OffScript

Crimea 5am brings together the voices of extraordinary women, bound together by the Russian persecution of Crimean Tatars in 2014. In this episode, Artistic Director Josephine Burton looks back on how Dash Arts brought together a cast of actors, activists and journalists to stage this unique piece of verbatim theatre in London during January 2023.

Through personal stories and testimonies of love and struggle in Crimea today, and combining victim and activist interviews, Crimea 5am highlights the stories of 10 political prisoners and their families. The piece celebrates the sheer determination and activism within this oppressed community, the bravery of the prisoners in documenting abuses, and its defiant women holding the ravaged community together.

Since  2014, civil activists and in particular representatives of the indigenous people of the Crimean peninsula, Crimean Tatars, have been persecuted by Russian occupying forces. Obscured by a news blackout, we know little of these events, little of the prisoners themselves, their families  and life in Crimea under occupation. 

In this episode, our Artistic Director Josephine Burton and Podcast Producer Marie Horner listen to archive clips of the performance as well as journalists, academics, activists and the cast. We hear from:

• Dr Rory Finnin, Associate Professor of Ukrainian Studies, University of Cambridge
• Maria Romanenko, Ukrainian journalist and Crimea 5am cast member
• Anastasiia Kosodii, playwright and co-writer of Crimea 5am
• Natalya Gumenyuk, Ukrainian journalist and filmmaker 
• Alexandra Hall Hall, former British Ambassador to Georgia and Crimea 5am cast member 

Music: Ey, Güzel Qırım sung by the cast from Crimea 5am

Crimea 5am was produced at The Kiln in January 2023 as part of the British Council and the  Ukrainian Institute UK/Ukraine Season of Culture. The original production of Crimea 5аm was initiated by the Ukrainian Institute and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine as part of the Crimea Platform. The original performance was directed by Dmytro Kostiumynskyi and produced by Dollmen.

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Welcome to Albion. A world with a legendary past, fallen present and hope-filled future. 

This podcast marks a new season of work for Dash Arts. We’re exploring what it means to be English today, searching through workshops, performances, events and podcasts for a way to talk about who we are as a people and as a country, and who we want to be. 

In this episode, our Artistic Director Josephine Burton and Podcast Producer Rachael Head discover the myths of Albion with guests:

Carrolyne Larrington, an author and professor of Medieval English Language and Literature who has featured on the BBC Sounds series ‘The Lore of the Land’ about British Folklore. 

Stephe Harrop, an academic writer and performer who loves telling “English and Scottish fairytales, the fiery folklore of the Anglo-Scottish Borders, and salvaged stories from England’s historic and mythic pasts.”

Professor Jason Whittaker, who has written extensively on William Blake. His most recent book published in 2022 is titled Jerusalem: Blake, Parry, and the Fight for Englishness.

Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi

Image: William Blake Milton poem Plate 33 copy B 1811 Huntington

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We take a look back on a crazily packed year at Dash Arts, reflecting on the highs and lows of our three productions, Songs for Babyn Yar, The Great Middlemarch Mystery and Dido's Bar and all our podcasts, and look forwards to what 2023 holds, with Dash Arts Artistic Director Josephine Burton and Podcast Producer Rachael Head.

Music Credit:

• Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi

Image Credit:

• Ali Wright

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Dash Arts' production of Dido's Bar was developed and made in Newham. As part of our year-long programme, we were privileged to work with Community Links, an amazing hub which offers young people advice, employment skills, and the chance to develop their audio skills in their top-notch production studio. 

We've brought some of these young people into the world of Dido's Bar through our podcast. Dash Producer Cristina Catalina and Podcast Producer Rachael Head worked in the studio with our participants, talking through the universal themes of Dido's Bar and exploring how those themes have affected their lives.

Music Credits:

• Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi
• Artwork and music made by Community Links participants 

Script excerpts read out are from Hattie Naylor's Dido's Bar.

Hosted by Rachael Head, featuring a short conversation with producer Cristina Catalina.

With thanks to Amanda Brown, the whole Community Links team and the Royal Docks Team

Dido’s Bar is produced by Dash Arts with imPOSSIBLE Producing.

Dido's Bar is co-produced with the Royal Docks Team, OCM (Oxford Contemporary Music), and Journeys Festival International and co-commissioned by OCM, with additional support from Arts Council England, Backstage Trust, The Foyle Foundation, Projekt, Cockayne – Grants for the Arts, The London Community Foundation, Genesis Foundation, Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland, The Marchus Trust, TINFO – Theatre Info Finland, Austin and Hope Pilkington, Royal Victoria Hall Foundation, The Leche Trust and individual donors.

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In our latest episode: 'Dido's Bar: What Makes a Good Story?' we chat with the Director and Writer of Dido’s Bar about the ingredients of a good story. Listen to hear how they tackled telling the story of a refugee and how music has been weaved into the fabric of the performance.

Featuring interviews with Dido’s Bar Director and Dash Arts Artistic Director Josephine Burton, and Playwright Hattie Naylor. 

Music Credits:

• Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi
• Music from the Dido’s Bar Rehearsal room: Rivers and Tides, Panic Boats

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In our latest episode, 'New Mythology: Reclaiming the Story', we chat with artists about how their work makes space for underrepresented gender identities in ancient myths. Listen to explore how storytelling can reclaim lost stories within our mythological canon and how we’re rebalancing the gender dynamics in our next production, Dido's Bar.

Featuring interviews with Dash Arts Artistic director Josephine Burton; stand up storyteller Alys Torrance; drag artist Len Blanco and Dido’s Bar cast member Lola May and some sneaky preview of some of the music from the rehearsal room!

Music Credits

Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi

Music from the Dido’s Bar Rehearsal room: Smokey Nights, 100 Moons, I Know This Heart

Please note this episode is explicit.

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In this episode, we explore the epic poems, The Aeneid, The Shanameh and The Odyssey, and their relevance today.

Delve into the narrative of these epics as we investigate why and how these stories are compelling in their contemporary renditions, as well as how oral storytelling traditions have shaped how we interpret them.

Featuring interviews with Dash Arts artistic director Josephine Burton; Kurdish Iranian musician Marouf Majidi; director and former Dash Arts co-artistic director Tim Supple; writer and lecturer Tajinder Hayer; writer and performer Tristan Bernays; and storyteller Clare Murphy.

Music Credits

Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi

Music from Dido’s Bar

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Protest Songs: Bella Ciao

In the final episode of our Protest Songs mini-series, we discuss the history and ongoing significance of the Italian protest song ‘Bella Ciao’.

Josephine Burton speaks to Professor Philip Cooke about the origins of the song and how its history has been gendered throughout time. Italian singer and songwriter, Virginia Sirolli, speaks of her personal connection to the song and its adaptations, and Composer Orlando Gough discusses how he used it in a recent production at The Globe and its powerful adaptability across multiple cultures and countries.

Music Credits

Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi

Bella Ciao Acoustic, Virginia Sirolli

Bella Ciao - Royalty Free Italian Music, Casa De Papel Gemaf

Bella Ciao, Grégoire Lourme/abr Título de Música: Bella Ciao (Epic Cover)

Bella Ciao in Punjabi, written, performed and produced by Poojan Sahil

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In the third and final episode of Making Middlemarch, the cast and crew reflect on their experience of The Great Middlemarch Mystery.

Listen to director Josephine Burton chat to actors Aimee Powell and Ryan Van Champion and podcast producer Rachael Head about the realities of modernising Middlemarch, Otherness and much more.   

Music Credits

Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi

Wes Finch: https://wesfinch.bandcamp.com

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The second episode of Making Middlemarch brings you conversations straight from the rehearsal room. 

Listen to cast members Tom Gordon, Amanda Hurwitz and Ryan Van Champion discussing their characters’ fears of change, and how those opinions are realised in the show. 

Featuring clips of some of the actors reading lines in the rehearsal room and snippets of the show’s sound design.

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