OffScript

In this episode of We Are Free to Change the World, Dash Arts’ Artistic Director Josephine Burton is joined by the legendary artist Peter Kennard.

Inspired by Hannah Arendt’s belief in our freedom to begin anew, Josephine and Peter examine how art becomes a form of political action—shifting public consciousness, exposing injustice, and giving shape to the possible futures.

They discuss the challenges of making radical work in...

“[Dash] reaches beyond the creation of its work and its interpretation of human experience. You go to places that others don't.”

For Dash Arts’ 20th anniversary, OffScript host Josephine Burton is joined by one of the UK’s leading champions of justice, Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC.

Helena and Josephine explore how the arts and the law shift public imagination, from movements for social justice to the urgent need for transiti...

In the second episode of our mini-series, "We Are Free to Change the World," inspired by Hannah Arendt's call to action, Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton is joined by Labour MP for Norwich South, Clive Lewis. 

From his House of Commons office, Clive Lewis discusses the struggle for freedom within contemporary politics. The conversation explores his belief that the "only real freedom we have is the freedom to......

Through a series of live and digital conversations - we’re exploring how artists and activists challenge, inspire, and motivate us to see the world differently. 

Join Josephine Burton as she sits down with musician and artist Ian Bruce and campaigner Clare Farrell to discuss creativity, activism, and the courage to imagine radical change. In this groundbreaking episode, hear how artists are transforming protest, challenging...

In part 2 we’re looking at the impact of politics on the most recent productions from Dash Arts. We explore our 2025 production of The Reckoning, which brought real-life testimonies from Ukraine to the stage, and the upcoming 2026 production of Our Public House, inspired by speeches from people across England. 

Marina Pesenti, former Director of the Ukrainian Institute, looks back at how more than a decade of artistic resea...

In this special two-part series, we're celebrating Dash Arts' 20th birthday by looking back at how politics has impacted our work over the past two decades.

In episode one, join Josephine Burton as she explores how artists and creative activists respond to the urgency of our times. Hear from storyteller Sophie Austin on our production of One Thousand and One Nights, which challenged preconceived notions of Arabic culture, and fr...

From working with rappers in Beiruti basements to gathering musicians from all the conservatoires of ex-Soviet Republics in the mountains of Georgia and wild late nights in a tent with the Dash Arts Dacha, this episode celebrates the music and sounds woven through the last 20 years of Dash Arts.

Josephine Burton acts as a guide across Dash Arts’ many musical projects, sharing stories and music from Dash’s multi-year seasons of a...

After 32 performances, more than 1,700 bowls of salad and a clutch of four and five star reviews; our 5 week opening run of The Reckoning has drawn to a close. 

In this episode we wanted to share with you some of the incredible voices and stories who joined us at Arcola in Dalston in calling for justice for Ukraine.

Written by Anastasiia Kosodii and Josephine Burton, and directed by Burton, The Reckoning is a vivid and p...

This month Dash’s brand new production, The Reckoning, opens at The Arcola Theatre in Dalston. Co-Writer and Director Josephine Burton gives you a taste of what to expect from this vivid and powerful new play about war, survival and the fragile trust between those who uncover the truth and those who must live with it.

Book your tickets for The Reckoning on the Arcola Theatre’s website.

Based on real events within The Reckonin...

What is the role of the artist when faced with social and political unrest? 

This month as protests take place across the world, we’ve been thinking of the long history between art and protest. Every day this month Georgians, Turks, Americans and Serbians are on the streets speaking out against the country’s ruling governments.

At Dash Arts we make art that challenges the world we all live in and this month we open our ...

Join us round the kitchen table with acclaimed Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules and Dash’s Artistic Director Josephine Burton as they weave together cooking and storytelling in our latest production.

Dash’s new production, The Reckoning, is a vivid and powerful new play about war, survival and the fragile trust between those who uncover the truth and those who must live with it.

Co-writers Anastasiia Kosodii and Josephine Burton crea...

What does it mean to be at loggerheads with reality?

"If a person who is at loggerheads with reality possesses an artistic gift... he can transform his phantasies into artistic creations instead of symptoms."

— Sigmund Freud, Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1910)

In this episode of the Dash Arts Podcast, Artistic Director Josephine Burton dives into two powerful exhibitions that challenge how we understand women, art, and me...

Join us in the rehearsal room as we craft a new epic - an origin story that celebrates and redefines the migration experience. 

Songs of Solidarity (the current working title for Dash Arts and Projekt Europa’s new project) brings together artists, researchers, and refugees to co-create a powerful music-theatre performance.

In this episode we look at what makes epics, epic. We explore ancient epics like Kalevala, Gilgamesh, and t...

How can the arts help us to encounter others?

In December 2024, we were part of a fantastic live discussion at the RSA (Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) discussing how the arts can unlock unheard voices. This podcast brings you some highlights from the event with some extra insights and updates from our Dash Arts Artistic Director Josephine Burton.

Hosted by Tom Stratton (Chief of Staff at RSA), our Artist...

“All good art is an attempt to wrestle with truth”

In the fourth episode on the journey towards our production, The Reckoning, Dash’s Artistic Director, Josephine Burton is in conversation with Author and Playwright Gillian Slovo discussing the power of theatre and the responsibilities involved in bringing real people’s stories to the stage. As Dash Arts prepares to produce a theatre production rooted in the testimonies of surv...

In the third episode on the journey towards our production, The Reckoning, Dash’s Artistic Director, Josephine Burton is in conversation with Rory Finnin, Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge. Interspersed by some short performances from the developing script, the two discuss the creative process behind the making of the production, rooted in testimonies taken from survivors from the Russian war in Ukraine....

More than half the world's population is voting in elections this year. Dash Arts dives into one of those elections, speaking to artists in Georgia about how they are responding to the political turmoil in their country. The ruling party, Georgian Dream, is fighting for an unprecedented fourth term at the end of October 2024 and continues to be accused of silencing free speech, taking control of arts and culture and using fear to i...

“I’ve long nurtured a dream to get out and finally explore what it was about the forests and seas of Laulasmaa, ‘the land of song’, in Estonia that inspired Arvo Pärt and so many musicians.”

Join Dash’s Artistic Director, Josephine Burton as she travels to the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa, Estonia to investigate the mystical musical relationship between nature and the people of Estonia

From the Arvo Pärt Centre Josephine wan...

On 4th July millions of UK voters will take to the polls. Candidates are vying for our attention through speeches and debates. In this special episode Artistic Director, Josephine Burton, catches up with four former speech-making workshop participants across the country on how they are experiencing the election campaign, and analyses our political candidates and the quality of their speechmaking with Alan Finlayson, Professor of Po...