Posers Podcast

I wrote this song while walking in the muddy countryside near where I live in Oxfordshire. It reminded me of William Smith and his geological maps that changed the world - these are the colours written on the earth in the lyrics. Thank you to Simon Waldram for mixing this!

Hear a charming tale from Whitby Abbey’s earliest years, about Caedmon the cowhand. Unable to read or write, Caedmon nonetheless awoke one morning with a supernatural gift for putting scripture to music and singing it – becoming the first named English poet, and earning himself a place among the brotherhood of monks.

Whitby Abbey commissioned me to retell stories about their atmospheric site, and record them for the new museum on site. In this Dracula Diary, I imagine Bram Stoker's real-life family holiday in Whitby, and how it inspired his most famous book. It was great working with English Heritage on this project.

Two plays by Clean Break theatre company, telling serious stories about faith, hope, truth and justice. In 'House' a family reunion is going badly wrong, while in 'Amongst the Reeds', two young women struggle for survival on the streets. Rebecca Mileham diagnoses some of the issues for The Sick of The Fringe on another busy day at the Edinburgh Festival.

Comedian Tez Ilyas explores what it means to be a British Muslim in a world of post-Brexit uncertainty. Rebecca Mileham diagnoses the issues, between mouthfuls of dinner, in her first evening in Edinburgh for The Sick of The Fringe. PS The actor was Michael Fenton Stevens. Image by www.comedycv.co.uk/tezilyas/index.html

What does it really mean to be an introvert? Sofie Hagen demonstrates it can involve being warm and funny, as well as having a particular fondness for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, as Rebecca Mileham discovers in her diagnosis for The Sick of The Fringe at the Edinburgh Festival. Image by Karla Gowett

In this dual-language interview (made possible by a fantastic Mandarin translator) Rebecca speaks to the director of A Terrified Soul - a retelling of Macbeth using traditional Chinese opera techniques.

Two more days of frenetic show-going see Rebecca queuing for a psychological thiller with Oxford theatre group Not Quite Write - and then talking to the play's creator Kashyap Raja. All too soon it's Friday, and time for the final performance, Last Dream (on Earth), before it's time to go home.

It's Wednesday already in Edinburgh (and presumably in other places as well) and Rebecca sees an epic six shows. This means there is no time to speak to anyone else for the podcast but she gets a lot of steps in her mission to Become Fitter while doing The Sick of The Fringe.

It's day two of Rebecca's marathon of show-watching in Edinburgh for 'The Sick of the Fringe', a Wellcome Trust project looking at the medical, psychological and mental health themes behind some of the performances. In today's podcast, hear her talk introversion with fans of comedian Sofie Hagen, as well as reflecting on a shocking neurological sci-fi play called Grey Matter - plus obviously revealing how many steps she did. But who is tonight's mystery celebrity spot?

Hear Rebecca chat to Max Scratchmann from 'Edinburgh in the Shadows', discussing madness in history and why he and Alec Beattie love to tell a good bloodcurdling story.

Rebecca grabbed a quick interview with Tez Ilyas just after his show Made in Britain. Hear more about her first day at the Fringe at http://posers.org.uk/2016/08/23/fringe_day1/. Pic of Tez from http://www.comedycv.co.uk/tezilyas/index.html

Rebecca's keeping mind and body active in Edinburgh for this year's Festival Fringe. She is one of the writers for 'The Sick of the Fringe', a Wellcome Trust project looking at the medical, psychological and mental health themes and issues behind some of the performances. Join her for a podcast on day one's shows - and crucially how many steps she did as she got around them.

In this voxpod - a podcast edited from live recordings - Rebecca visits the ArtScience Museum, Singapore, to see the Future World exhibition. She finds that her children always know what's going on much better than she does - from the exhibition theme to the way the games and experiences work. However, they all have an excellent time in this clever digital playground. See related pics at http://posers.org.uk/2016/07/31/voxpod_futureworld/

On a warm, breezy Friday evening in Oxford, Rebecca went along to see a new musical exploring the life of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – AKA Lewis Carroll, writer of the timeless Alice tales. She came away with a head full of smiles, songs and scandal, so join her to find out more and hear from director David Kettle, actor Stewart Briggs (Dodgson) and writer Jane Bramwell about the production.

Was William Smith the world's unluckiest geologist? Join Rebecca Mileham, Richard O Smith and an enormous sandwich to find out. Recorded on location at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History - with thanks to the team there.