Persistent and Nasty

Persistent and Nasty is a script-reading, debate and art as activism initiative for women and gender minorities in the stage and screen industries. We are committed to an intersectional approach and aim to use the space we’ve created to provide a platform for the spectrum of marginalised voices in our culture.Through a series of script readings, live debates and a regular podcast series, we aim to amplify the unrepresented voices in theatre and film.Our goal is to create a project that is safe and supportive, but that is also an act of protest. Persistent and Nasty is about changing the cultural narrative through the stories we tell.

Persistent and Nasty is a arts podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 289 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Persistent and Nasty, a arts show with 289 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Persistent and Nasty

  Episode 309: Edinburgh Festival Series - Turn The Cloth

  Aug 19, 202626 min

  Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026 series Elaine chats with co-founder of Cutty Sark Theatre and writer Eve Miller. They are joined by Molly Cavanagh who is sound designer and technician on Turn the Cloth Turn the Cloth Gilded Balloon Teviot, Turret 5-31 Aug (not 12, 26) 2:30pm (50 mins) “A queer Scottish folk horror about tradition, superstition, and Elvira” 1989. The first storm of winter hits a small Scottish town, bringing with it obligation, tradition, and a spirit hungry for a wife. Bonds are tested, secrets revealed, and the ghosts of the village’s past invade the present. Darkly funny, unsettling, and atmospheric, the Charlie Hartill Shortlisted play Turn the Cloth dissects defiance, girlhood, and the rituals that shape us. For centuries, young women have gathered in the village hall during the first storm of winter to complete a tradition warding off a kelpie who seeks to abduct an eligible bride. But when one of the girls doesn’t show up, the others fall to gossip, in-fighting, and debate over whether anyone could still believe in this fabled beast. Teenage heartbreak, eldritch horror, and Blockbuster video collide in this treacherous ritual that has the power to save or unmake four futures. TICKET LINK - https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/event/14:6746/ STRUT SAFE – https://linktr.ee/strutsafe?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAcGRvZgJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAad29y9ugqwt1Yak5f3ChVWdyConD1_9OFYkccDGqzKEvfFcZN7ZUzdlVN8ELQ_aem_LgvJU0G-XGKR5kcB365GVQ SAVE THE CCA – https://saveourcca.com/ OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk IPA GUIDES: HIPA GUIDES Equity Toolkit: Link Stellar Quines: Link Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Email – persistentandnasty@gmail.com Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE

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  Persistent and Nasty

  Episode 307: Edinburgh Festival Series - Whale Fall or Song To Dance With My Death

  Aug 18, 202623 min

  Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026 series Elaine chats with performer, writer and clown Bruna Longo about her show Whale Fall Or Song To Dance With My Death which is currently playing t the Edinburgh Festival 2026. WHALE FALL OR SONG TO DANCE WITH MY DEATH Part of São Paulo Showcase 2026 Lindisfarne Room at St Cuthbert’s Church Dates: 10 - 27 August 2026 Time: MON-THRU 12:00, FRI-SUN 20:00 (80 mins) WHALE FALL OR SONG TO DANCE WITH MY DEATH “A woman dies and seeks to mourn her own passing in this deeply human meditation on mortality, weaving together anthropology, philosophy, and theatre” Part of the much-anticipated returning São Paulo Showcase, Whale Fall or Song To Dance With My Death is a performance about the taboo of death in everyday life, the process of eliminating funeral rites in Western capitalist societies, silence, and denial. Yet, above all it is a performance about life inspired by the death of actress Bruna Longo's father. Co-directed by Vitor Julian, the production has been acclaimed by audiences and critics in São Paulo, Brazil. Staged within the historic St Cuthbert’s Church, filled with echoes of its centuries-old graveyard, Whale Fall is a contemplation of mortality; a ritual inspired by Longo’s own experience of loss and grief. Faced with the inescapable, she imagines her own death and attempts to mourn herself - the one thing we, as humans, cannot do. Exploring the funeral rites from diverse cultures, and their philosophical and practical implications, Longo draws from her intimate experience to create a reflective surface: what might we see when we confront our fear of dying? For Western societies, death is perhaps the last insurmountable taboo - we don't talk about it, and we don't know how to deal with it. Death’s mysterious and unknown character inspired the first human ceremonies, hieroglyphics, and campfire stories; it has given us philosophy, religion, art, and mourning, shaping how we live collectively and individually. Whale Fall reminds us that death is our only, and unavoidable, certainty. TICKET LINK -https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/whale-fall-or-song-to-dance-with-my-death OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk IPA GUIDES: HIPA GUIDES Equity Toolkit: Link Stellar Quines: Link Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Email – persistentandnasty@gmail.com Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE

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  Persistent and Nasty

  Episode 306 : Edinburgh Festival Series - the Bob Ross Effect

  Aug 17, 202616 min

  Elaine chats with writer and performer Sarah-Louise Young about her latest show The Bob Ross Effect which is curretnly at the Edinburgh Festival. THE BOB ROSS EFFECT Assembly Gardens, Piccolo Wednesday 5th - Monday 31st August 2026 (not 18th) 4:05pm (70 mins) “We don’t make mistakes, we have happy accidents” Fringe favourite actor, writer, director and internationally renowned cabaret performer Sarah-Louise Young (An Evening Without Kate Bush, Cabaret Whore, The Silent Treatment, Julie Madly Deeply) makes a much-anticipated return to this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe Festival with The Bob Ross Effect, a brand new show presented with Suzanna Rosenthal Productions. Artist, animal-lover and unlikely sex symbol Bob Ross brought art into the living rooms of millions with The Joy of Painting, one the most watched TV art shows in history and now an online phenomenon still getting millions of views decades later. With his instantly recognisable big perm and soft-spoken encouragement to paint "happy little trees", Bob Ross has taught generation after generation to embrace their creativity. Tickets - https://assemblyfestival.com/whats-on/1652-the-bob-ross-effect OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk IPA GUIDES: HIPA GUIDES Equity Toolkit: Link Stellar Quines: Link Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Email – persistentandnasty@gmail.com Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE

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  Persistent and Nasty

  Epiosde 305 : Edinburgh Festival Series - Pink Rabbit

  Aug 17, 202614 min

  It’s the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026 series Elaine chats with writer and performer Farah Asraf about her show Pink Rabbit. PINK RABBIT Underbelly (Daisy) Dates: 5 - 30 August 2026 Time: 16:15 (60 mins) “Validation is addictive, what could go wrong?” At its heart, Pink Rabbit is a story about a mother and daughter who love each other deeply but cannot speak honestly about the things that matter most. A fierce, funny and emotionally devastating solo play by actor and writer Farah Ashraf, Pink Rabbit explores the complicated inheritance of shame, the search for female pleasure, and what happens when generations of silence collide. Directed and dramaturged by Soho Theatre Creative Associate Alessandro Babalola (Flesh and Bone, 2017 Fringe First winner), this bold coming-of-age story examines faith, sexuality and the intoxicating power of being seen. Eighteen-year-old British-Pakistani Amna has perfected the art of performance. At home she is the good Muslim daughter: polite, modest and obedient. Online, she becomes PersianBaby, cultivating intimacy and desire through an OnlyFans account her strict mother knows nothing about. As Amna moves between mosque and webcam, family expectations and digital validation, the gap between the person she performs and the person she longs to be becomes impossible to sustain. But beneath the secrets lies another story. Mother and daughter are connected by an unspoken experience that neither has the language to confront—a shared relationship to pain, shame and a body that has never felt entirely their own. As buried truths begin to surface, Pink Rabbit asks what is passed between generations when conversations about sex, pleasure and desire are replaced by silence, and whether breaking that silence might be the first act of liberation. Blending lyrical spoken word, sharp audience address, flashbacks and live interactions with PersianBaby's online clients, Farah Ashraf creates an intimate portrait of a young woman negotiating the impossible expectations placed upon her. The play explores the tension between faith and female autonomy, the pressure to embody the ideal of the "good Muslim girl", the seduction of online validation, and the emotional cost of living multiple lives. With wit, vulnerability and unflinching honesty, Pink Rabbit moves beyond familiar narratives of cultural conflict to explore how shame shapes women's relationships with their bodies across generations. It asks who gets to experience desire without guilt, who is allowed pleasure without punishment, and how inherited silence can fracture even the closest relationships. Tickets - https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/pink-rabbit OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk IPA GUIDES: HIPA GUIDES Equity Toolkit: Link Stellar Quines: Link Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Email – persistentandnasty@gmail.com Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE

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  Persistent and Nasty

  Episode 304: Edinburgh Festival Series - The Subplot: A Hyperfixation on the Titan Submersible

  Aug 17, 202612 min

  It’s the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026 series Elaine chats with writer and performer Sophie Smyth about her show The Subplot: A Hyperfixation on the Titan Submersible which is a Best Theatre, Melbourne Fringe 225 nominee. The Subplot: A Hyperfixation on the Titan Submersible Summerhall - Former Women's Locker Room 6- 31st August (Not 12,17,24) 15:20 (60 minutes) “Get in, babes, we’re going to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean” Multi award-winning neurodivergent singer, actor, writer and sub expert Sophie Smyth brings her new immersive, multi-media (literal) deep dive into the 2023 Titan Submersible implosion to Summerhall this Fringe. The Subplot: A Hyperfixation on the Titan Submersible is a deeply personal, dark comedy exploration about legacy, hyperfixation and human connection. Directed by Casey Gould (Little Squirt, Conk: Man Sings The Same Song Over And Over Again For An Hour). June 2023. Remember those five days the whole world waited when a manned submersible touring the Titanic wreckage went missing and imploded? Sophie hasn’t. Armed with a laptop, Logitech F710 controller and autism, she's spent three years (and counting!) diving deeper and deeper, descending the depths of the internet and herself. Now Captain S. Smyth, resident Titan expert, shares her findings at this year's Edinburgh festival guiding you through what started as memes and morbid fascination towards monotropic interest that threatens to consume every part of her life. Looking at the moral and ethical questions the disaster raised to the world and to Sophie’s spiral into obsession, The Subplot plumbs the depths of this stranger-than-fiction tragedy, while taking you on board that final fateful dive. Emotional and existential, The Subplot is a dark multi-media comedy about neurodivergence, mortality, and the risk/reward of going too far. Tickets - https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/the-subplot-a-hyperfixation-on-the-titan-submersible OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk IPA GUIDES: HIPA GUIDES Equity Toolkit: Link Stellar Quines: Link Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Email – persistentandnasty@gmail.com Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE

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