OffScript

Dash Arts
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OffScript takes on big issues through an artistic lens. Hear artists, filmmakers, musicians, theatre makers and more explore the challenges facing society today, and follow the journey towards Dash Arts own productions. In each episode Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton hosts conversations delving into ideas that expand our own understanding of the world and context of our productions, and continue to shape the cultural landscape worldwide. “A podcast which thinks about the world through art” — Miranda Sawyer, The Observer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 1d ago

    Songs of Solidarity: Dr. Florian Scheding

    “Mobility, movement, migration—these aren't just things that happen to music. It is really very much a part of what music itself is.” Josephine is joined by Dr. Florian Scheding, Associate Professor of Music and Migration at the University of Bristol. Together, they explore how music acts not merely as a passive reflection of human movement, but as an active force capable of crossing physical boundaries and temporal divides. From the exile compositions of Hanns Eisler to Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time composed inside a prisoner-of-war camp, Florian shares with us how mobility is fundamental to music itself. The conversation addresses the ethical imperative of keeping displaced voices audible, the barriers facing migrant artists today, and why migration lies at the very heart of human culture and history. Here’s the link to do your listening homework set by Florian : To the Little Radio by Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht ℗ 1965 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Folkways Records. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwCLHi96CfU In this episode we hear from: Josephine Burton - Artistic Director of Dash Arts Dr Florian Scheding - Associate Professor in Music and Migration at the University of Bristol Songs of Solidarity, is a PROJEKT UTOPIA and Dash Arts co-production. We’re currently in the research and development stage co-produced with the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, in partnership with the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, School of Advanced Studies, Arts Council England, Roundhouse London, Asylum Welcome and Unbound Philanthropy. Our gratitude goes to all the wonderful international artists, academics and participants who enriched our project. Find out more at: www.projektutopia.org www.dasharts.org.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Songs of Solidarity: Dr. Florian Scheding

  2. Oct 6

    Songs of Solidarity: Dame Marina Warner

    "We don't need fortresses; we need ports." In this episode, Josephine Burton sits down with one of the world's most brilliant minds on myth and belonging, Dame Marina Warner. From the haunting songs of our childhood to the timeless epic of Gilgamesh, Marina explores the radical idea that storytelling isn't just entertainment but survival. Recorded in Marina’s beautiful, art-filled home, this conversation opens with her mother’s courageous post-war journey to England. Discover the extraordinary story behind Stories in Transit, Marina’s work with young refugees using the power of ancient epics to reclaim their identities, break through language barriers, and turn the tide on "us vs. them" narratives. Whether you're curious about how ancient myths are playing out in today's political landscape or looking for a reason to keep believing in the power of art, this episode is a masterclass in empathy, resistance, and the stories that bind us together. In this episode we mention: Books: Sanctuary by Marina Warner; No Friend But the Mountains by Behrouz Boochani.Projects: Stories in Transit; Giocarenda (Fula for solidarity/play).Theatrical & Film Works: Hadestown (Anaïs Mitchell) and Pasolini’s Oedipus Rex. In this episode we hear from: Josephine Burton - Artistic Director of Dash Arts Dame Marina Warner - writer and historian Songs of Solidarity, is a Dash Arts and PROJEKT UTOPIA co-production. We’re currently in the research and development stage co-produced with the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, in partnership with the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, Arts Council England, School of Advanced Studies, Roundhouse London, Asylum Welcome and Unbound Philanthropy. Our gratitude goes to all the wonderful international artists, academics and participants who enriched our project. Find out more at: www.dasharts.org.uk www.projektutopia.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Songs of Solidarity: Dame Marina Warner

  3. Sep 16

    Songs of Solidarity: Elaha Soroor

    What does it take to reclaim your voice when your country wants to silence it - and then take it on stage? This is the second in our Songs of Solidarity series - conversations with artists, academics, writers and thinkers whose lives and work illuminate the themes at the heart of our new production: migration, displacement, survival, and the stories we tell to make sense of all three. In this episode, Josephine Burton is joined by Elaha Soroor: singer, composer, and one of the most compelling artists to have emerged from the Afghan diaspora. Elaha began her career as a celebrated musician in Afghanistan. She was forced to leave. In London, she found her way back to music and used it to speak about the lives of Afghan women. This is a raw and honest conversation: about survival, about what it costs to make art under threat, and about the particular power of music to say what other forms cannot. Elaha talks about the inspiration behind her latest album Our Freedoms Must Be Won, her ongoing collaboration with Kefaya - whose singular sound blends Afghan folk with synth-rock, post-punk and jazz psychedelia - and what resistance actually looks and feels like when it is lived rather than theorised. Elaha's music: youtube.com/@elahasoroormusic In this episode: Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts Elaha Soroor - Singer and Composer Songs of Solidarity is a Projekt Utopia and Dash Arts co-production, currently in research and development, co-produced with the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, in partnership with the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, the School of Advanced Study, Roundhouse London, Asylum Welcome and Unbound Philanthropy. Find out more at: www.projektutopia.org www.dasharts.org.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Songs of Solidarity: Elaha Soroor

  4. Sep 2

    Songs of Solidarity: Making Epics Epic

    How do you create an epic for the modern world? This is the start of our Songs of Solidarity mini-series; Josephine Burton and Maria Aberg take us behind the scenes as they discuss the journey of the last 18 months—from researching ancient epic traditions with academics to interviewing those with lived experiences of migration. Join us for a conversation about the art of "future-making," resisting traditional singular narratives, and the exciting, messy process of creating something new. Songs of Solidarity, is a PROJEKT UTOPIA and Dash Arts co-production. We’re currently in the research and development stage co-produced with the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, in partnership with the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, School of Advanced Studies, Roundhouse London, Asylum Welcome and Unbound Philanthropy. We are particularly grateful to Fiona Macintosh for her support and encouragement throughout. Our gratitude goes to all the wonderful international artists, academics and participants who enriched our project. In this episode we hear from: Josephine Burton - Artistic Director of Dash Arts Maria Aberg - Artistic Director of PROJEKT UTOPIA And voices from our R&D in Oxford in December 2025: Leo Boix, Sabrina Mahfouz, Saili Katebe and Anna Sulan Masing.    Our gratitude goes to all the wonderful international artists, academics and participants who enriched our project. Find out more at: www.projektutopia.org www.dasharts.org.uk We have run several phases of R&D over 2024-2026, co-produced with the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, in partnership with the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland, School of Advanced Studies, Roundhouse London, Asylum Welcome and Unbound Philanthropy. We are particularly grateful to Fiona Macintosh for her support and encouragement throughout. Our gratitude goes to all the wonderful international artists, academics and participants who enriched our project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Songs of Solidarity: Making Epics Epic

  5. Jul 29

    At Loggerheads with Reality (Part 2): Leonora Carrington

    Join Dash Arts at the Freud Museum in London as we delve into “Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal.” Curator Vanessa Boni guides us through Carrington’s turbulent early years—from her life with Max Ernst in France to her wartime breakdown and confinement in a Spanish sanatorium. We explore the haunting "Villa Pilar" and sketchbooks born from crisis, linking Carrington’s mythic imagery to Freud’s own underworld motifs. This episode uncovers the alchemical threads connecting two 20th-century icons in the very room where Freud once slept. This episode is part of Dash Arts' series At Loggerheads with Reality - an ongoing exploration of creativity, mental health and the radical act of making art, and part of the development for its production of The Degenerates.  To hear the previous episodes in this mini series head to www.dasharts.org.uk/podcast.  Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi  In this episode we hear from: Josephine Burton - Artistic Director of Dash Arts Vanessa Boni - Curator Friends of Dash Arts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    At Loggerheads with Reality (Part 2): Leonora Carrington

  6. Jul 15

    ALBION: CLOSING TIME

    Three years. 80 workshops. One thousand speeches. One pub. As Our Public House takes its final bow, so too does Albion; our long exploration of who we are as a country, and who we might yet become. In this closing episode, Josephine reflects on the whole journey: from a tent in a field at Latitude Festival in 2019 to stages across England, from the first hesitant speeches in community halls and prison workshops to songs performed live every night on stage by a cast who made those words their own. She's joined by composer Jonathan Walton, who talks about the extraordinary challenge of finding music inside real people's words and what it means to turn a speech written in a working men's club or a prison into a song that stops an audience in its tracks. And together with several of the speech-makers and audiences, they ask: what does it mean to have been heard? What have we learned about the country we live in? And what happens next? Find out more on the Dash Arts website: dasharts.org.uk/our-public-house Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi. You'll also hear extracts of I Dream Of A Bin and Woman Like Me by Jonathan Walton, arranged by Yaniv Fridel. Our Public House was written by Barney Norris. Created and directed by Josephine Burton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    ALBION: CLOSING TIME

  7. Jun 30

    ALBION: TONI MURPHY AND ALAN FINLAYSON

    In this episode of OffScript, Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton heads out into the land itself and into the long, tangled history of who has felt at home there, and who has had to fight to claim it. Join us to explore connection, place, and the ever-evolving landscape of English identity. First, she talks with Toni Murphy, founder of Touching Grass, a community creating space for queer women, trans and non-binary people of colour to experience the outdoors as somewhere that belongs to them. Toni describes the hiking trips, camping and the careful acts of presence in landscapes that haven't always felt welcoming.  Then Josephine takes the longer view. What does history tell us about who has always assumed the countryside is theirs and what have people done when that assumption has been challenged? With Professor Alan Finlayson, one of the UK's leading political and social thinkers, she traces the deep roots of England's relationship with its land, all the way to the present and to Andy Burnham MP's recent journey down from the north to Westminster, reclaiming something as he went. Find more information on Touching Grass and their latest events: www.touchgrasscamp.com Our Public House arrives in London this week at the Marylebone Theatre for its final run, after a national tour through Leeds, Prescot, Coventry and Sheffield. Find out more This episode is part of Dash Arts' Albion series - an ongoing exploration of what it means to be English today. Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    ALBION: TONI MURPHY AND ALAN FINLAYSON

  8. Jun 17

    ALBION: NEIL BUTTERY

    In this episode of OffScript, Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton is joined by Dr. Neil Buttery—food historian, cook, and the voice behind The British Food History Podcast—for a delicious and wide-ranging conversation about the edible stories that define us. Josephine and Neil trace the history of English food from the kitchen outwards, exploring how our national palate has been shaped by invasion, trade, and social change. They discuss how the ingredients on our plates reflect the class fault lines of history, the evolution of the "traditional" English diet, and why food is perhaps the most intimate way to understand the changing identity of a nation. They talk about the culinary "soft power" of the dinner table and who gets to define what constitutes "proper" English food. From the voracious appetite of early global trade to the regional dishes that have stood the test of time, they unpick why our hunger for new flavours, far from diluting our traditions, is precisely what keeps our food culture vital and alive. Plus Neil designs a small plates menu which tells a story of English food today  And because the conversation sits alongside Our Public House, Dash Arts' new touring theatre production, a state-of-the-nation play set in a pub, Josephine and Neil discuss the role of the pub as part of our culinary history! The British Food History Podcast can be found here: britishfoodhistory.com Our Public House is currently touring England. Find out more at https://www.dasharts.org.uk/our-public-house This episode is part of Dash Arts' Albion series — an ongoing exploration of what it means to be English today. Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    ALBION: NEIL BUTTERY
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About

OffScript takes on big issues through an artistic lens. Hear artists, filmmakers, musicians, theatre makers and more explore the challenges facing society today, and follow the journey towards Dash Arts own productions. In each episode Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton hosts conversations delving into ideas that expand our own understanding of the world and context of our productions, and continue to shape the cultural landscape worldwide. “A podcast which thinks about the world through art” — Miranda Sawyer, The Observer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Dash Arts
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    94
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    OffScript

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