OffScript

How might the stories of a Jewish man, writing in Russian, based in Odesa 100 years ago help us understand what’s happening in Ukraine today? Join Dash Arts’ Artistic Director Josephine Burton at the very start of an exploration into bringing to the stage the life and work of Isaac Babel. This episode catches up with Josephine as she gathers together artists, writers, composers and translators to...

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 a...

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 Jos...

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:...

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 podcas...

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 N...

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 Artisti...

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 Burt...

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 s...

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 Maji...

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. Hosted...

In this first episode of Making Middlemarch , discover how the idea of The Great Middlemarch Mystery was conceived and why the source text’s author, George Eliot, continues to enchant us today. Delve into the inspirations behind this adaptation and the creator’s theatrical visions. Uncover the real life stories from Coventry locals and how they will be woven into the show. Featuring a conversation...

Protest Songs: The Internationale In the first episode of our Protest Songs series, we explore the history of ' The Internationale ' and how it continues to inspire social change. Josephine Burton speaks to singer-songwriter Billy Bragg , who was motivated by the collapse of communism to rewrite the song and devote an album to it in 1990. Other speakers include historian Robert Service who gives a...

After its genesis in Berlin and its London premiere, our initial journey of Songs for Babyn Yar culminated in a performance in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 7 December 2021 - the city in which more than 100,000 people were massacred in the ravine of Babyn Yar during Nazi occupation.  In this podcast episode, the three artists involved and its director reflect on this climactic performance, and the emotio...

The second in our mini-series of episodes about our Dido's Bar project delves into the creative process of the three artists at the heart of this production. Hear about how director Josephine Burton , playwright Hattie Naylor and composer Marouf Majidi crossed paths and came to collaborate on this project, and how our recent music and creative writing workshops with communities in London and Oxfor...

80 years ago this autumn, Nazi occupying forces murdered more than 33,000 Jews in the ravine of Babyn Yar in the suburbs of Kyiv, Ukraine, over just two days. In the following two years of Nazi occupation, Babyn Yar became the site of over 100,000 deaths. This month, Dash Arts marks this anniversary by premiering a new music theatre production, Songs for Babyn Yar, in London and Ukraine with a wor...

Welcome to the first in a mini-series of podcast episodes dedicated to the creation of our upcoming show Dido's Bar , planned for autumn 2022. Dido's Bar is an immersive site-specific gig theatre production set in a cabaret bar on the borders of Europe that reimagines Virgil's Aeneid , exploring this timeless tale of migration through the lens of Europe today. In this podcast episode, discover the...

In the final episode of The Identity Series , our investigation into what happens to identity during moments of great national change brings our attention to Brexit and its impact on our own national identities in the UK. What does Europe mean today? What do we want from Europe, post-Brexit?  This podcast series forms part of EUTOPIA , our multi-year project that emerged as a direct response...

In this third episode of The Identity Series , we deepen our investigation into fractured national identity across Europe, through one of its most contemporary and violent examples: the collapse of Yugoslavia and subsequent wars that ripped across the former country. Hosted by Josephine Burton, a range of artists and historians discuss the tensions leading up to the collapse and its heartbreaking...

In this second episode of The Identity Series , we delve into the fraught and complex topic of empire, examining the decline and collapse of various empires across Europe, their aftershocks and their impact on the identity of their citizens. Speaking to experts and artists from a range of backgrounds, we discuss topics including the legacy of empire, the impact of colonisation, how different cultu...

In this first episode of The Identity Series , we explore the meaning and power of identity through the fascinating case of Polish-Lithuanian Nobel Prize-winning writer Czeslaw Milosz . Born in Lithuania, Milosz survived the Nazi occupation of Poland, became a member of the Polish Foreign Service under the communist regime, and was then exiled for being a strong critic of communism. His famous col...

In this episode recorded from our online Dash Café in May, we return to the iconic 2009 Estonian documentary  Disco and Atomic War and the topic of borders, propaganda and censorship. Audiences enjoyed excerpts from the film and conversation from speakers including Estonian TV journalist and  Disco and Atomic War  co-producer and co-screenwriter  Kiur Aarma ; Soviet-born Britis...

The fourth and final episode of our podcast mini-series, Breaking Silence , explores issues of censorship, self-censorship and cancel culture in the creation of art. Artistic Director Josephine Burton speaks to arts consultant Manick Govinda , who co-founded Brexit Creatives, about what he sees as the art world's censorship or 'cancelling' of pro-Brexit views; Samuel Beckett scholar Dr Jackie Blac...

The third episode of our podcast mini-series, Breaking Silence , looks at the silencing of cultural identity across national, ethnic and religious borders and ways in which international artists are unearthing these issues in their work. Artistic Director Josephine Burton speaks to theatre-maker Krzysztof Czyzewski , whose Borderlands project aims to revive the multicultural heritage of Poland’s S...

The second episode of our podcast mini-series, Breaking Silence , features writers and practitioners who are addressing the silencing of women and giving voice to female experience through artistic mediums.  Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton speaks to theatre-maker Lucy Dear ( All in Your Head ); screenwriter and playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz ( Ida ; Her Naked Skin ); theatre dire...