The Green Man Podcast

Nuha Ruby Ra played all the instruments herself on her second EP 'Machine Like Me', which landed earlier this year: just one example of her formidable autodidactic spirit. Winner of our Green Man Rising competition back in 2020, her raw, inventive sound is informed by the creative freedoms of post-punk and free jazz, and she's no stranger to the stage, having spent 2022 supporting Yard Act, Warmduscher, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and Viagra Boys. An unpredictable delight, her live show is something to behold. 

Nuha catches up with her pal H. Hawkline. The Welsh icon who returns to Green Man with more bitter-sweet magic than ever before. A tireless collaborator whose recent works include fellow Heavenly label-mates Katy J Pearson and Cate Le Bon, H. Hawkline (aka Huw Gwynfryn Evans), is a fearless leader of leisurely psych-folk and the lyrically absurd, divine, and profound. 

Many have said that multi-award Norwegian comedian Ingrid Dahle is the best Norwegian import since oil. She is what you call a ‘good egg', and as a big fan of the people on this island, thinks there is something gloriously funny about the British. 

Ingrid chats with fellow comedian Colin Hoult, star of Netflix's Afterlife. Following a sell-out, award nominated run of The Death of Anna Mann, years playing characters and a mind bending ADHD diagnosis, Colin back as himself - being Colin.

Stuart Maconie is a writer, broadcaster and journalist familiar to millions. His book The Full English became an instant Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller, and Stuart's previous bestsellers include Cider with Roadies, Pies and Prejudice and Adventures on the High Teas. He hosts a show for BBC Radio 6 Music on weekends. He can also often be spotted on top of a mountain in the Lake District with a Thermos flask and individual pork pie. Here he is in conversation with Talking Shop curator Laura Barton.

Did you wander down to the pine woods behind the Walled Garden this year? There, you could explore the narrative of a fake cowboy town inside Welsh visual artist Kathyrn Ashill's new commission Gunsmoke City. The work is based on a real Gunsmoke City in the Swansea Valleys village of Seven Sisters - an unlikely setting for the masculine idyll of the Wild West. Themes of the frontier and escapism are pushed through the imagery in the film and the set. Moving-image depicts Drag Kings playing the leading cowboy figures, a tongue in cheek critique of the genre of the Western and gender norms, and the work incorporates hand-painted animation. Gunsmoke City is commissioned with thanks to GS Artists Swansea. Kathryn chats to creative producer Cathy Boyce about bringing the work to the festival site, and visual arts producer Lexi Stevens tells us how she supports artists at Green Man. 

Acclaimed British filmmaker Carol Morley (The Falling, Dreams of a Life) tells Cinedrome curator Jason Solomons about her new film ‘Artist Typist Pirate King’. This dark and funny road movie starring Kelly Macdonald as Sandra and the wonderful Monica Dolan as overlooked artist Audrey Amiss. 

Green Man Rising finalists and Cardiff noise creators Hyll chat to comedian Jonny Williams. Calling their sound "shambolic chaos", the Welsh language rock band formed around 2016. They've gained a reputation for their catchy melodies and explosive, energetic live sets, leaving a trail of sweat, smashed sticks, and scorched earth in their wake. 

Ed Easton, Kath Hughes and Adam Drake from sketch supergroup Tarot sit down with comedian Esyllt Sears. Come learn life lessons from five people still doing sketch in their thirties. The Guardian's 6th best show of 2022. One of the best reviewed shows of Edinburgh 2022. Sell-out runs in Edinburgh and London. Chortle's No. 1 show of 2019 and stars of their own Radio 4 sketch show, Soundbleed. 

Christian Lee Hutson starts his new album Quitters with a laugh. In this follow up to his ANTI records debut, Beginners, Hutson moves away from the focus on growing up to the dread and complications of growing older. Produced by Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst, the album conjures up a California filled with the fuzzy haze of a dream, and the half-remembered moments of a forgotten life. 

Backstage at the Walled Garden, Christian meets Vermont trio THUS LOVE, who have a once-in-a-generation kind of magnetism that comes from deep-rooted companionship, and a commandeering approach to post-rock with a pop-leaning drool. There's a gift to creating anarchy subtly, and THUS LOVE have it mastered. 

Four magnificent minds from Einstein's Garden come together for a big green chat.

Climate scientist Professor Mary Gagen often gets asked, what can individuals do to help the planet? She wades through the politics of pollution, to talk about how to make environmental decisions without being overwhelmed.

Hannah Bland is from Possible, a charity that exists to engage people in climate action with a can-do attitude and infectious optimism for a cleaner, fairer future.

Kofi and Arthur are some of the clever folk on the team at UCell, who provide the hydrogen cell power for the Omni Tent in Einstein's Garden. UCell lift the lid on the science behind complex green technologies, from batteries and fuel cells to supercapacitors and solar wind power.

Marchelle Farrell is a writer, medical psychotherapist, and amateur gardener. She was born in Trinidad and Tobago, and has spent 20 years attempting to become hardy here in the UK. Marchelle talks (to Isabel Berwick) about her book "Uprooting: From the Caribbean to the Countryside – Finding Home in an English Country Garden".

Harriet Gibsone began her career as a runner for MTV before becoming a music journalist at cult noughties free-press The Fly, and Guardian columnist. As a self-professed creep, she lives in fear of her internet searches being leaked. Harriet talks (to Michelle Kambasha) about her new memoir "Is This OK? One woman's search for connection online".

Both conversations recorded at the Talking Shop.

Cory Hanson of Wand notoriety designs acidic dreamscapes for acoustic-guitar adventurers and lovers of psychedelic ballads. His latest record 'Western Cum', released this summer on Drag City, is his third solo album, and with it he brings a slice of California to Wales. Cory sits down with DD Darillo, the soulful brainchild of Dylan Morgan. Cutting his teeth as a member of Boy Azooga, the Cardiff artist takes centre stage as he showcases his hearty mix of jazz-pop, psychedelia, and infinite wonder. 

Provocative backing-tracks and space-age synths come together to form cumgirl8; the sex-positive Manhattan based trio who nobly sacrifice a mainstream media presence (due to their unsavoury namesake), in the name of lust, art, and shock factor 'n' roll. They get cosy with Ash Kenazi, the OG drag Jewish Princess from North London whose antics continue to entertain audiences through the transgressive nature of drag and the celebration of queer identity.

Aleighcia Scott is one of soulful reggae music's brightest rising stars, with a voice that grabs you by the heart. Aleighcia sits down with the female-led discodelic-trio Say She She, whose name is a subtle homage to Nile Rogers (C'est chi-chi: It's Chic). They pair retro-soul with luxurious electro-harmonies to build layer after layer of drum-machine laden, and at times political, disco. 

On the Somewhere Field, we visit The Swish: upcycling workshops packed with simple sewing hacks. 

And, we’re back at the Human Library in Einstein’s Garden, with ‘The Accidental Magician’. Beverley Bishop is an actor, writer and creative practitioner offering honest, hopeful and quirky performances embedded in humour, often focusing on well-being themes. She developed a passion for magic whilst creating her autobiographical show ‘Finding Magic’, which she has toured nationally for the last three years, everywhere from Edinburgh to Sydney. Magic has become integral to her work, using it to enhance story, provoke thought and offer wonderment. Bev believes in harnessing the power of creativity and playfulness to bring positive change in our lives.

Visit the Einstein's Garden 'Human Library' with Welsh comedian, actor and podcaster, Esyllt Sears. At the Human Library you don’t read the books, you talk to them - and they talk back! Esyllt meets Mike Jackson, one of the founding members of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, a group of LGBT activists who fundraised for South Welsh miners and whose story was immortalised in the multi-award winning blockbuster ‘Pride’. 

Director Tim Mackenzie-Smith tells DJ Karl Bos how he made his film ‘Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande’. It’s a beautiful, soulful music documentary about the ‘lost’, almost-mythical, British funk band: a story of loss, prejudice, friendship, and killer bass lines.

Sally El-Hosaini is a Welsh-Egyptian BAFTA-nominated film director and screenwriter. Her brilliant 2012 debut ‘My Brother The Devil’ won Best Newcomer at the BFI London Film Festival and played at festivals around the world. Sally’s third feature, ‘Unicorns’, is co-directed with James Krishna Floyd. The Swansea-born filmmaker tells Cinedrome’s Jason Solomons all about it, plus gives her tips for getting into the industry, in this unique on-stage conversation and Filmmaker Q&A.  

Badminton School Science Outreach takes a break from their Solar Stage demonstrations to chat to Kidscast. Did you catch them showing how nitrogen can change materials properties, shattering flowers, boiling a kettle at -1960C and even liquifying oxygen? Or delve into the magnetic properties of oxygen before seeing how big a flame you can make with a biscuit? Their shows in Einstein’s Garden demonstrate how vortices form and can be harnessed to make tornadoes of fire, explain how extreme temperatures can leave a magnetic record that allows us to track the motion of tectonic plates, and form clouds in front of your eyes!

Find her up and down the aisles or going rusty upturned in a ditch; Dolly Trolley is a Yorkshire-born drag queen based in London who is completely bonkers, utterly delightful and always at 100mph. Since debuting in early 2017, she’s become a household name of the UK drag cabaret scene, known for high energy, dynamic burlesque acts, fierce dance moves, hilarious parodies, rip-roaring hosting and Drag Aerobics. She’s a versatile performer full of surprises, commonly reviewed: “I’m exhausted just from watching.” Dolly is a host and programmer at the Wishbone stage, and here she chats to Olli Dutton, founder of late-night Round The Twist-revellers Dutty Disco.