Books by Alice Birch

Alice Birch has written for the Royal Court Theatre, BBC Radio 4, Old Vic, Comedie de Valence and the Almeida Festival. She has been on attachment to the National Theatre Studio, the Royal Court Theatre, Paines Plough and Channel 4. Her play, Many Moons was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and is published by Oberon. She is currently under commission to Clean Break and the RSC and is working with RashDash on two projects. She is a Creative Associate at Watford Palace Theatre and was a member of the Royal Court Super Group in 2012. RashDash: ABBI GREENLAND: I am a theatre maker, performer and founder member of RashDash. I make all the shows with Helen. We always give ourselves good parts. At the moment we're making shows that are big and messy and angry. I like it when the shows come from our guts and our bones. I like it when the process is intense and full on. I'm not good at thinking about more than one thing at once. I like to drown in it a bit. I don't mind that sometimes it makes me quite stressed and miserable. The good bits are worth it. We work our way out of the knots eventually. I love the company of people we work with. I love having a creative family of talented and lovely people around all the time, especially when they play music in my kitchen. I love having lots of big creative voices in a making room. Sometimes we disagree. I think that's good. I have made a list of women that I think are wonderful: Lena Dunham, Nazarath Panadero, Katia Buniatishvilli, Meryl Garbus, Lottie Lenya, Amanda Palmer. It keeps growing... HELEN GOALEN: I am a theatre maker, performer and founder member of RashDash. I love it when we allow our process to be led by impulse and improvisation. I hate over-intellectualising. I love to be surprised by what happens in a rehearsal room. I couldn't imagine performing in a RashDash show where I wasn't a breathless, sweaty mess by the end. I am at my most joyful and most miserable when making a show. It is very rarely a mediocre experience. I am not easily satisfied. I always want to be better. I think the people we work with are awesome. I am in awe of all of them. I think people who see our shows are surprised that we're quite normal in life. CHARLOTTE BENNETT: I am a theatre producer and director and producer of RashDash. I am a RashDash addict. I have seen all their shows since they graduated and sing their songs all the time. I applied to be the RashDash producer after seeing them perform at Latitude Festival in the summer. Although I already run my own theatre company; Forward Theatre Project, I had a strong insinct whilst sat on that muddy grassbank that this was a company that I just had to work with. RashDash create work which comes from the gut and so this is how I made my decision to get involved. And luckily it worked out. I currently split my time between working as Artistic Director of Forward Theatre Project who are an associate company of Paines Plough, and being the part-time producer for RashDash. I also take on some freelance directing outside of this. A few scrambly thoughts: I love new plays and working with writers in the room. I love people that make things happen instead of just talking about making them happen. I hate meetings which end up being there only to plan the next meeting. I believe in working for people you believe in. People are the thing.