Discover Central – Details, episodes & analysis

For this special, bonus episode of the Discover Central podcast, we’re joined by Central students and alumni Will Sebag-Montefiore (Just These, Please) and Adwitha Arumugam, Sam Law and Aadar Malik (The Situationalists) to discuss the process of taking their shows, ‘Honestly No Pressure Either Way’ and ‘Dreamliner’ to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

‘Honestly No Pressure Either Way’ plays at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe through 29 August at 19.00 at Gilded Balloon Teviot.

You can find out more about Just These, Please at their website or by booking to see their production, ‘Honestly No Pressure Either Way’ at the Edinburgh Fringe Website.  

Follow Just These, Please and Will Sebag-Montefiore on Instagram.

‘Dreamliner’ plays at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe through 21 August at 18.30 at C ARTS.

You can find out more about The Situationalists by visiting their website or book to see their production ‘Dreamliner’ at the Edinburgh Fringe Website.  ‘Dreamliner’ will also play as a part of the C ARTS Digital programme in December 2022.  Find out more on the C Arts website.  

Follow The Situationalists on Instagram.

** You can access a Dyslexia friendly version of this episode.**

Discover Central is hosted by Shaun Northover and produced and edited by Megan Hunter, Shaun Northover and Scott Bellamy.  Main podcast image by Patrick Baldwin.  Theme music ‘Emotive Technology’ is by High Street Music and has been used with permission thanks to Premium Beats.  With thanks to colleagues, students and alumni of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Discover Central Host Shaun Northover 

Just These, Please - 'Honestly No Pressure Either Way'

The Situationalists - 'Dreamliners'

On the final episode of the third series of Discover Central host Victoria Edwards, Central's Access and Participation Manager, interviews alumni Tim Chaundy and Maame Atuah to talk about all things Central Outreach.

Tim Chaundy is the Curriculum Leader in Performing Arts and Music at City and Islington College, which is part of Capital City College Group, the biggest group of further education colleges in London. City and Islington College offers an extensive range of academic and vocational courses for all ages, including a range of courses in performing arts, music, art, design and fashion. City and Islington College - and Tim - were one of the Central's first Outreach partners. Over the last five years, they have worked together to provide City and Islington College students with a range of workshops, free auditions and tickets to Central's productions. Tim is also an alumnus of Central, having graduated from the BA (Hons) Drama, Applied Theatre and Education Course.

Maame Atuah is an alumna of Central's BA (Hons) Drama, Applied Theatre and Education course and now works at Central in the Student Recruitment and Outreach team as Student Recruitment and Access Administrator. As part of her role, Maame works closely with Victoria Edwards to deliver the School's Outreach programme. She also recently helped to run the Outreach project Small Axe: Big Talks, which encouraged participants to critically explore themes from Steve McQueen's Small Axe films 'Lovers Rock' and 'Education' through their participation in movement, creative writing and devising workshops. Outside of Central, Maame is the Co-Founder of Diversity School Initiative, a nonprofit organisation that was set up to tackle under representation and diversity in UK drama schools.

You can find out more about City and Islington College by visiting their website.

You can find out more about Central's Outreach Programme by visiting the Central website, where you can also read about recent activities including Small Axe: Big Talks.

**You can access a Dyslexia-friendly transcript of this episode.**

Discover Central is hosted by Victoria Edwards and produced and edited by Megan Hunter and Scott Bellamy.  Main podcast image by Patrick Baldwin.  Theme music “Emotive Technology” is by High Street Music and has been used with permission thanks to Premium Beats.  With thanks to colleagues and students at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Host Victoria Edwards

Tim Chaundy

Maame Atuah

For the second episode of series 2 of the Discover Central Podcast, host Scott Bellamy sits down with Daron Oram, Central's Principal Lecturer in Voice, whose work and research into anti-discriminatory training practices have led him to develop a range of approaches that challenge some traditional practices within actor training.  These approaches help to enhance the experiences of student actors who come from diverse backgrounds, as well as those who face additional challenges in engaging with voice and actor training.

Central’s Students' Union Welfare Officer Kirsty McMunn also features. 

Visit Central's website, where you can find out more about the School's BA (Hons) Acting Collaborative Devised Theatre and the MA/MFA Voice Studies: Teaching and Coaching courses.  

You can also find out more about Daron Oram's work and research by exploring his publications, some of which were discussed in this episode: 

• Decentering Listening: Toward an Anti-Discriminatory Approach to Accent and Dialect Training for the Actor
• The heuristic pedagogue: navigating myths and truths in pursuit of an equitable approach to voice training
• De-Colonising Listening: Toward an Equitable Approach to Speech Training for the Actor
• Finding a Way: More Tales of Dyslexia and Dyspraxia in Psychophysical Actor Training
• Losing sight of land: tales of dyslexia and dyspraxia in psychophysical actor training
• Research and practice in Voice Studies: searching for a methodology

Follow this link to access the video mentioned by Scott in the episode, Training Actors who have Visual Impairments at Central, which explores work being undertaken on the School's BA (Hons) Acting Collaborative and Devised Theatre course to ensure equitable access  to students with visual impairments.  An audio described video is also available.

**You can access a Dyslexia-friendly transcript of this episode**

Discover Central is hosted by Scott Bellamy and produced and edited by Megan Hunter.  Image by Patrick Baldwin.  Theme music "Emotive Technology" is by High Street Music and has been used with permission thanks to Premium Beats.  With thanks to colleagues and students at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.  

Discover Central's host, Scott Bellamy

Daron Oram at work with Central Students

For the first episode of series 2 of the Discover Central Podcast, host Scott Bellamy sits down with Dr Javeria Shah (Central’s Inclusion Specialist, Programme Leader for the Learning Centre, Lecturer on the MA Acting for Screen course and the Founding Chair of the School‘s Global Majority Staff Network) and her research collaborator from Leeds Beckett University Dr Shona Hunter to discuss their work and their programme of events, Black History Interruptions.  

Central’s Student Union Black and Minority Ethnic Officer Monica Beckles-Strachan also features. 

More information on Dr Shah's work with the Social Performance Network can be found on its website, where you can also find episodes of her podcast 'Off Script!'.

You can find out more about Dr Hunter's White Spaces Project on the Leeds Beckett University Website, where you can also learn more about the Centre for Race Education and Decoloniality.  Or visit the dedicated White Spaces Network webpage for further information about Shona's work.

Visit the Central website to find out more about Central, including the recent staff and student programme of events for Black History Month 2020 which was discussed in this episode.

**You can access a Dyslexia-friendly transcript of this episode**

Discover Central is hosted by Scott Bellamy and produced and edited by Megan Hunter.  Image by Patrick Baldwin.  Theme music "Emotive Technology" is by High Street Music and has been used with permission thanks to Premium Beats.  With thanks to colleagues and students at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.  

Discover Central's host, Scott Bellamy

Dr Javeria Shah and Dr Shona Hunter at events for #BHInterruptions 2019

On the sixth and final episode of season one of the Discover Central podcast, host Scott Bellamy talks to PhD candidates Alma Prelec and Gabriel Vivas-Martinez about their research and their roles as curators and co-Artistic Directors of the 2020 Theatre Times International Online Theatre Festival.  They also discuss the future of digital performance and festivals, and consider the potential impact of Coronavirus on theatre productions.

We also hear from final year Acting student Phillip Olagoke with his top tip for looking after yourself in lockdown.

The International Online Theatre Festival is an online theatre festival showcasing the work of diverse global artists and hosted digitally by The Theatre Times with support from Central and Digital Theatre+.  The theme of this year's festival was ‘in a world where you can be anything...’.  Running throughout May 2020, it aimed to create an online space that blurred geographical boundaries, rejected simplifications about borders and national identities and brought audiences together as a community to think about what it means to be human. 

All productions were free to watch from anywhere in the world.  

Find out more about the International Online Theatre Festival by visiting the Central website or by visiting the website of The Theatre Times.

Learn more about Research at Central, including our Research Degree programmes.

**You can access a Dyslexia-friendly transcript of this episode.**

Discover Central is hosted by Scott Bellamy and produced and edited by Megan Hunter.  Image by Patrick Baldwin.  Theme music "Emotive Technology" is by High Street Music and has been used with permission thanks to Premium Beats.  With thanks to colleagues and students at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.  

Discover Central host Scott Bellamy

Alma Prelec

Gabriel Vivas-Martinez

On the fifth episode of the Discover Central podcast, host Scott Bellamy talks with graduates Lara McIvor and Lama Amine about their work with Lebanon and Jordan based non profit organisation Seenaryo.  

We also hear from MA Creative Producing student Viviana Flores-Rayo with her top tip for looking after yourself in lockdown.

This episode was recorded on Wednesday 29 July 2020, before the disaster in Beirut.  We are relieved to share that Lama, Lara, their colleagues at Seenaryo and their participants in Lebanon are all safe.  Our thoughts are with the people of Lebanon at this time.

Lara McIvor is a graduate of Central's MA Applied Theatre course, and Lama Amine is a graduate of Central's MFA Movement: Directing and Teaching course.  They live in Jordan and Lebanon respectively, where they work for Seenaryo, a charity which runs a year round programme of high quality arts and education for refugees and the communities that host them.

Together, their team worked with 150 Seenaryo participants in Lebanon and Jordan to create and film a special music video during lockdown, which premiered in June as part of Refugee Week.

You can find out more about Seenaryo's work by visiting their website.  You can also watch the music video that was created with participants for Little Bird Song.

**You can access a Dyslexia-friendly transcript of this episode.**

Discover Central is hosted by Scott Bellamy and produced and edited by Megan Hunter.  Image by Patrick Baldwin.  Theme music "Emotive Technology" is by High Street Music and has been used with permission thanks to Premium Beats.  With thanks to colleagues and students at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.  

Discover Central host Scott Bellamy

Lara McIvor

Lama Amine

On the fourth episode of Discover Central, host Scott Bellamy talks with Central's Nick Moran (Senior Lecturer, Course Leader of Production Lighting and Lighting Design) about the 2020 BA (Hons) Theatre Practice Exhibition.  

The annual exhibition provides a chance to share and celebrate the accomplishments of graduating students from across all of the courses that make up Central's Theatre Practice programme, a degree programme offering a deep understanding of the collaborative process of performance design and production. 

This is the first year that Central’s Theatre Practice exhibition has been presented in an entirely digital format.

We also catch up with Theatre Practice student Pedro Pendao, who shares his top tip for staying healthy and looking after yourself in lockdown.

You can find out more about Nick Moran's work, the Theatre Practice programme at Central and the Production Lighting and Lighting Design courses of which Nick is the Course Leader by visiting the Central website.

You can also visit the 2020 BA (Hons) Theatre Practice Exhibition online and help us celebrate the work of our graduating students.

**You can access a Dyslexia-friendly transcript of this episode.**

Discover Central is hosted by Scott Bellamy and produced and edited by Megan Hunter.  Image by Patrick Baldwin.  Theme music "Emotive Technology" is by High Street Music and has been used with permission thanks to Premium Beats.  With thanks to colleagues and students at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.  

Discover Central's host, Scott Bellamy

Nick Moran

On the third episode of Discover Central, host Scott Bellamy talks with Central's Dr Farokh Soltani (Lecturer, Writing for Broadcast Media and Performance) about working through writer's block and tapping into your creativity in lockdown.  Farokh also discusses a unique playwriting project that Central's second year students are working on with Little Fish Theatre.

We also hear from Theatre Practice student Jack Freestone who offers his tips for staying healthy and connected in lockdown.

You can find out more about Farokh and his work, as well as the Drama, Applied Theatre and Education and the Writing for Performance courses at Central by visiting our website.  You can also find out more about Little Fish Theatre or visit the Writing 4 Performance project website created by Central second year company B-612 Productions.

**You can access a Dyslexia-friendly transcript of this episode here; with thanks to Karim Ghazzal, Darius Gervinskas and Liv Partridge for their time and effort in putting this together.**

Discover Central is hosted by Scott Bellamy and produced and edited by Megan Hunter.  Image by Patrick Baldwin.  Theme music "Emotive Technology" is by High Street Music and has been used with permission thanks to Premium Beats.  With thanks to colleagues and students at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.  

Discover Central's host, Scott Bellamy

Dr Farokh Soltani

On the second episode of Discover Central, host Scott Bellamy talks with Central's Jessica Bowles (Principal Lecturer, Course Leader MA/MFA Creative Producing) about the ways her international cohort of students are collaborating and working together during lockdown, the unexpected benefits of teaching and learning in a digital space, and what changes this period of pause and reflection might have on producing and on the future of the wider performance industries.

We also hear from Central's MA Music Theatre student Clara Coslett with her tips for staying healthy and looking after yourself in lockdown.

You can find out more about Jess and her work, as well as the MA/MFA Creative Producing course at Central by visiting our website. 

**You can access a Dyslexia-friendly transcript of this episode here; with thanks to Karim Ghazzal, Darius Gervinskas and Liv Partridge for their time and effort in putting this together.**

Discover Central is hosted by Scott Bellamy and produced and edited by Megan Hunter.  Image by Patrick Baldwin.  Theme music "Emotive Technology" is by High Street Music and has been used with permission thanks to Premium Beats.  With thanks to colleagues and students at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.  

Discover Central's host, Scott Bellamy

Jessica Bowles

On this first episode of Discover Central, host Scott Bellamy talks with Central's Dr Nicola Abraham (Lecturer, Applied Theatre Practices) and Dr Selina Busby (Principal Lecturer, Course Leader MA Applied Theatre, Course Leader PG Cert Applied Theatre with Young People) about the innovative work they are undertaking, together with Central students, to support the wider community both in the UK and globally during COVID-19 lockdown.

We also hear from Central students Darius Gervinskas and Moneka Prato about projects they've been working on which are making a difference in the lives of isolated, at risk and sheltering individuals as well as to support front line workers in the NHS.

More information on Dr Abraham's work with the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust can be found on Central's website, where you can also read about projects with the staff and patients on Auchi Ward and listen to the immersive radio drama which was created at the start of lockdown.

You can read more about the Coronavirus Time Capsule by visiting Company Three's website, or you can learn more about Dr Busby's work in lockdown using Applied Theatre with students and colleagues around the world by visiting the International Applied Theatre Project website. 

In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Central’s staff, students and alumni have spearheaded a number of initiatives to make a difference.  Visit the Central website to discover more.

**You can access a Dyslexia-friendly transcript of this episode here; with thanks to Karim Ghazzal, Darius Gervinskas and Liv Partridge for their time and effort in putting this together.**

Discover Central is hosted by Scott Bellamy and produced and edited by Megan Hunter.  Image by Patrick Baldwin.  Theme music "Emotive Technology" is by High Street Music and has been used with permission thanks to Premium Beats.  With thanks to colleagues and students at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.  

Discover Central's host, Scott Bellamy

Dr Nicola Abraham

Dr Selina Busby