OffScript

“[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 transitional justice in Ukraine and beyond.She also reflects on her decades-long groundbreaking work in fighting for human rights, women’s rights, and miscarriages of justice—and why jury trials are essential to any healthy democracy.Get your tickets for the live events for We Are Free To Change The World by going to the Dash Arts website : dasharts.org.uk/we-are-free Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi 

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... find out about the world around us," and his concerns about the "grim authoritarianism and a culture of fear" stifling creativity and genuine engagement in the Labour Party.Join Josephine and Clive as they discuss the essential role of imagination and art in shaping political visions—from science fiction to the NHS, and the loss of social democratic parties’ ability to “dream big.” They also explore the difference between optimism and pragmatic hope as a driving force for political change, Clive’s experience as a participant in Dash Arts’ speechmaking workshops and the need for collaboration and solidarity to counter increasing polarisation and fear.Get your tickets for the live events for We Are Free To Change The World by going to the Dash Arts website : https://www.dasharts.org.uk/we-are-free Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi 

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 systemic barriers, and creating spaces for people to come together. From Extinction Rebellion to grassroots movements, discover how creative individuals are reimagining democracy, confronting climate crisis, and building solidarity. Provocative, inspiring, and deeply human, their conversation reveals how we can all play a role in changing the world. Recorded in the Bureau of Silly Ideas on the 7th anniversary of Clare co-founding Extinction Rebellion. Get your tickets for the live events for We Are Free To Change The World by going to the Dash Arts website : https://www.dasharts.org.uk/we-are-free Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi This podcast is marked explicit for language only.

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 research, events and productions deepened our understanding of the Ukrainian context and enriched the work. Similarly, playwright Barney Norris reflects on the challenges of continuing to navigate the shifting political and social landscape in the UK and its influence on Our Public House.Go to the Dash Arts website for your tickets to We Are Free To Change The World; a new series of three Dash Cafés exploring how artists and creative activists respond to the urgency of our times. Through performance, film and conversation, each event will bring together creative voices to consider how we act and how we do this together. Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi And you can hear audio taken from Dash Arts’ production of The Reckoning at Arcola Theatre in May-June 2025

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 from musician Sasha Ilyukevich who performed in our Dash Arts Dachas, some of which were covertly visited by the Russian Embassy. Discovering how our mission to challenge the way we see the world is woven into our DNA, and how life and global politics have consistently broken down the walls into the theatre.With music from Sasha Ilyukevich & The Highly Skilled Migrants entitled KOLYA - КОЛЯ.Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi

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 artistic work. We hear about Dash’s journeys in the Arabic world, former Soviet States, Europe and its current season exploring Englishness, with Albion. This episode is an invitation to listen in on two decades of music that continues to challenge, delight, and change how we hear the world.In the podcast, we hear from:Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts Marie Horner - Podcast Producer, Dash ArtsWe also hear from and celebrate these incredible artists:Sto Let - Iva Bittová and Vladimír VáclavekMy Show - Lyrical Alliance (Rabah Donquishoot (Algeria), Shadia Mansour (Palestine), Rayess Bek (Lebanon), Samm (Jordan), Tamer Nafar (Palestine) And DJ MK (UK))  Shadia + Johnny Juice for Lyrical AllianceQuata3et - Lyrical AllianceAmy Kakoura at a Dash Cafe at Warwick Arts Centre - February 2020  Maspindzeli Choir at a Dash Cafe at Rich Mix, July 2014 Hilda Lansman & Tuomas Norvio - VizarditZugzwang - Langham Research Centre Olesya Zdorovetska at a Dash Cafe at Rich Mix, January 2017  Song About a Friend - Vladimir VysotskyIryna Muha at a Dash Cafe at Rich Mix, April 2017The Renegade Orchestra (Evelina Petrova, Slava Guyvronsky, Matyakubov Shavkat, Misha Alperin, Reso Kiknadze, Zoltan Almashi, Natasha Pshenitschnikova, Vladimir Volkov, Kryukova Marina, Sergei Starostin and Petr Glavatskikh and composer Alexander Manotskov, playwright Natalia Vorozhbyt and director Galina Pyanova) Sasha Ilyukevich and the Highly Skilled Migrants at the Dash Arts Dacha at Latitude Festival July 2017 One Hundred Moons from Dido’s Bar - (recorded by Samira Brahmia and Marouf Majidi with Hattie Naylor, Tuukka Leppänen, Riku Kantola and Josephine Burton).The cast and house band of Dido’s Bar (Gemma Barnett, Priscille Grace, Tuukka Leppänen, Lola May, Lahcen Razzougui, Georgina White, Marouf Majidi, Ben Sutcliffe and the Dido’s Bar House Band)  Songs for Babyn Yar - Music composed and arranged by Yuriy Gurzhy, Svetlana Kundish and Mariana Sadovska.Ey, Güzel Qırım sung by the cast from Crimea 5am.Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi 

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 powerful new play about war, survival and the fragile trust between those who uncover the truth and those who must live with it.This is our last episode before we have a summer holiday so we’ll be back in September!In the podcast, we hear from:Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts Marie Horner - Podcast Producer, Dash ArtsJanine di Giovanni - Journalist and Executive Director of The Reckoning ProjectAnd reflections and performances recorded live at the Arcola TheatreDr Olesya Khromeychuk - Writer and Director of Ukrainian Institute, LondonPeter Pomerantsev - Journalist, Author and Executive Editor at The Reckoning ProjectTsvetelina van Benthem - Senior Legal Advisor at The Reckoning Project and Lecturer at Oxford UniversityViv Groskop - Author and JournalistLuke Harding - Journalist and AuthorOlia Hercules - Chef, Food Writer and AuthorDr Yulia Ioffe - International Lawyer & Associate Professor of Humanitarian Law and Human Rights at University College LondonNataliya Gumenyuk - Journalist and CEO of Public Interest Journalism LabTom Godwin - Actor, The ReckoningMarianne Oldham - Actor, The Reckoning Olga Safronova - Actor, The Reckoning Our intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi Music from The Reckoning by Anton Baibakov We’d like to that the following supporters; The Reckoning Project, AHRC Impact Acceleration Account Award from the University of Cambridge, Public Interest Journalism Lab, Open Society Foundations, Nick Tranter in the name of 4Ukraine Humanitarian Aid, Fritt Ord Foundation, Goethe-Institut in Exile, Goethe-Institut London, SAV Group, Royal Victoria Hall Foundation, The Golsoncott Foundation, and the many individuals who have made this possible.

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 new theatre production, The Reckoning; based on witness testimonies from the Russian war in Ukraine.  Join Dash’s Artistic Director, Josephine Burton, as she revisits our 2024 interview with critically acclaimed journalist Peter Pomerantsev and catch up with Georgian Artist and Activist Ana Riaboshenko on what it’s been like since the Georgian Dream party, widely seen as pro-Russian, maintained its majority in last year’s elections. Professor Alan Finlayson also shares his insights from his new book - Our Subversive Voice: The History and Politics of English Protest Songs, 1600–2020.Book your tickets for The Reckoning on the Arcola Theatre’s website.In the podcast, we hear from:Josephine Burton - Artistic Director, Dash Arts Peter Pomerantsev - Journalist and AuthorAna Riaboshenko - Artist & one of the Initiators of Culture for DemocracyProfessor Alan Finlayson - Professor of Political and Social Theory at the University of East AngliaOur intro music is Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi