The Halifax Arts Podcast

Welcome to the March 2022 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. In this episode of the podcast we meet the actor, writer and producer Rebecca Vaughan who is bringing her one-woman theatre production I, Elizabeth to Square Chapel Arts Centre on March 22nd. The show uses only Elizabeth's original words and explores her struggle with womanhood and sovereignty. Plus: film reviews of Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch, The Duke starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, and French language films Petite Maman and Titane.

Welcome to the February 2022 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. In this episode of the podcast we interview policeman-turned-comedian Alfie Moore who is bringing his Fair Cop Unleashed Tour to Halifax this month. We also chat to Rebekah Fozard and Kate Edwards about how The Hebden Bridge Festival and Healthy Minds Calderdale are working together on a new project called 'Time Out'. Plus: film reviews of Stephen Graham's Boiling Point, George Clooney's The Tender Bar, Spielberg's West Side Story and the Broadway-themed Tick Tick Boom.

Welcome to the January 2022 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. In this episode of the podcast we get together in The Piece Hall to chew over our highlights of 2021, and look forward to what 2022 might bring in the the cultural capital of West Yorkshire that is Halifax and The Calder Valley… Plus: reviews of Silent Night, The Power of the Dog & Don't Look Up.

Welcome to the December/January 2021/22 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. In this episode of the podcast we talk to Sarah Horsley of Halifax's Viaduct Theatre at Dean Clough and the women behind Bradford's new publishing company Fox & Windmill. In the meantime, our film and TV reviewers have been casting their eyes over Squid Game, the Stephen Fry narrated documentary M.C. Escher, The Voyeurs and Lady Gaga's new film, House of Gucci.

Welcome to the November / December 2021 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. In this episode of the podcast we talk to the artist Kate Lycett, who is currently exhibiting her work at Bankfield Museum in Halifax. We also meet the writer and historian Jill Liddington, who is eagerly anticipating the second series of Gentleman Jack, inspired by her books about one of Halifax's most celebrated women. We also review four films that are available to see in cinemas or online; The Green Knight, Censor, Last Night in Soho and Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time.

Welcome to the October / November 2021 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. In this episode of the podcast we talk to the poet Roger McGough who will be in Halifax later in October as part of the Halifax Festival of Words. We also review a diverse quartet of films; Everybody's Talking About Jamie, New Order, Herself and The Pebble and the Boy.

Welcome to the September / October 2021 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. In this episode of the podcast we welcome Halifax band The Orielles (who have just played at The Piece Hall and who will be taking part in a Q&A after a showing of their film La Vita Olistica at Square Chapel Arts Centre on September 14th), we talk to Steven Lord about the upcoming Brighouse Arts Festival and our regular foursome of film reviewers cast their critical eyes over the Citizen Kane-themed Mank starring Gary Oldman, Timothy Spall in The Last Bus, Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer in Free Guy and First Cow directed by Kelly Reichardt.

Welcome to the June / July 2021 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. In this final episode before we take our summer break, we are looking forward to the ending of lockdown. Janet Warham has been speaking to Charles Morris, owner of the Rex Cinema about his plans to reopen the Elland-based venue; Rosi Gemmell has been chatting to the Calderdale writer Anna Chilvers about her work, including her short stories, one of which she reads for the podcast; and our regular film reviewers - Jeremy Walker, Alex Abel and Steve Archer - discuss Promising Young Woman, Possessor, Nowhere Special and the Oscar-winning The Father with Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman. This episode of the podcast was recorded in front of a live audience (of dogs and cows...) at The Piece Hall in Halifax and in rural Barkisland.

Welcome to the May / June 2021 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. This month we talk to Kate Claughan, the owner of The Book Case in Hebden Bridge and The Book Corner at The Piece Hall in Halifax about the advantages of being an independent bookshop, chat to artist Sue Cordingley about her work that has included the illustrations for the children's book The Dragons Of Wainhouse Tower (as featured in last month's podcast) and, to coincide with the start of a new series of Ackley Bridge on Channel 4 and the recent filming of series 2 of Gentleman Jack in The Piece Hall, we revisit our report about 'Hollyfax'. And, of course, our regular band of film reviewers - which this month has expanded slightly from a threesome to a foursome - cast their eyes over Oscar-nominated Sound of Metal, the Icelandic film A White, White Day, time-bending Palm Springs and the wonder that is Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar.

Welcome to the April / May 2021 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. This month we are delighted to welcome one of Calderdale's most prominent writers to the podcast. Benjamin Myers is the award-winning author of many books including The Gallows Pole, the fictionalised tale of the Cragg Vale Coiners. April 2021 sees the publication of a new book of his short stories called Male Tears and he discussed the short-story writing process - as well as revealing future writing projects - with Janet Warham. Staying on the theme of books, Rosi Gemmell has spoken to the Halifax-based children's author Sarah Stone about her book The Dragons of Wainhouse Tower. And, of course, our resident films reviewers Steve Archer, Judy Green and Jeremy Walker cast their eyes over some recent releases; the French film Amanda, the Irish animation Wolfwalkers and the Lego movies. Yes, all of them!

Welcome to the March/April 2021 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. This month, several of our items have an LGBTQ theme, February having been LGBTQ History Month including Alex Abel talking about the TV show of the moment, It's A Sin. Janet Warham talks to the Hebden Bridge-based publisher and writer Kevin Duffy of Blue Moose Books, Rosi Gemmell talks to Alberto Fernandez-Carbajal about his short stories, Andrew Sykes chats to Halifax filmmakers Christian Wilkinson and Adam Deeks about their latest two films Astrofax and Yorkshire Frontiers, and as usual, Judy Green, Steve Archer and Jeremy Walker discuss their film choices for the month; One Night In Miami, The White Tiger and Assassins.

In this special episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast, we give you the opportunity of listening to the full interview with Jonny Davenport that appeared in an edited form episode 22 of the podcast. Jonny is the artistic director at The Old Courts in Wigan and he was one of the people behind the rescue of Halifax's Square Chapel Arts Centre after it fell into administration last year. He spoke to Jeremy Walker about his background and the work of The Old Courts in Wigan as well as the plans to breathe new life into Square Chapel in Halifax.

Welcome to the February/March 2021 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. In this month's podcast we invite Dave Garratt, film programmer from Square Chapel Arts Centre in Halifax, to give us the run down of his most anticipated films for 2021. Staying at Square Chapel, Jeremy Walker interviews Jonny Davenport, the artistic director of The Old Courts in Wigan and one of the people behind last year's rescue of Halifax's much loved arts centre. (Jeremy's full interview with Jonny can be found in a separate stand-alone podcast.) Also in this episode, Alex Abel asks local photographer Karl Mann to give his advice to those wanting to capture their lockdown walks on film, Rosi Gemmell speaks to the poet and broadcaster Tina Watkin and our regular films reviewers, Judy Green, Steve Archer and Jeremy Walker - this month joined by Dave Garratt - cast their eyes over the French thriller Adoration, Vigo Mortensen's Falling and the documentary Some Kind of Heaven.

Welcome to the January/February 2021 episode of The Halifax Arts Podcast. We are in reflective mood here at the podcast and are taking time to look back over the previous 12 months. 2020 was an 'interesting' year on many levels, but the pandemic aside, and despite initial scepticism amongst all those who help make this podcast, we continued to Zoom, Skype and WhatsApp our way to produce all ten of our planned podcasts. That's all credit to the small team of volunteers who help make this podcast a reality. To help celebrate this achievement, we have asked each of our podcasters to pick their favourite contribution to the podcast in 2020. Janet chose her interview with the Gentleman Jack and Happy Valley writer Sally Wainwright; Steve chose his review of the films Rocks; Andrew chose his report about the 50th anniversary of the Krumlin Festival; Judy chose her discussion with Omid and John from Halifax's St. Augustine's Centre about the planned (and, alas, cancelled) Iranian Film Festival at Square Chapel Arts Centre; Alex chose her report about the at-risk Kenneth Barden murals at Halifax Swimming Pool; Jeremy chose his review of the film Ema; and Rosi chose her chat with the local poet Gaia Holmes. We hope you enjoy their choices.

Welcome to The Halifax Arts Podcast for December 2020. It has been an 'interesting' year to say the least but it's good to know that Halifax is looking forward to better times in 2021. An excellent example of this is the Festival of Halifax that will be taking place in May and the podcast has been talking to the man behind the idea, local bar owner and music impresario, Michael Ainsworth. Also this month, Janet Warham has been chatting to local playwright and actor Alan Stockdill about his upcoming play - The Cow Fields of Slack Bottom - at the Viaduct Theatre in Dean Clough and Alex Abel talks about some of the short films that were recently showcased at the online Hebden Bridge Film Festival. Finally, our resident films reviewers Steve Archer, Judy Green and Jeremy Walker have turned their thoughts and their sharpened tongues towards The Queen's Gambit (Netflix), Lyn + Lucy (BBC iPlayer), Time (Amazon Prime), Uncle Frank (also Amazon Prime), Ammonite (the latest film from local director Francis Lee available in cinemas and across streaming platforms) and the Belgian film Patrick (Curzon / Amazon Prime).

Welcome to The Halifax Arts Podcast for November 2020. It may be Lockdown 2.0 but we have plenty to talk about in this episode of Calderdale's leading arts podcast! Janet Warham has been investigating Shebang, the Slaithwaite-based theatre company, Andrew Sykes has visited the world's smallest museum in Warley, Alex Abel reports on her trip to the Hebden Bridge Picture House to see the psychological horror film Saint Maud and our resident film reviewers, Steve Archer, Judy Green and Jeremy Walker review the films How to Build a Girl and Queen & Slim and the streaming television shows The Undoing (Sky), The Twelve (All 4), State of the Union (BBC iPlayer) and Ghosts (BBC iPlayer). The show is presented by Jeremy Walker and is edited by Andrew Sykes.

Welcome to The Halifax Arts Podcast for October 2020. In this month's podcast, we take time to talk to Laurie Sansom who, since the summer of 2019, has been the artistic director of Halifax-based Northern Broadsides theatre company. He discusses his career in the arts and what attracted him to come and work in our northern town. He also explains how Northern Broadsides have been continuing to function through the period of the lockdown, most recently in conjunction with The Piece Hall by producing a piece of topical dance entitled The Aftermath. Our resident film reviewers Steve Archer, Judy Green and Jeremy Walker chat about a new version of The Secret Garden, the acclaimed Rocks, Little Joe and After We Collided. Staying on the theme of film - and just in time for Halloween - Alex Able discusses her three favourite horror films; Misery, Let The Right One In and Pan's Labyrinth. The podcast finishes with Steve Archer given us a run-down of his must-see streaming TV dramas of Autumn 2020.

Welcome to The Halifax Arts Podcast for September 2020, the first episode of season 3! In this episode of the podcast we talk to local screenwriter, producer and director Sally Wainwright about her work during the lockdown of 2020. She discusses both series 1 and series 2 of the hit TV drama Gentleman Jack and there's news of Calderdale-based Happy Valley 3. Our three resident film reviewers discuss the film of the moment, TENET, the Disney film of the stage musical Hamilton and the French film La Vérité with Juliette Binoche. And we have poetry from local poet Gaia Holmes.

Welcome to The Halifax Arts Podcast for June 2020, the final special 'lockdown' episode of the podcast. Janet Warham talks to local musician and painter (and her former pupil!) Roger Davies, our trio of film reviewers - Jeremy Walker, Judy Green and Steve Archer - look back over the past 12 months to pick out their favourite films, Ella - a 6th form student at Crossley Heath School - gathers pre-lockdown opinions of The Piece Hall's 'People Play' sculptures by Alice Urwin, Rosi Gemmell chats with Calderdale-based poet and calligrapher Helen Hayman, Alex Abel discusses the future of a not-so-little gem of an artwork hidden in plain site at Halifax Swimming Pool and finally, local travel writer Andrew P. Sykes investigates the infamous Krumlin Festival which celebrates its 50th anniversary this August.

Welcome to The Halifax Arts Podcast for May 2020. It’s another special episode of the podcast that has been designed for anyone living in the Calder Valley, who loves the arts but who finds themself spending a bit more time at home than they normally would during this time of the Coronavirus. And it's a packed 83 minutes! Jeremy Walker, Judy Green and Steve Archer discuss three new films that can be streamed at home; Ema, The Assistant and Moffie. They also chew over the various options available that will allow you to stream films at home as well as debate the '10 Best Yorkshire Films'. Will you agree? Janet Warham has been chatting to Angela Clare, the Collections Manager for Calderdale Museums and the author of the Anne Lister-inspired The Moss House. Rosi Gemmell has spoken to local author Linda Green about her novels set right here in the Calder Valley. And there's lockdown-themed poetry from Brighouse poet Kristina Baker. The podcast will return for the final time before the summer break in June.