Cultural Peeps Podcast

• Episode 45 - Dave Johns (Comedian, Actor & Writer)

  Today's guest is Dave Johns, one of the most respected and best loved stand up comics working on the British comedy circuit. Dave is also a multi-award winning film and stage actor and is probably best known for his breakthrough role in Ken Loach's critically acclaimed film 'I, Daniel Blake' which won the coveted Palme D'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival and was also winner of the BAFTA for the Most Outstanding British Film. In this episode, we talk about Dave's early life as a bricklayer, his love of improvisational comedy and how after a visit to the Comedy store in London in the late 80's, he started his own comedy club in Newcastle, booking the likes of Jo Brand and Steve Coogan who were on their own ascent at the time. We also talk about Dave's role in the Edinburgh Fringe production of 12 angry men in 2003 (which starred fellow comedians Bill Bailey, Stephen Frost and Jeff Green), his West End stage run in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, alongside Christian Slater and his own stage adaptations of Stephen King's 'Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption' as well as 'I, Daniel Blake'. There are some great anecdotes, particularly around Dave's experiences at the Cannes Film Festival, including conversations with Donald Sutherland and Stephen Spielberg. I had about 90 minutes with Dave - but I genuinely think we could have easily recorded 4 or 5 episodes worth of material and we would still only have scratched the surface of Dave's amazingly rich life in comedy, stage, television and film....but, I hope this captures a flavour of both his career and life outlook. Thanks to Dave for the time and generosity and a special thanks to Joyce Jobe for helping set up this chat and I hope you enjoy the episode. Dave Johns: https://davejohns.net/ Ken Loach: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Loach I, Daniel Blake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Daniel_Blake I, Daniel Blake (Trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahWgxw9E_h4 Melbourne Festival: https://www.melbournefestival.co.uk/ Edinburgh Festival: https://www.eif.co.uk/ Edinburgh Festival Fringe: https://www.edfringe.com/ Whose Line is It Anyway? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163507/ Sarah Millican: https://sarahmillican.co.uk/my-tour-has-started/ North East Culture Award: https://necultureawards.com/northeastcultureawards2024/en/page/home Cannes Film Festival: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/ B.F.G (Film): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ0Bey4YUGI Sunday for Sammy: https://www.sundayforsammy.org/ Norther Stage: https://northernstage.co.uk/ The Comedy Store: https://thecomedystore.co.uk/ Friday Night Live: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Live_(British_TV_programme) Ben Elton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Elton Jo Brand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Brand Frank Skinner: https://www.frankskinnerlive.com/ Amando Iannucci: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armando_Iannucci Guy Masterson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Masterson 12 Angry Men: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Angry_Men_(1957_film) Nica Burns: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nica_Burns Christian Slater: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000225/ Stephen King: https://stephenking.com/index.html Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption: Olivier Gaumet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Gourmet 23 Walks: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9699620/

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• Episode 44 - The Rickard Sisters (Graphic Novelists)

  This week's guests are Sophie and Scarlett Rickard - who together make graphic novels. If you've ever wondered what graphic novels are, or how they are made, then this is the episode for you! We take a deep dive into how Scarlett and Sophie have worked collaboratively to produce 3 beautiful books - including their their critically acclaimed debut, 'Mann's best friend' which is set in the fictional town of Oldroyd, where the lives of ordinary people play out through a story of family, friendship and fear of failure. We also discuss at their adaptation of Robert Tressell's 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' (1914) which tells the story of a group of working men in the fictional town of Mugsborough, and of socialist journeyman-prophet Frank Owen, who attempts to convince his fellow workers that capitalism is the real source of the poverty all around them. Their latest book, is based on 'No Surrender', which was originally written by Constance Maud, and first published in 1911, the year women across the country boycotted the British census by spoiling forms with the words “I don’t count so I won’t be counted” and “no persons here, only women.” We hear about how Sophie writes the stories - or in the case of 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' and 'No Surrender', adapts each of the original novels into a script format, which Scarlett then storyboards and develops into the beautiful panels that form the final graphic novels. We also talk about how publishing and editing works as well as their upcoming 4th book, 'This Slavery' which is due out in 2025. If you are interested in learning more, or would like to buy copies of the books we discuss in this episode, you can find these, along with lots more information at rickardsisters.com As usual, I've included links in the podcast notes - and if you'd like to see images of the panels we discuss in the episode, then please visit the project blog (culturalpeeps.wordpress.com) or our social media channels. Thanks to both Scarlett and Sophie for generously giving me so much of their time and for providing this fascinating insight into their creative process. As a huge fan of their work, I loved making this one, and I really hope you enjoy our chat. Links: The Rickard Sisters (About): https://rickardsisters.com/about/ The Rickard Sisters: https://rickardsisters.com/ The Rickard Sisters (Substack): https://rickardsisters.substack.com/ The Rickard Sister’s Shop: https://rickardsisters.com/shop/ Self Made Hero (Publisher): https://selfmadehero.com/ Mann’s Best Friend: https://rickardsisters.com/product/manns-best-friend/ No Surrender: https://selfmadehero.com/books/no-surrender & https://rickardsisters.com/product/no-surrender/ The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists: https://selfmadehero.com/books/the-ragged-trousered-philanthropists & https://rickardsisters.com/product/the-ragged-trousered-philanthropists/ This Slavery (Upcoming Book): https://rickardsisters.com/news-post/introducing-this-slavery/ Arts Council England: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/ David Hine: https://www.selfmadehero.com/creators/david-hine Rickard Sisters on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therickardsisters/?hl=en-gb

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• Episode 43 (Part 2) - Justine Boussard (The Amateur Ancestor)

  Welcome to the second part of my conversation with Justine Boussard is a walking chat around the Great North Museum Hancock in Newcastle and focuses on her current project 'The Amateur Ancestor’. The ‘Amateur Ancestor’ project was inspired by the ‘Long Time Project’, which was set up by Beatrice Pembroke and Ella Saltmarshe, and puts into practice the belief that culture can play an active role in bringing about radical and necessary system changes by creating emotional, memorable experiences that shine a different light on our heritage - and underpin the need for action. Justine was commissioned to create an ‘Amateur Ancestor’ tour of the Great North Museum for young people by the staff at Tyne and Wear Museum and Archives in 2023. The brief was to use the existing museum collections and displays to cultivate long time thinking, encourage care for past and future generations, and create empathy for other species. By encouraging us all to practice thinking like good ancestors – and thinking about the legacy we are leaving for future generations, Justine hopes we can reframe ourselves our role as ancestors and grow our capacity to care for the future and take responsibility for generations to come. Our chat is based around some of the key objects that she used in her tour and gives a flavour of how the tours are both designed and presented. If you’d like to see images of the objects that Justine and I talk about in our walking tour of the Great North Museum Hancock, then these are included on the project blog and are also on the Cultural Peeps social media channels. Thanks to Justine for the wonderful and eye-opening day and I hope you enjoy Part 2 of this episode! Links: Justine Boussard: https://www.justineboussard.co.uk/ The Amateur Ancestor: https://www.justineboussard.co.uk/portfolio/amateur-ancestor-tours The Long Time Project: https://www.thelongtimeproject.org/ The Long Time: Beatrice Pembroke & Ella Saltmarshe: https://medium.com/@thelongtimeinquiry/the-long-time-3383b43d42ab The Long Time Academy: https://www.thelongtimeacademy.com/ Roman Krznaric: https://www.romankrznaric.com/ Moral Imaginations: https://www.moralimaginations.com/ Great North Museum: https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ Climate Museum UK: https://climatemuseumuk.org/ Bridgette McKenzie: https://bridgetmckenzie.uk/ Great North Museum – Great North Nights: https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/great-north-nights

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• Episode 43 (Part 1) - Justine Boussard (Curator & Creative Producer)

  Welcome to another 2-part episode of the cultural Peeps podcast. This week’s guest is Justine Bussard, a curator and producer with a decade’s worth of experience working on design and craft exhibitions, artist-led public engagement, research and creative programming.  The first part of our chat focuses on Justine’s career journey so far, whilst the second part is a walking chat around the Great North Museum Hancock in Newcastle and focuses on her current project ‘The Amateur Ancestor’ – this project is based around commissioned tours of existing museum collections, institutions and spaces which are designed to cultivate long time thinking, care for past and future generations, and create empathy for other species.   By encouraging us to practice thinking like good ancestors – and thinking about the legacy we are leaving for future generations, Justine hopes we can reframe ourselves and our role as ancestors and grow our capacity to care for the future and take responsibility for generations to come. This was a fascinating pair of conversations which led to me explore lots of the different texts and projects we discussed throughout the day – I’ve included links to as many of these as possible in the podcast notes – and if you’d like to see images of the objects that Justine and I talk about in our walking tour of the Great North Museum Hancock in Part 2, then these are included on the project blog (www.culturakpeeps.wordpress.com) and are also featured on the cultural peeps social media channels. Links: Justine Boussard: https://www.justineboussard.co.uk/ The Amateur Ancestor: https://www.justineboussard.co.uk/portfolio/amateur-ancestor-tours The Long Time Project: https://www.thelongtimeproject.org/ The Long Time: Beatrice Pembroke & Ella Saltmarshe: https://medium.com/@thelongtimeinquiry/the-long-time-3383b43d42ab The Long Time Academy: https://www.thelongtimeacademy.com/ Roman Krznaric: https://www.romankrznaric.com/ Moral Imaginations: https://www.moralimaginations.com/ Great North Museum: https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ Design Museum: https://designmuseum.org/ Science Museum: https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/home Victoria & Albert Museum: https://www.vam.ac.uk/ Climate Museum UK: https://climatemuseumuk.org/ Bridgette McKenzie: https://bridgetmckenzie.uk/ Natural History Museum: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/ Royal College of Arts: https://www.rca.ac.uk/ Crafts Council: https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/ Daniel Charney: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielcharny/?originalSubdomain=uk

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• Episode 42 - Joe Hufton (Artistic Director and CEO of November Club/ Freelancer)

  This episode features 2 chats with Joe Hufton, The Artistic Director and CEO of November Club, An award-winning performing-arts charity who tell original stories and work in unusual places and spaces. The first of our chats took place last summer, in June 2023 and the second is a more recent catch up, recorded in July 2024 and was an opportunity to find out what Joe had been doing over the last 12 months. I first came across Joe’s work at Woodhorn Museum in 2019, through a production called ‘First Footing’ which was a journey through the past 100 years of Woodhorn’s unique heritage as a former colliery site, told through story, art installations, theatre and dance. More recently, I saw November Club’s site-specific show ‘The Unlocked Door’ at the National Trust’s Seaton Delaval Hall in November 2022 – That production used innovative storytelling and theatre to explore some of the lesser-known narratives from the Hall's past. In our first chat we talk about Joe’s journey in site-specific theatre, working across the world for companies such as Les Enfants Terribles, Immersive Cult and Secret Cinema. In the second chat we talk about Joe's recent work on the BBC/ Cbeebies' Rainbow Adventure and the Taskmaster Live Experience. Links November Club: https://www.novemberclub.org.uk/ Seaton Delaval Hall: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/north-east/seaton-delaval-hall The Unlocked Door (November Club Production at Seaton Delaval Hall): https://www.novemberclub.org.uk/previous-work/the-unlocked-door Damien Cruden – Alnwick Playhouse: https://alnwickplayhouse.co.uk/ Slung Low: https://www.slunglow.org/ Punch Drunk: https://www.punchdrunk.com/ LAMDA: https://www.lamda.ac.uk/ Secret Cinema: https://www.secretcinema.com/ Secret Cinema (Back to the Future): https://www.secretcinema.com/productions/back-to-the-future Les Enfant Terrible: https://lesenfantsterribles.co.uk/  Alices Adventures Underground: https://lesenfantsterribles.co.uk/shows/alices-adventures-underground-3/ George Perrin (Theatre Director/ Coach): https://www.george-perrin.com/about

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