Carole Hayman is a writer, director and producer best known for creating the long-running Radio 4 comedy Ladies of Letters, and for her work across theatre, film and television.This conversation explores her fascination with understanding the motivations and actions of women who kill. When she began interviewing psychiatrists and families, a nurse warned her: “It’s a minefield — and no one escapes.”Material from those interviews became The Hive — an opera born from years of verbatim testimony, a four-screen installation, and, by Carole’s own admission, a slightly wine-soaked rehearsal that turned into something bigger.The Hive challenges the familiar, sensationalised image of the “female killer,” aiming instead to reconnect with the basic humanity of the people who’ve caused suffering.The opera premieres at The Tung Auditorium, Liverpool, in partnership with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, on Saturday 8 November at 7.30 pm.We talk about violence, laughter, and the ethics of turning other people’s pain into art — and about The Hive’s uncomfortable questions: how do we decide who’s guilty, and why do stories of murder fascinate us?
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218: Vache Baroque's Betty Makharinsky
Vache Baroque didn’t start with a five-year plan. It started with a can-do attitude. In 2020, soprano-producer Betty Makharinsky and conductor Jonathan Darbourne looked at a locked-down industry and staged Purcell's Dido and Aeneas outdoors—in eleven weeks. Since then they’ve built a distinctive live experience: bold repertoire choices, playful staging, circus performers, and sound design subtle enough that you barely notice it but absolutely benefit from. In this episode, Betty charts that journey—from scratch startup to trusted aesthetic—and why serving the audience sometimes means re-thinking tradition. Bear in mind this podcast does battle with some automated announcements from the Southbank Centre.
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217: Pianist Clare Hammond and Michael Betteridge
Pianist Clare Hammond is no stranger to the Thoroughly Good Podcast. She appeared here a few years ago to talk about performing Schubert in prisons.This time she returns with composer Michael Betteridge to discuss another prison project — one in which they co-created new music with prisoners, pieces Clare later performed.What follows is a conversation about impact — about leadership, trust, and humanity revealed and sustained through participatory music-making.Themes that are equally evident in Clare’s recent album of piano concertos by Britten, Walton, and Tippett.Substance.
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216: Aida Lahlou
When the leaves begin to turn and shifting clouds reveal brief bursts of autumn light, music like that on pianist Aïda Lahlou’s new album Mirrors and Echoes seems to meet the moment — even if you didn’t know there was one waiting to be met.The Casablanca-born pianist, winner of the 2024 Royal Overseas League Award, has assembled a beguiling selection of piano works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Ravel, alongside a handful of lesser-known names she makes a compelling case for in this short interview.More than a conversation about repertoire, this is an introduction to a performer who thinks deeply about connection — between body and mind, performer and audience, sound and silence.
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215: RLPO CEO Vanessa Reed
Thirty minutes with one of the loveliest leaders in the classical music industry.
Ireland