The power of defining yourself, inspirations from classical music and heavy metal, running a creative business in Manchester and normalising talking about difficult topics.

In this episode I speak to Chris Thorpe. Chris is a writer and performer from Manchester, UK. His work has touched on nationality and borders, political and social systems and their relationship to confirmation bias, our collective psychology around the climate crisis – and most recently the construction of cultural hierarchies and Iranian pop music (in Things Hidden Since The Foundation of the World with Javaad Alipoor), and nuclear disarmament and global diplomacy (in Talking About The Fire with Staatstheater Mainz and China Plate). Chris's performance work tours internationally, and is also regularly produced for stage and radio throughout Europe and in the US.

We talk about…

How Chris defines himself as a creative
Chris’s journey to studying theatre at university
How Chris’ father’s musical background influenced him creatively
Forming a theatre company with his friends in Manchester
Building momentum and making empowered choices as a creative
Tackling global topics like nuclear disarmament in theatre
Chris’ creative process in the early stages of new work
The responsibility artists have to keep audiences safe
How nobody really knows what they’re doing, they may just have been in that position for longer

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Disclaimer: All views are my own and all my guests' views are their own. There is no product placement in this episode.