pulp, ABC, Human League and many other burgeoning musicians in the steel city. The People's History Museum has been shortlisted for this year's Art Fund Museum of the Year prize. It was the Migration: a human story project which wove stories of contemporary and historic migration into the museum's existing collection that caught the judges' attention. Dr John Gallagher, associate professor of Early Modern History at Leeds University, went to visit the museum for Front Row. Saturday marks 75 years since The Diary of Anne Frank was published. Poet, writer and broadcaster Michael Rosen has written a sonnet to commemorate this and he joins Front Row to give the first public reading and discuss the enduring significance of Anne Frank's book. Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Olivia Skinner Image: Chanel Waddock as Coco and Daisy May as Molly in ROCK at The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Photographer credit: Johan Persson

On your latest A View On Access, Tim Calver takes a look at the audio described production of She Loves Me which he saw at the Sheffield Crucible in January 2022. Tim also takes a look at the accessibility of the Sheffield Theatres: the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Crucible Studio, and highlights upcoming audio described shows like Anna Karenina, Dreamgirls, The Play I Wrote, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, and more! Find out more here: The Crucible, Studio and Lyceum | Sheffield Theatres AVOA is written, presented and produced by Tim Calvert of Calvert Creative Concepts for RNIB Connect Radio and The Audio Description Association. For more information or to get involved email aviewonaccess@gmail.com  Image shows a look from the stage onto the audience stands at the Sheffield Crucible.  

Sheffield Theatres is 50 and is opening its anniversary season with a big one: Anna Karenina. Often acclaimed as the best novel ever written, Leo Tolstoy's epic narrative is an immense canvas of desire, duty and defiance, adultery, passion and suicide told over more than 800 pages. A piece of cake to bring to the stage, right? Helen Edmundson's much-celebrated adaptation does some of the heavy lifting, leaving the rest to the Sheffield Theatres team. So Mickey got on the Zoom with two of the production's big hitters: Adelle Leonce, who is playing Anna, and designer Georgia Lowe, to find out how you take a complex novel in eight parts, with more than a dozen major characters, spread over more than 800 pages and set in late 19th century Russia and bring it up-to-date for a contemporary audience.Anna Karenina is at The Crucible from Feb 5 to 26. Find out more: www.sheffieldtheatres.co.ukSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this, the second part of our look at access and inclusion in the UK theatre industry, Sue talks to two inspirational people whose work is making access and inclusion a reality, and about their experience of being involved in the production of Oliver Twist. Amy Leach is Associate Director at Leeds Playhouse.  Amy grew up in Darwen, Lancashire and attended the Youth Theatre at the Bolton octagon Theatre on graduating from Durham University. She co-founded the award winning Theatre Company for young people En Masse, with playwright and composer Oliver Burch. Amy is the director of an extraordinary new adaptation of Oliver Twist, by Bryony Lavery for Leeds Playhouse and ramps on the moon. This production features an integrated company of deaf and disabled artists, as well as integrated creative sign language, audio description, and captioning at all performances. Amy talks to Sue about the experience of directing a play that has access and inclusion written in to its DNA.  Amy describes some of the steps she and her team took, to ensure that as many people as possible could enjoy Oliver Twist. Sue asks Amy about the challenges and triumphs of the process, and how it has changed her practice as a theatre director.  Amy shares her hopes for the future of theatre and tells us how she now cannot think about making a show without thinking about access and inclusion right from the very beginning. Benjamin WilsonBen is a blind actor, director, theatre maker and audio description consultant. For the past four and a half years, he has been the Ramps on the Moon agent for change at Sheffield Theatres, Ben co founded award winning Theatre Company Brickwall Ensemble, and creative audio description company Hear the Picture. His work with Brickwall includes creating and playing the lead roles in productions such as their  bold reimagining of Henry V and audio drama Mike on the Mic. He's also used his experience as a blind theatre maker to act as audio description consultant on a number of shows, including Road and Oliver Twist at Leeds Playhouse. Ben explains to Sue exactly what Audio Description is; who it's for, how it works and what is most annoying about the headsets in most theatres!  As a member of the cast in Oliver Twist and the Audio Description consultant for the show, Ben talks about his experience of bringing all his creativity to the production.  Ben describes the challenge – and the joys - of fitting audio description seamlessly into the dialogue on stage, and of paying attention to all the senses.  Ben is passionate about getting people engaged in the conversation about inclusion and says it was understanding the Social Model of disability that transformed his perception of being a disabled person.  Oliver Twist is available online until 20th November 2021 from Leeds PlayhouseIf you would like Sue to unwrap a theatre story for you, or if you have feedback about this or any other episode of Theatre Unwrapped drop her a line at shornby@wolseytheatre.co.ukListen to all the Theatre Unwrapped episodes hereVisit the New Wolsey Theatre website hereThe New Wolsey Theatre is supported by Arts Council England, Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council.

Rebellion and causing offence: Shahidha Bari looks at punk and finds that beyond the filth and the fury of the ‘70s music scene, it provided a new vocabulary for artists that's shaped the cultural scene to the present day, with photographs of the British punk scene on show, a new documentary coming in the Autumn and the opening of a play this week drawing on the idea of punk. Shahidha's guests are: Morgan Lloyd Malcolm whose drama, opening in Sheffield, features women in a prison becoming inspired by a punk band; Philip Venables, the classical composer of works including 4:48 Psychosis and Denis and Katya; musican and 6 music broadcaster Tom Robinson, and Radio 3 and AHRC New Generation Thinker Diarmuid Hester, author of Wrong, A Critical Biography of Denis Cooper. They look at figures ranging from Rimbaud up to the Slits and Derek Jarman. Plus - as Ru Paul's Drag Show returns to TV, Diarmuid Hester considers an earlier portrayal of queer culture in the paintings of Edward Burra. Typical Girls - Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's play produced by Sheffield Theatres and Clean Break runs from Sept 24th to October 16th You can find out more about Philip Venables at https://philipvenables.com/ Diarmuid Hester's website with information about his queer tours of Cambridge and Rye https://www.diarmuidhester.com/ The photographs of Michael Grecco and Kevin Cummins were on show at Photo London. Rebel Dykes, is a documentary set in 1980s post punk London, directed by Harri Shanahan and Sian A. Williams Edward Burra's work is on show at the Rye Art Gallery in Burra and Friends (until October 3rd). Producer: Luke Mulhall

In this episode, Lighting Designer Prema Mehta returns to Storyhouse during the pandemic to reflect on previous experiences there, and also to show what a theatre freelancer feels like when they are no longer able to go into work with theatres shut. Prema has designed the lighting for over 200 productions, and works across the UK. Recent work includes productions at The Royal Court, Sheffield Theatres, Shakespeare’s Globe, Storyhouse, and The Young Vic. She has also designed for Madame Tussauds, The O2 Arena and Westminster Hall. She founded Stage Sight to widen the theatre workforce in offstage roles, and encourage those who are under represented backstage, so that our industry more accurately reflects our society. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social distancing has become one of the key measures for controlling coronavirus, but implementing it is creating an existential threat to arts venues like theatres, museums, galleries, independent music venues and concert halls. With such vastly reduced capacity - as much as 90% - can venues ever make the finances stack up, and what is lost when the audience, and performers, must be so far apart? Despite the restrictions, some venues are starting to find ways of making it work. John Wilson goes to the Wigmore Hall where they're beginning live concerts on Radio 3 next week. Violinist Alina Ibragimova performs in the hall - the first instrument played there in ten weeks - and speaks to John alongside Director of the Wigmore Hall John Gilhooly about what it means to be creating live performance again amidst such huge financial uncertainty. Alan Davey tells us what to expect from this years' Proms. Across Europe some museums and galleries are already open. Christina Haak, deputy director of the Berlin State Museums, which include the Pergamonmuseum, Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie, tells us what it was like welcoming audiences again. Robert Hastie, Director of Sheffield Theatres, reports on his plans for Shakespeare in the Park this summer, which have the aim of keeping some theatre alive in the city. And Dominique Frazer, who runs the Boileroom indie music venue in Guildford, discusses how social distancing is impossible in their venue which is all about getting close to bands and each other. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Hannah Robins

This podcast has been sponsored by Archiving Technical Theater History on Facebook Questions, Comments, Suggestions - - Show Email - archivett24@yahoo.com "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." - Marie Curie - Physicist News and Notes: TheatreTimes.com - INTERNATIONAL ONLINE THEATRE FESTIVAL 2020. A GLIMPSE INTO THE PHYSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCES. WhatsonStage.com - Sheffield Theatres to present outdoor performances of Shakespeare shows in 2020 StageDirections.com - in 1: the podcast – #98 Quarantine Happy Hour #6 Variety.com - Disney’s ‘Frozen’ Ends Broadway Run Due to Coronavirus Playbill.com - Disney Theatrical Productions Reveals Next Steps for Hercules and The Jungle Book Musicals, Aida Revival, More Playbill.com - Answering Your Questions About Convalescent Plasma Donation, COVID-19 Treatment Research, Antibody Testing and More USITT - Facebook / Website

Joe and the panel continue exploring the classic 1950 musical Guys and Dolls. His guests are Natalie Casey (Miss Adelaide), Rob Hastie (Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres), and Alex Young (Sarah Brown). Guys and Dolls: Part Two features Alex Young performing 'If I Were A Bell' and the conclusion of the PBP Guys and Dolls quiz! We really hope you enjoy Piece by Piece. If you do, please tell us about it by sharing your thoughts on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

Join host Joe Bunker as he explores the classic 1950 musical Guys and Dolls with the artists behind the recent revival at the Sheffield Crucible. His guests are: Natalie Casey (Miss Adelaide), Rob Hastie (Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres), and Alex Young (Sarah Brown). Guys and Dolls: Part One features Natalie Casey performing 'Adelaide's Lament' and the first half of the PBP Guys and Dolls quiz! We really hope you enjoy Piece by Piece. If you do, please tell us about it by sharing your thoughts on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

Amy Leach is a theatre director and Associate Director at Leeds Playhouse, currently working on a new version of Oliver Twist. This new adaption is by Bryony Lavery, and it’s being staged by Leeds Playhouse in collaboration with the Ramps on the Moon consortium, a partnership between six National Portfolio Organisation theatres and Graeae Theatre. Ramps on the Moon aims to create change within the UK theatre industry in terms of the inclusion and integration of deaf and disabled audiences and theatre-makers. Benjamin Wilson is one of Ramps on the Moon’s Agents for Change. He’s a cast member in this latest production, and has had a key role in developing creative approaches to audio description for this and a number of other shows he’s worked on at Leeds Playhouse and Sheffield Theatres. Amy and Ben joined Mark Smith towards the end of their rehearsal period to discuss the Ramps on the Moon initiative, the opportunities opened up by creative approaches to access for D/deaf and visually impaired audiences and performers, and the reasons behind Amy’s choice of Dickens’s work for her latest project. Oliver Twist plays Leeds Playhouse’s Quarry Theatre from 28 February to 21 March 2020, ahead of a UK tour to Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, Sheffield Theatres, New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich and Theatre Royal Stratford East, which are all part of the Ramps on the Moon consortium alongside Graeae, the UK’s leading disabled-led theatre company. (Oliver Twist rehearsal images of director Amy Leach and of Brooklyn Melvin and Benjamin Wilson, credit Anthony Robling.)

Have you ever thought twice about taking someone with dementia to the cinema or theatre? Sheffield Theatres - winner of Regional Theatre of the Year 2020 - put on specially adapted performances to meet the needs of people living with dementia.Grace works with the theatre, which you'll hear in this episode. Peggy joins her to chat to staff Claire and Paul. They're joined by Ray and Brenda who have dementia, and activities coordinator, Alison. The theatre: @crucibletheatreThis podcast is made by BBC Radio SheffieldFollow us and get in touch on Twitter: @bbcdementiapodFor support and help: bbc.co.uk/actionline

We had an absolute ball chatting with Rachael Abbey, Jess Morley and Sarah Penney - the Roaring Girls and hilarious cast of Beach Body Ready. ABOUT BEACH BODY READY t's the season of cutting carbs, hitting it hard at the gym, and shaving everything from the chin down. Summer has rocked up and the media has us thinking about how our bodies aren't up to scratch and there are companies ready to capitalise on that. We've been shamed, dehumanised, and humiliated for how we look and we've had enough. Join The Roaring Girls for a defiantly feel-good show which sticks two fingers up at how the media says you should look. The Roaring Girls are getting Beach Body Ready. Are you? Catch the show until 25-Aug (ex 12th) at 1.10pm in Pleasance Above at the Pleasance Courtyard. Book your tickets here - https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/beach-body-ready Beach Body Ready is supported by Pleasance Futures as part of the Regional Theatre Partnership Programme with York Theatre Royal and in association with Hull Truck Theatre. Developed with support from ARC, CAST, Sheffield Theatres, and Square Chapel. Beach Body Ready is part of the Hull Takeover 2019, produced by Absolutely Cultured through their Hull Independent Producer Initiative, in partnership with Middle Child, supported by Hull Truck Theatre, and Back To Ours. CAST Rachael Abbey Jess Morley Sarah Penney Written and devised by the cast, with DRAMATURG Lydia Marchant DIRECTOR Lizi Perry PRODUCER Shaunagh McClean CHOREOGRAPHER Jo Ashbridge VIDEOGRAPHER Fly Girl Films COSTUME & SET DESIGN Nat Young LIGHTING DESIGN Jess Addinall STAGE MANAGER - EDINBURGH Jay Hirst WHO ARE THE ROARING GIRLS? The Roaring Girls are a Hull-based theatre company creating work that is fierce, feminist, and fun. They use autobiographical narratives to create their work - they want to talk about things they can relate to, that their audience can relate to. They believe that approaching big, sometimes taboo, subjects on a personal level, allows them to talk about these topics with their audiences. Their work is the first part of a conversation- their audiences leave laughing, crying, and most importantly , talking. ​Their work is often devised, but even when working with writers, collaboration is at the core of their practice - the voices and experiences of the people in the room shape the work. They aim to foster a supportive, creative environment where everyone is heard and valued equally. Follow them... on Twitter @TheRoaringGirls on IG @TheRoaringGirls W: https://www.theroaringgirls.co.uk

Actor and theatre director Daniel Evans shares with Michael Berkeley his passions for musical theatre, opera and the piano. Daniel Evans grew up in the Rhondda Valley and won praise and prizes at Eisteddfods as a teenager. Since then his career has been something of a high-wire act: balancing performing versus directing and theatre management, stage versus screen, popular musicals versus edgy new dramas. He first made his name twenty years ago as an actor, in Peter Pan at the National Theatre and then as an outstanding interpreter of Sondheim, twice winning Oliviers for Best Actor in a Musical. He’s also well known for his roles in television and film, from Spooks and Dr Who to Great Expectations. And then in 2009 Daniel Evans was appointed Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres and he’s now at Chichester Festival Theatre. His stage production of The Full Monty went into the West End and continues to be on tour nationwide, and Flowers for Mrs Harris - a new musical about the life of a post-war char lady being transformed by the sight of a Christian Dior dress – won three UK Theatre Awards. Daniel tells Michael about meeting Sondheim whilst performing in New York, about his passion for singing, and about the importance of the tradition of the actor-manager in British theatre. He chooses music by Sondheim and Bernstein that reflects his passion for musical theatre, and he shares his love of opera with music by Britten and Donizetti. And we hear Bryn Terfel sing a Welsh folk song which takes Daniel back to the valleys and Eisteddfods of his childhood. Producer: Jane Greenwood A Loftus production for BBC Radio 3

Steven Spielberg, director of films like The Post, The BFG and Bridge of Spies, returns to the science fiction genre with an action adventure set in a virtual-reality game world sometime in the future. Julia Hardy reviews the film and tells Samira whether it is a classic of the genre like Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Back to the Future.The York Realist is a play set in 1963 when John, up from London and working as assistant director on a production of the York Mystery Plays, falls for local farm-worker, George, who is also a gifted actor and capable of a brilliant career - if he could bring himself to leave. Robert Hastie comes in to talk about the play which, after an acclaimed run in London, he is taking to Yorkshire where he is Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres. The Church of England has just appointed a "Pioneer Minister of the Arts" who will look to use art as a way of reaching out to different communities. For centuries religion and art have had a close relationship, with many artists drawing inspiration from their faith - from religious composers to Renaissance paintings. To discuss exploring faith through art we speak to Reverend Betsy Blatchley, the new Pioneer Minister of the Arts and Reverend Peter Gardner, who has been the Church of Scotland's Pioneer Minister to the Arts Communities of Glasgow since 2016. Steven Soderbergh's new film Unsane stars Clare Foy as a young woman involuntarily committed to a mental institution. But how are mental institutions and hospitals usually presented in films? Novelist and journalist Matt Thorne takes a look - from the German silent horror The Cabinet of Dr Caligari in 1920 to the supernatural slasher film Cult of Chucky released last year.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Kate Bullivant.

The films 47 Metres Down, Wish Upon and Hounds of Love are all out this week and all play on familiar tropes in horror. Samira Ahmed asks horror fan Kim Newman and horror sceptic Isabel Stevens if these movies have anything new to say, and take a wider look at the genre.In 1997 Kathy Reichs made her crime-writing debut and introduced the world to Dr Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist whose powers of observation and logic lay at the heart of what would become a bestselling series of 18 novels. But Reichs' latest novel, Two Nights, is a departure with a new and very different type of investigator seeking to escape her past and unravel the clues.As actor Michelle Terry is appointed Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, we explore the tradition of actor-managers from Garrick to Olivier with actor Robert Hastie, who became the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres in November 2016, and former actor, now theatre critic, David Benedict. What can actors bring to the role of artistic director and what are the pitfalls?For our Queer Icons series, journalist and LGBT YouTuber Ben Hunte champions Jonathan Harvey's 1996 film Beautiful Thing. Ben is also presenting the Gay Britannia Season on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Marilyn Rust.

Libby Purves meets writer Hunter Davies; artistic director Daniel Evans; poet Henry Normal and forager and cook Fiona Bird. Fiona Bird is a forager, writer and cook. A former finalist on Masterchef, her new book Let Your Kids Go Wild Outside is full of enthusiasm for the natural world and aims to encourage children to get off the sofa and explore the great outdoors. Fiona lives on the Isle of South Uist where she forages for seaweed which she features in a range of dishes from casseroles and soups to bread and biscuits. Let Your Kids Go Wild Outside is published by CICO Books. Hunter Davies OBE is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is the author of over 50 books, including biographies, novels, children's fiction and several books about the Lake District.. He wrote the only official biography of the Beatles. In his memoir, The Co-Op's Got Bananas! he reflects on his childhood and coming of age in post-war Britain. The Co-Op's Got Bananas! is published by Simon and Schuster. Daniel Evans is the outgoing artistic director of Sheffield Theatres who is taking on the same role at Chichester Festival Theatre. As a director at Sheffield Theatres his productions include The Effect, The Full Monty and An Enemy of the People. As an actor, his work for the company includes Company, The Pride, Cloud Nine and The Tempest. His performance in Sunday in the Park with George won him his second Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a Tony Award nomination. His production of Show Boat is at the New London Theatre. Henry Normal - whose real name is Peter Carroll - is a comedian, producer and poet. As a writer and producer he has won awards for his work on The Royle Family, Gavin and Stacey and the Mrs Merton Show. He also wrote and produced the Oscar-nominated film Philomena. He is performing his poetry at the Stratford-Upon-Avon Literary Festival and his programme A Normal Family, about his son who has autism, returns to BBC Radio 4 later this year. The Stratford-Upon-Avon Literary Festival is at the Stratford Artshouse. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Anne McElvoy assesses reports that members of the new Greek government are rediscovering age-old links between Greece and Russia. With Roderic Lynne, former British ambassador to Moscow; Mary Dejevsky, Professor Vassilis Fouskis and Spyros Economides. Plus as Sheffield Theatres begin a season looking back at the work of Sarah Kane, Director Daniel Evans discusses her writing and also a review of Indian Summers - Channel 4's new costume drama about the end of colonial rule with Preti Taneja and Nick Lloyd.

Josie Rourke, the Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, reminds us that working in theatre isn't always plain sailing. In her essay, she looks at what happens when disaster strikes and things go wrong. It's in these situations that a director is truly tested.Josie Rourke trained with directors Peter Gill, Michael Grandage, Nicholas Hytner, Phyllida Lloyd and Sam Mendes. Before coming to the Bush she worked for five years as a freelance director and was the Associate Director of Sheffield Theatres and Trainee Associate Director at the Royal Court. At the Royal Court she directed Loyal Women by Gary Mitchell. She was the tour director of The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. For the Royal Shakespeare Company she directed Believe What You Will and King John.Rourke was the Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre between 2007 and 2011, where she also directed many of its hits including Nick Payne's If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet. In 2011, Rourke directed a production of Much Ado About Nothing at Wyndham's Theatre, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate. She became Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in January 2012 and her first production as director was George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer.The series is produced by Sasha Yevtushenko.First broadccast in February 2012.

With John Wilson. Disco legend, music producer and Oscar-winner Giorgio Moroder is the man behind hits from Donna Summer, The Three Degrees and Sparks. In a rare interview, Moroder reflects on his humble beginnings, his rise to fame and his recent comeback with Daft Punk. As Roger Hiorns' blue crystal sculpture Seizure is moved from a derelict council flat in south London to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, artist Richard Wilson and critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston consider the importance of site-specific art and what happens when an installation is transferred to an environment other than its original location. Tim Firth, writer of the stage version of Calendar Girls - one of the most successful plays in recent British theatre - has turned his hand to a musical. The result is This Is My Family, which explores family life from the perspective of a 13 year old girl, and opens this week in Sheffield. Tim Firth and Daniel Evans, artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, discuss the project. For Cultural Exchange, Francine Stock chooses The Apple, a film made by Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf in 1998, when she was only 18 years old. Producer Jerome Weatherald.

With Mark Lawson In Meryl Streep's latest film, Hope Springs, she and Tommy Lee Jones play a middle-aged couple whose marriage has become stale, after more than three decades together. They attend a series of therapy sessions in an attempt to revive their relationship. Writer and critic Gaylene Gould reviews. The work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood has been brought together in a major exhibition, for the first time in nearly 30 years. The show at Tate Britain aims to display the breadth, influence and radical intentions of the group, and includes major works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt. Rossetti biographer Dinah Roe reviews. Daniel Evans, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, discusses his new production of Macbeth and why he has no fear of saying the play's name. As a new documentary, released today, charts how independent record shops are disappearing from our high streets, David Hepworth recalls the very specific pleasures of hours spent flicking through the racks of LPs and singles. Producer Claire Bartleet.