Jenny, Student, George Green School

In this interview Jenny, a student from George Green School talks about her experience of watching the Y Touring production Breathing Country. She discusses what she gained from the production.

Download an audio version of Breathing Country Here

Zarine, Student, George Green School

In this interview Zarine, a student from George Green School talks about her experience of watching the Y Touring production Breathing Country.
She discusses what she gained from watching the production.

Download an audio version of Breathing Country Here

Professor Max Parmar, Director, Medical Research Council's Clinical Trials Unit

In this interview Professor Max Parmar talks about his involvement with Y Touring production Starfish.
He talks about why he felt Starfish was successful and what will be the important future issues for public engagement.

Download an audio version of Starfish here

Max Saunders-Singer, Actor

In this interview Max Saunders-Singer talks about acting in the Y Touring production Starfish. He talks about what he gained as an actor through working with Y Touring.

Download an audio version of Starfish here

Science Education, Theatre and Y Touring: By Professor Michael Reiss, Institute of Education, University of London

The interviews with teachers and students published on this site give a sense of the different ways that Y Touring's performances and debates have contributed to science education in the UK. Imelda, a student at Maria Fidelis School, in her interview comments on how attending a performance differed from conventional science lessons making her feel more "active" and rendering the experience more "memorable". Over the last 21 years school science education has been contested terrain. The apparent decline in students' engagement with science as they progress through secondary school has provoked debate about appropriate curriculum content and teaching approaches. In his essay, leading science educator Professor Michael Reiss sets Y Touring's work within this context and argues passionately for theatre's place within his vision for science education.

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Louise, Student, Maria Fidelis School

In this interview Louise, a student from Maria Fidelis School talks about her experience of watching the Y Touring production Breathing Country.
She talks about what she gained from watching the production.

Download an audio version of Breathing Country Here

Rachel Board, Teacher, Acland Burghley School

In this interview drama teacher Rachel Board from Acland Burghley School talks about her school’s involvement in the Y Touring project Ceremony.
She discusses how she felt about working with Y Touring and what she thought the students got out of the project.

Peter Finegold, Isinglass Consultancy

In this interview Peter Finegold talks about his work with Y Touring on various productions including; Cracked, Pig in the Middle and The Gift. Click Genetic futures for more information
He discusses his first experience of watching a Y Touring production as a teacher and his later involvement developing plays with Y Touring, while he was working for Wellcome Trust.

Imelda, Student, Maria Fidelis School

In this interview Imelda, a student from Maria Fidelis School talks about her experience of watching the Y Touring production Breathing Country.
She discusses her memory of the production and what she gained from it.

Download an audio version of Breathing Country Here

Krupa Pattani, Actress

In this interview Krupa Pattani talks about acting in the Y Touring productions Starfish and Nobody Lives Forever.
She discusses the value she places on giving young people the opportunity to see the human story behind a scientific issue explored within Y Touring’s productions.

Download an audio version of Starfish here

Rhiannon Tise, Playwright

In this interview Rhiannon Tise talks about writing various plays for Y Touring. Including; The Silencer, Playing God, Wasted, Photograph 51 and Headstone.
She talks about her favourite plays she has written for Y Touring and how plays and writers are selected by the company.

Marlene Winfield, NHS

Marlene Winfield, from NHS Connecting for Health, talks about her involvement with the Y Touring production Breathing Country. She discusses the importance of having a public debate around Electronic Patient Records and what Y Touring’s production Breathing Country contributed to that debate.

Download an audio version of Breathing Country Here

Breathing Country: A Breath of Fresh Air, by Marlene Winfield

The introduction of electronic patient records is not a subject that automatically sets pulses racing. However it raises complex and important questions for health services about patient care and privacy. Marlene Winfield as Director for Patients and Public at NHS Connecting for Health has to deal with such questions in her daily work. In her essay she reflects from her perspective as an expert advisor on the production Breathing Country on both the rewards and the difficulties of using theatre to engage young people and                                                      other audiences in discussing these issues.

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Rab Christie, Actor

In this interview Rab Christie talks about acting in the Y Touring production The Inner Circle. He talks about how he found being on tour and what he felt the young people watching the show got out of it

Demilola, Student, Maria Fidelis

In this interview Demilola, a student from Maria Fidelis School, talks about her experience of watching a Y Touring production Breathing Country and participating in a Y Touring workshop about body image. She discusses what she remembers about Breathing Country and how she feels about electronic patient records as a result of experiencing this production.

Download an audio version of Breathing Country Here

Read Y Touring's blog about body image here

Professor Simon Wessely, Kings College London

Professor Simon Wessely talks about his involvement with the Y Touring productions Starfish and Breathing Country.
He talks about the importance of narrative stories to engage the public with complicated issues and how Y Touring’s work is an important part of this.

Download an audio version of Breathing Country Here

Download an audio version of Starfish here

Nicola Goddard, Teacher, Queen's College

Science teacher, Nicola Goddard, from Queen’s College, talks about why her school has invited Y Touring back several times to perform. She discusses the educational impact of Y Touring on her students

Gus Hosein, Privacy International

In this interview Gus Hosein talks about his involvement with the Y Touring productions The Projectionist and Breathing Country. He describes how he found the production development process and why both productions were important to him professionally and personally.

Download an audio version of Breathing Country Here

Download an audio version of The Projectionist here

Emma, Student, Treloar College

Emma, a student from Treloar College in Hampshire, talks about her experience of watching the Y Touring production Breathing Country. She discusses what she enjoyed about the production and what she gained form it educationally.

Download an audio version of Breathing Country Here

Tara Shaw, Actress

In this interview actress Tara Shaw talks about acting in various Y Touring productions including Every Breath and Cracked.
She talks about the importance of the creative process in developing plays with Y Touring.

Download an audio version of Every Breath here

Be careful what you wish for: An evaluator’s perspective on Y Touring by Dr Suzanne King and Mark Dyball, People science and Policy

Suzannne King and Mark Dyball of People Science and Policy, describe their experience of Y Touring’s work. They write in depth about an evaluation led by People, Science and Policy on Mind the Gap, a Theatre of Debate project exploring the ethical issues raised by advances in neuroscience . They outline the project development process and reference other Y Touring works including, The Silencer and Upfront. In doing so, they emphasise the power of the medium and the methodology, and at the same time raise the debate that, ‘this powerful medium can stimulate changes of attitude that might be considered ‘undesirable’ as well as those that might be seen as more ‘positive’.

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Peter Hollins, Chief Executive, British Heart Foundation

In this interview Chief Executive of British Heart Foundation, Peter Hollins, talks about his involvement with Y Touring production Every Breath.
He reflects on why the project was important for young people and his charity.

Download an audio version of Every Breath here

Rachel Lewis, Actress

In this interview Rachel Lewis talks about acting in various productions for Y Touring including: The Inner Circle, Connected and The Gift.
She discusses what she learned through acting in Y Touring productions and why the company is important for actors.

Adam, Student, Acland Burghley

Adam, a student from Acland Burghley School, talks about his experience of participating in a Y Touring project, Ceremony. He talks about what he gained as a result of being part of this project.

Susan Elkin, Journalist

In this interview journalist Susan Elkin talks about Y Touring productions she has seen and discusses her perspective on the work of Y Touring and why it stands out as being important.

Download an audio version of Starfish here

Nicola Baldwin, Playwright

In this interview Nicola Baldwin talks about her experience of writing various plays for Y Touring including; The Gift, Cracked, Wicked Problems, Leap of Faith and Bloods. She talks about the process of writing plays for Y Touring and the importance of Y Touring for playwrights.

Read about cracked here

Miranda, Student, Acland Burghley

Miranda, a student from Acland Burghley School, talks about her experience of participating in a Y Touring project, Ceremony. She discusses why she got involved in the project and how she felt about the process.

Charlyne Francis, Actress

In this interview Charlyne Francis talks about acting in the Y Touring production Nobody Lives Forever. She talks about the challenges of having to understand the scientific content required to play her character in the performance and subsequent debate.

Dr. Penny Hawkins, RSPCA

In this interview Dr. Penny Hawkins from the RSPCA talks about her involvement with the Y Touring production Every Breath. She contemplates how she felt that the play represented all sides of the argument around the use of animals in medical research.

Download an audio version of Every Breath here

Science and the Public: by Professor Lewis Wolpert

Eminent scientist, and no stranger to controversy, Professor Lewis Wolpert gives his views on why Y Touring's work is important in the context of public engagement. He writes about the importance of science; how the idea that scientific knowledge is dangerous is deeply embedded in our culture; how western literature has been 'unkind' to science; and how the media contributes to the public’s misunderstanding of science as a dangerous idea. Provocative as ever he introduces the idea of biological pornography....

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Claire Gordon, Head of Expressive Arts, George Green School

Claire Gordon, Head of Expressive Arts at George Green School, talks about the impact Y Touring’s production Breathing Country had on her students.
She reflects on why she would invite Y Touring back to her school and why productions coming into her school are important for her students’ learning.

Download an audio version of Breathing Country here

Aaron, Student, Acland Burghley School

Aaron, a student from Acland Burghley School, talks about his experience of participating in a Y Touring project, Ceremony. He talks about the impact of the final performance on the audience.

Dr. Simon Parry, Manchester University

In this interview Dr. Simon Parry, Teaching Fellow, Arts Management,
Policy and Practice, University of Manchester talks about his involvement with Y Touring on various projects. He reflects on the impact and importance of the work of Y Touring.