Hello Creatives!  

Welcome to Season Two, Episode One of Blue Balloon Theatre's Podcast, 'Be Inspired'; a podcast where we speak to creatives from every corner of the performing arts industry about their role within it, their experiences and what inspires them.   

We are so happy to be bringing you a second season as the first went down so well with you, our lovely listeners and viewers.   

Our first guest, kicking of Season Two, is Maddi Crease!  

Maddi (she/her) is a poet, mainly writing for spoken word. She writes about mental health, disability, diversity, and her lived experience as a working class queer woman with invisible disabilities.  

Her recent achievements include landing commissions with Beatfreeks and Screen South & BBC Arts. She was also part of Apples and Snakes’ 2021 The Writing Room cohort. Pre-COVID-19, you’d find her hosting local open mic nights for a mental well-being through arts charity. Some of her favourite pieces to perform include ‘Ode to Calling My Therapist a Murderer’ and ‘Everest’. You can find her work at @maddicreasepoet on Instagram, or ‘Maddi Crease Poet’ on Facebook.   

We cannot thank Maddi enough for her time and fantastic energy and wish her every success in the future. Of course, we sincerely hope you enjoyed this episode of the podcast and will return for more of Season Two's fantastic guests in coming weeks.   

New podcasts are released every other Monday after the first release date at 3pm. You can find us on YouTube, of course, Spotify, Anchor and all the other fabulous places you get your podcasts.   

For YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUjnDdCoIF29NQxPwJUzdkImtqbVjfp6F 

For Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1zpgWttFKhFAcLp8QN4eVj 

For Anchor: https://anchor.fm/blue-balloon-theatre 

Don't forget that you can now stream all of Season One's episodes via Spotify, Anchor and YouTube too, but until the next episode, leave a like, comment down below and subscribe for more creativity!  

All the love and warmth,  

Blue Balloon Theatre xxx 

#MakeItHappen #BeInspired #Podcast

Hello Creatives!

Welcome back to our Be Inspired Podcast series, a chance for us to speak to creatives from every corner of the performing arts industry about their experience and creativity in order to leave you feeling inspired.

Episode ten concludes our first season of this podcast series and gosh has it been a good one!

Our final guest, Ayisha Ul-haq, is a poet, a woman of colour and a soul looking to explore the worlds wonders!

After seeing Ayisha perform for the very first time at our 9th Spoken Word and Poetry Open Mic, we simply had to have her on our podcast. This woman is powerful in the way the writes and yet incredibly honest and compassionate, making her words relatable to almost anyone!

We hope you enjoy this podcast, we certainly enjoyed recording it! To revisit the rest of season one's podcasts, head to our playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUjnDdCoIF29_pc7_Bk9QCnIwjjrTtMWq

All of our podcasts are also available to listen to on Anchor and all those other wonderful places you get your podcasts! You can find those here: https://anchor.fm/blue-balloon-theatre​

To stay in touch with us and support us further, you can head to our website. That's www.blueballoontheatre.com or why not check out the following links:

Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/blueballoontheatre​

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlueBalloonMCR​

Twitter: https://twitter.com/blueballoonmcr​

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blueballoonmcr

Until season two, we will see you very soon and don't forget to MAKE IT HAPPEN!

All the love and warmth, 

Blue Balloon Theatre xxx

#MakeItHappen​

Hello Creatives!   

Welcome back to another episode of our Be Inspired Podcast: A chance for you to gain inspiration and motivation during these final months of Lockdown. So far we have spoken with a diverse group of artists who work within the performing arts industry about their experiences and passions.   

In episode nine, our penultimate episode of season one, we spoke to the wonderful, Jade Lavinia!  

Vibrant in all aspects; Jade Lavinia is a 24 year old Filmmaker, YouTuber, Dancer and Fire Performer from Manchester who has recently made the big move down South to pursue her dreams.  

To follow Jade on social media, follow the links below: 

Subscribe - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKI7T67n6lF-PlfG7vWS6XA

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jaderumens/

​Twitter - https://twitter.com/jadelavinia_ 

We hope you enjoyed this episode and ready to tackle whatever you set your mind to! 

All of our podcasts are now available to listen to on Spotify, Anchor and all those other wonderful places you get your podcasts!

All the love and warmth,  

Blue Balloon Theatre xxx #MakeItHappen​ 

Hello Creatives!   

Welcome back to another episode of our Be Inspired Podcast: A chance for you to gain inspiration and motivation during these final months of Lockdown. So far we have spoken with a diverse group of artists who work within the performing arts industry about their experiences and passions.   

In episode eight of season one, we chatted to Saira Anwar, or should we say Saira The Poet!  

To follow Saira, here is her social media tag: @sairathepoet  

"A very warm welcome to the newcomers on my poetry journey. I hope you all find the following useful and beneficial.  Here's my story:  About 9 years ago I found myself in a difficult situation. If I knew it was going to take me two years or less to see a published book with my name on it, I wouldn't have believed it. I would've laughed at you. I would've even given up had I known it would take that long - I’m glad though that I didn’t.  Let's go back a little, it's 2011 and I received a marriage proposal all the way from Australia. A dream was about to come true. A beautiful dream of walking in the sunshine of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. I imagined a good life and a fresh new start.  

I ended up getting married to the guy within a months period contrary to advice. It all went quick. The marriage didn't work out. It was a nightmare! Things happened and things came to an end within three months. Though it felt an awful lot longer.  I ended up leaving Australia in October 2011 depressed and traumatised. These experiences led me to begin writing. Something I would never have imagined - writing poetry with roses and lilies. I had poems published into anthologies. Then my first self-published book: "The Death of a Beautiful Dream" released onto Amazon on 9th Jan 2014.  When I returned to the UK I turned to counselling and those close by. After my first session I decided to start writing. The therapy was writing all my feelings down and everything that happened. It then turned into poetry.  

So I decided one day, I'll continue and will publish a book.  I had great responses but also had testing times with negative comments and ordeals. I kept going and the result? Amazon, Createspace, PayHip and Kindle selling my book.  

In the poems I drew on the lessons taken from each experience I had. The cover symbolises the struggle and pain of the journey I experienced. With the subtle addition of the tears and one half of the face.  

The book is a way of reaching out to anyone going through similar experiences or otherwise.  

For more info on about me and the book visit my page!"  

We hope you enjoyed this episode, we know we did! All of our podcasts are now available to listen to on Spotify, Anchor and all those other wonderful places you get your podcasts!   

All the love and warmth,  

Blue Balloon Theatre xxx 

#MakeItHappen

Hello Creatives!   

Welcome back to another episode of our Be Inspired Podcast: A chance for you to gain inspiration and motivation during these final months of Lockdown. So far we have spoken with a diverse group of artists who work within the performing arts industry about their experiences and passions.   

In episode seven of our podcast, to the fabulous actor and singer, Leon Craig!  

In addition to the Leon's recent appearances in West End productions of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Disney’s Aladdin, Leon’s other theatre credits include; Audrey II in Little Shop Of Horrors (Salisbury/Colchester), Sid/Inventor in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK tour), Montel/Jesus in Jerry Springer The Opera (West End), Chuck Brown in Over the Rainbow (UK tour), Queen Of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (UK tour), King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar (World Arena tour), Rodney in My Big Gay Italian Wedding (Greenwich), Melvin P Thorpe in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Union) and over 14 pantomimes as Dame.  

To follow Leon on social media, here are his tags: 

Insta: @leoncraigofficial

Twitter: @LeonCraig1

All of our podcasts are also available to stream on our YouTube channel, so be sure to leave a like and comment over there if you enjoy. 

All the love and warmth, 

Blue Balloon Theatre xxx 

#MakeItHappen​​ 

Hello Creatives!   

Welcome back to another episode of our Be Inspired Podcast: A chance for you to gain inspiration and motivation during these final months of Lockdown. So far we have spoken with a diverse group of artists who work within the performing arts industry about their experiences and passions.   

In episode six of our podcast, we chatted to freelance Stage Manager and Photographer, Sarah Wardle!   

Here is a message from Sarah: "I am freelance stage manager and photographer and use my love and passion for the arts to connect with others, leave my mark on the world and embrace being the best version of myself I can be. I love using my experiences to help and mentor others and to show people that you can achieve whatever you set your mind to if you believe in your own ability’s."  

We hope you enjoyed this episode, we know we did, and don't forget that all of our podcasts are available to watch on YouTube too.

All the love and warmth,  

Blue Balloon Theatre xxx 

#MakeItHappen​

Hello Creatives!   

Welcome back to another episode of our Be Inspired Podcast: A chance for you to, you guessed it, be inspiration and find motivation during these final months of Lockdown. So far we have spoken with a diverse group of artists and creatives who work within the performing arts industry about their experiences and passions.   

In episode five of our podcast, we chatted to exceptional, Fehmida Master!   

Fehmida is an Author, Poet, Writer & Spoken Word Artist from Bolton.  

After studying the Sciences & English Literature, she made the move into FAA Security, working in the USA and then living in London. Fehmida returned to Bolton so to raise her son around family, climbing the 9-5 corporate ladder whilst pursuing her passion for writing in her spare time.  Now a full time Writer, Fehmida has performed at Events in and around Greater Manchester, including for International Women’s Day, Thats What She Said, Word Central and Words Weekend, with themes of feminism, women’s rights, race, love & loss.   

Most recently, Fehmida founded her own publishing house, Master House Publishing, an independent press. The company look to publish diverse inclusive Poetry from Women of all backgrounds, focusing on new writing from emerging women writers and those under-served in mainstream publishing.  

Not only are we incredibly humbled by Fehmida taking the time to chat so openly with us, but we are proud of her journey as an artist and how we've played a part in that. To see such a fabulous woman and poet pushing boundaries and living her best life - well, it's simply wonderful!  

We hope you enjoy this episode!

All the love and warmth, Blue Balloon Theatre xxx 

#MakeItHappen​

Hello Creatives!   

Welcome back to another episode of our Be Inspired Podcast: A chance for you to gain inspiration and motivation during these final months of Lockdown. So far we have spoken with a diverse group of artists who work within the performing arts industry about their experiences and passions.   

In episode four of our podcast, we chatted to our very own Associate Director, Jas Nisic!   

Jas is a proud working class Actor-Singer-Cartwheeler and unapologetically Mancunian. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in Musical Theatre. Jas grew up on a council estate, attended a failing school but despite this was the first in her family to attend University and achieved a First Class with Honours and a Distinction in her BSc and MSc in Mathematics from the University of Manchester. Jas is incredibly passionate about diversity and breaking barriers for those from underrepresented backgrounds and has had an unusual path into the performance arts industry.  

We hope you enjoyed this episode!

All the love and warmth, 

Blue Balloon Theatre xxx 

#MakeItHappen

Hello Creatives!  

Welcome to Episode Three of our Be Inspired Podcast Series. This time we are talking to Luke Richards, a Manchester-based Actor and Writer with professional experience in stage and screen.  

It was a real pleasure to chat with Luke about some of his favourite experiences within his career thus far, his process as an actor, writer and creative with autism and most importantly all the projects he currently has on the go. He is the definition of a hard worker and we cannot wait to see all he gets up to in future.   

This podcast is also available to watch on our YouTube channel.

All the love and warmth, Blue Balloon Theatre xxx

#MakeItHappen

Hello Creatives! 

Welcome back to our Podcast Series, 'Be Inspired', where we chat to creatives from all walks of life in order to leave you feeling inspired, motivated and of course, creative! This time we are joined by Actor and YouTuber, Adam Martyn! 

We talk about Adam's journey with YouTubing, beating the algorithm, staying true to yourself in the content you want to produce and of course, Adam's journey with Acting.  

We cannot thank Adam enough for his time and positive energy and if you haven't already, do check his work over on his YouTube Channel and beyond!  To follow and support Adam, check out the following links to his social media and beyond:  

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKVz14-tayP68iz-xjTWQ4Q

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/adammartynamtv

Twitter - www.twitter.com/AdamMartynActor 

Instagram - www.instagram.com/adammartynsmith9  

This podcast is also available to watch on our YouTube channel.

For all our other social media's and upcoming events please click the following link: www.linktr.ee/BlueBalloonMCR  

All the love and warmth, Blue Balloon Theatre xxx 

#MakeItHappen