Witty, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is a gift for troubled times. A warm hug of a story about a man who spent his life at the office – and his afterlife building a home. Here its author, TJ Klune answers Sam Bennett’s questions. Under the Whispering Door was hard for you to […]
From Caliban to Batman
Shakespeare and superheroes with Inua Ellams Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is a UK-based poet, playwright and performer who has written for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the BBC. The Actual is his fifth poetry release. With previous releases, he says, he always knew he was working towards some sort of book. This was not the case with The Actual, […]
From a Heart Like Wet Cement
The Messy Truth with Caroline Bird To mark National Poetry Day at the very beginning of this month, we spoke to London-based poet, playwright and author, Caroline Bird upon this year’s release of her sixth poetry collection, The Air Year. Here, she tells us about the impact poetry has had on her life from the age of just 13 when she first became immersed in writing. Has lockdown given […]
COVID, Creativity, and Croquembouche Cones
Credit: Tanaka Mhishi Tanaka Mhishi is a poet, playwright and performer who makes issue-based work. With a record of creating pieces which handle ‘tricky’ topics like sexual violence, masculinity, biphobia and race, Tanaka takes a bespoke, whole community approach; helping audiences have vital, difficult conversations one piece of art at a time. Ahead of his […]
ABOVE THE STAG
ON STAGE AND NOW PAGE Written by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper, Above The Stag Theatre’s pantomimes for adults are a London institution, selling out every year and placing queer characters front and centre in popular fairytales, myths and adventures, combining wit, wonder and social satire with the best traditions of the great British panto. Now the […]
Samra Habib: Encouraging a Choir of Voices
A memoir of hope, faith and love, Samra Habib’s We Have Always Been Here starts with growing up as part of a threatened minority sect in Pakistan, and follows her arrival in Canada as a refugee, before escaping an arranged marriage at 16. When she realised she was queer, it was yet another way she […]
I said “look, I’m trying to find lesbians…”
LGBT History Month 2020: A Chat with the Chair Sam Bennett LGBT History Month has taken place in February since 2005. An initiative launched by charity Schools OUT – which aims to make educational institutions safe for LGBT people – its 16th incarnation launched at Oxford’s Pitt Rivers and Museum of Natural History in November. […]