About this episode
Penny Woolcock discusses her diverse career as a film director and storyteller, including her experiences with non-professional actors and her recent memoir.
The writer and film-maker Penny Woolcock can’t be pigeonholed: she’s worked as a director at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and made a film about warring drug gangs on the streets of Birmingham. A passion for storytelling has driven her career, along with a rebellious streak, perhaps because she’s something of an outsider and never went to university or film school. She often uses non-professional actors in her work, including a staging of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with people who had experienced homelessness. And after completing her movie about rival gangs in Birmingham, she found herself helping to broker a peace deal between two of the actual gang leaders. She has recently written a memoir, The Man Who Gave Me a Biscuit, about growing up in a British enclave in Argentina. Her musical choices include Shostakovich, Britten, Bach and Sibelius. Producer: Katy Hickman
People in this episode
Host: Katy Hickman
Guest: Penny Woolcock
Topics covered
- film making
- storytelling
- music
- personal memoir
- gang violence
- non-professional actors
Keywords
- Penny Woolcock
- film director
- Metropolitan Opera
- Bach
- memoir
- Birmingham
- gangs
- storytelling
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Metropolitan Opera
Books & works: Bach’s St Matthew Passion, The Man Who Gave Me a Biscuit
Places: Birmingham, Argentina
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