Persistent and Nasty

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2023 SERIES

TRIGGER WARNING: EPISODE HAS REFERENCES TO SEXUAL ASSAULT, POST NATAL PSYCHOSIS.

Elaine and Louise chat with Emily Beecher about her Edinburgh Festival show Summer Camp for Broken People. The origins of the show in reaction to a SA that happened to Emily and her subsequent breakdown and stay at the priory.

We chat about the process of writing the piece and the discussions Emily had with many different focus groups, the misogyny around what a survivor “should look like”.

We discuss being a single mum in our industry, why representation is vital and the ups and downs and the joy of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

SUMMER CAMP FOR BROKEN PEOPLE

A dark comedy about rape, losing your mind and finding yourself. After a violent sexual assault, a 40-something single mum thinks she's fine, until an unexpected email sends her spiralling into a serious mental health crisis. This semi-autobiographical solo show is based on diary entries, letters and essays written during time in a psychiatric hospital. This new show by Emily Beecher shines a light into the darkest of places. It's a bold, brave show about how mental illness infects our lives and our capacity for pain.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/summer-camp-for-broken-people

EMILY BEECHER

Emily Beecher is a creative, writer, producer, story consultant and proud single mama to her gregarious daughter. She is the creator and Founding Mother of The Good Enough Mums Club - a musical that grew out of her experience with severe postnatal depression and postnatal psychosis. At the prompting of her therapist, Beecher began to journal her experiences while juggling the demands of a newborn. During 2014 The Good Enough Mums Club played to sold-out audiences and four-star reviews and was covered extensively in the media. Emily was interviewed for The Guardian, The Independent, Evening Standard, Woman's Hour, and she appeared on ABC breakfast television in Australia. She was also a keynote speaker at the Brit Mums conference, where she led a writing class for mums. Emily has written for The Guardian, ‘alive’ and ‘blush’ magazines (Canada) and has consulted on several commercials, video games, film scripts and the ‘Patient Zero’ comic book series. She wrote a regular column, Tantrums & Tinder, about dating as a single mother for Motherlode magazine. As a content producer, Emily’s had the pleasure of working with clients such as Proctor & Gamble, Hasbro, Kelloggs, Universal, Nintendo, Nickelodeon, Mattel, Somerset House, Warner Brothers, the English National Ballet, and the Labour Party. Short films Emily has co-produced, co-written, and performed in have been shown in London, Paris, Berlin, Vancouver, Cannes, Tokyo, Mexico and Bolivia. For four years she worked at The Walt Disney Company as a marketing and events manager for Healthy Living. Here she created and launched campaigns such as Healthily Ever After and the Finding Dory Inspired Family Swim Sessions which were rolled out to 450 pools across the country. She also worked on the Disney & PHE Change4Life 10 Minute Shake Up campaign as well as the Incredibles 24 Hour Challenge.

Emily holds a postgraduate diploma in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford and an MA in Creative Writing and Publishing (Distinction) from the University of Lincoln and The Guardian.

Website - https://emilybeecher.com/

OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk

ED FRINGE FORM &NEWSLETTER https://www.persistentandnasty.co.uk/get-involved

Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership

Support In The Room - https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/in-the-room

Email – [email protected]

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+ - GA

Elaine and Louise chat summer holidays, update on short film In the Room. Vote For ELAINE for Equity Women’s and Scottish Committee and Ed Fringe podcast and blog series. Oh, and there is talk of embracing the rage.

OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk for Newsletter and Edfringe form go to Get Involved tab.

VOTE FOR ELAINE - https://www.equity.org.uk/about-us/how-were-run/equity-elections/committee-elections-2023

DOVE CAMPAIGN - https://www.dove.com/uk/stories/campaigns/kids-online-safety.html

IN THE ROOM

Twitter – @BarItaliaFilms

Instagram - @baritaliafilms

Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership

Support In The Room - https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/in-the-room

Email – [email protected]

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/

Elaine chats with Caitlin Skinner and Hannah Lavery about Quines Cast.

We chat about how Quines Cast came to be, the live recordings and their themes and what that brought up for them. The 3rd Quines Cast is taking place tonight at Glasgow’s Women’s Library

https://stellarquines.co.uk/show/quines-cast/

QUINES CAST

Join your hosts Hannah Lavery and Caitlin Skinner as they invite Scotland’s leading feminist authors, poets, playwrights, and musicians to respond to the big questions that matter to women, non-binary people, and people of other marginalised genders today.  

Stellar Quines: stellarquines.co.uk

Twitter:@Stellarquines

Instagram: @stellarquines

Podcast: Quines Cast

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 – [email protected]

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/

SHE LIVES

The website is live. Snippets from the launch.

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 – [email protected]

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/

A wee update on why we’ve been so quiet.

HIPA working group’s guides for freelancers and organisations – navigating sexual harassment at work.

harassment-in-the-performing-arts-guides-for-freelancers-and-organisations/

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 – [email protected]

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/

In today’s episode Elaine chats with spoken word poet, theatre maker, facilitator, writer, and singer. We chat pathway into the industry, the music scene and the misogyny that comes along with it. We also talk her new show Love the Sinner which is on at the Tron Theatre Glasgow 11th, 12th and 13th May 2023 and The Traverse Theatre Edinburgh 16th, 17th May 2023. Ticket link here.

https://www.imogenstirling.com/events

Imogen Stirling

Imogen is a Glasgow-based artist. She is a performance poet, theatre-maker, musician, writer and facilitator. Imogen has performed her work extensively around the UK and Europe, with partners including Sofar Sounds, BBC Scotland, Latitude Festival, Lindisfarne Festival, Neu! Reekie! and Aye! Write. She can currently be seen on Sky Arts' BAFTA-winning show Life & Rhymes where she performed alongside Benjamin Zephaniah and Hollie McNish. Imogen was the inaugural Writer-in-Residence for Paisley Book Festival 2021 and is currently leading Wigtown Book Festival's youth development programme. She was awarded ‘Artist of the Year 2021’ (Scottish Emerging Theatre Awards/National Theatre of Scotland) and was shortlisted for the Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry 2022. As of April 2022, Imogen is the Artist Development Coordinator at Tron Theatre.

Website - www.imogenstirling.com

Instagram - @imogenstirlingpoetry

Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership

Support In The Room - https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/in-the-room

Email – [email protected]

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/

In today’s episode Elaine chats with director, producer, and co-founder of The Playwrights Laboratory. We talk career, the things that really need to change in our industry, moving back home and having to start from scratch.

If you are in London you can get tickets for Playwright Laboratory at the Arcola Theatre here https://www.arcolatheatre.com/whats-on/pop-up-festival-of-new-plays/

Katharine Farmer

Is the Artistic Director of The Playwright’s Laboratory and run my own theatre company Blue Touch Paper Productions. For 8 years she held an O-1 visa and was the Director of International Programming at Rubicon Theatre Company in California. At Rubicon, her production of ‘Gulf View Drive’ won Best Production of a Play (large theatre) at the LA Ovation Awards in 2018. Katharine’s theatre directing has also been acknowledged with two Best Director Ovation nominations and an Indy Award for Best Direction of ‘Last Train to Nibroc’ and seven L.A. Times Critic’s Picks. She also has three plays available for download on Digital Theatre and Digital Theatre Plus.

Katharine is a graduate of the University of Warwick and the Directing Drama MA at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Website - katharine-farmer.com

- playwrightslab.com

- blue-touch.co.uk

Instagram - @katharinefarmer

Twitter - @katharinefarmer

Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership

Support In The Room - https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/in-the-room

Email – [email protected]

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/

In today’s episode Elaine and Louise chat with poet, screenwriter, theatre maker and all round wonderful human Leyla Josephine. We chat Leyla’s work, power dynamics, what we would do if we had a lot of money and the age-old question. Do we have to suffer to make great art…NO the answer is NO. You can get Leyla’s poetry book In public/In Private here

https://www.leylajosephine.co.uk/shop/p/inpublicinprivate

Leyla Josephine

Leyla graduated from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2013 from BA Contemporary Performance Practice. In that same year, she started performing at spoken word nights and in the following year won The UK National Slam at The Royal Albert Hall ran by Hammer and Tongue. She has since then won The Commonwealth Slam 2014 and The Loud Poets Grand Slam 2016. She was a finalist in the Roundhouse Slam 2017 and runner up for The Scottish Championships 2018. She has been lucky enough to perform her poetry in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, The Czech Republic, Canada and in The US. Leyla has been on the same bill as Kae Tempest, Hollie McNish and Lowkey. Last year, she performed for the First Minister of Scotland and supported John Cooper Clarke on his Scottish tour. Her solo shows Hopeless and Daddy Drag have taken the UK by storm with sold out shows across the country. Hopeless was runner up for Saboteur’s Best Spoken Word Show 2018. Daddy Drag won the Autopsy Award 2019 which celebrates artists making ground-breaking work in Scotland. It was also shortlisted for Filipa Braganca Award 2019, which honours solo female artists creating important work at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Website -leylajosephine.co.uk

Instagram - @leylajosephine

Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership

Support In The Room - https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/in-the-room

Email – [email protected]

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/

In today’s episode Elaine chats with award-winning theatre maker, writer, facilitator and all round powerhouse Jenna Watt. We discuss Jenna’s path into the industry, the feeling that you can’t get into the room and how that pushes you to create your own work, writing her first long form nonfiction novel and why having a space for everyone to feel heard with grace is vital.

Jenna’s book Hindsight is available in all bookstores.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/hindsight/jenna-watt/9781780277455

Jenna Watt

Jenna is a multi award-winning Scottish theatre maker. Since 2008, she has been making contemporary theatre in Scotland and the UK, her previous theatre works include: Tetra-decathlon, Faslane, How You Gonna Live Your Dash and Flâneurs.

Utilising both a directing and playwriting process, Jenna’s practice explores contemporary socio-political issues by applying an immersive and autobiographical approach to creating contemporary theatre. In 2018 she was recipient of Magnetic North’s Artist’s Attachment. In 2019, in addition to her theatre degree, she gained an MSc in Sustainable Rural Development and her practice now encompasses the exploration of interdependent relationships between performance, sustainability, rewilding, ecological grief and ecofeminism. As a freelance director, Jenna works across the sector, collaborating with theatre makers and directing new writing by new and established writers and young people. She’s worked on large scale productions, small scale touring and rehearsed readings. As a writer, Jenna has been commissioned by both arts organisations and non-arts organisations and regularly works with other writers in a mentoring and dramaturgical role. Jenna works regularly with educational institutions to provide mentoring support during creative processes to students.

Website -www.jennawatt.com

Twitter - @thejennawatt

Instagram - @thejennawatt

Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership

Support In The Room - https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/in-the-room

Email – [email protected]

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/

It’s an unusual episode this week. Elaine is interviewing our very own Louise Oliver. We get to celebrate one of co-founder’s and their pathway into this industry. We talk Louise’s exciting news her new venture. The launch of her film company Bar Italia Films and it's very first project -

In The Room - a powerful and much needed piece. Which is currently crowding funding and will receive Creative Scotland funding through Crowdmatch, where each unique donation is matched by Creative Scotland. . As this episode goes out, they have made it 90% of their target. If you can help them get to 100 % and get this vital piece of cinema made that would be wonderful. https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/in-the-room

Bar Italia Films – In The Room

OUTLINE:

CAIT travels to a call-back audition for a film. It’s been a while since an opportunity like this one. In the audition room, she gets on brilliantly with SUZANNE (the casting director) and REBECCA (the writer/director), receiving good vibes and positive feedback on her previous reading. It’s a genuinely exciting project. Cait really wants this one. Suzanne announces that they’ve already cast the male lead, and he’s going to be reading with her today. Before they can reveal who it is, he enters - DANNY - hotshot pretty-boy actor, loved by everyone. Everyone except Cait. She hasn’t forgotten her last encounter with Danny, and what she’s been living with ever since.

Unlike everyone else in the room, she sees the predator behind the mask. When they read the scene together, Caits’ fight or flight instinct is triggered. Her trauma tells her to run, but her strength and the opportunity to go off script allows her to fight. With a rage-filled roar of catharsis, the real Danny is exposed, and Cait begins her journey towards healing.

Instagram -@baritaliafilms

Twitter - @BarItaliaFilms

Crowdunder -https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/in-the-room

Remember to send any questions you have for Elaine on endometriosis to

Email – [email protected]

Instagram - @persistentandnasty

Twitter - @PersistentNasty

Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership

Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets

LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE

https://www.endometriosis-uk.org/

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/