Persistent and Nasty

About 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.

Publisher

Persistent and Nasty

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

16 Apr 2018

Latest episode

29 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

327 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   29 Aug 2026

   Episode 315: Edinburgh Festival Series - A Perfect Match

   It’s the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026 series Elaine chats with performer Hannah Docherty and producer Aila Swann about Matchstick Production’s new musical Perfect Match. This was on at the space on the mile from 18th-22nd August. Huge apologies to the Matchstick team that due to Elaine being ill the day after recording this episode we were not able to get this episode out before their run ended. This is an important conversation around new musicals in Scotland, A PERFECT MATCH A power cut. Darkness. Sparks fly. Rowan is a straight-laced musical theatre writer, struggling to find inspiration. Charlie is a hurricane of inspiration with no respect for the rules. When Rowan’s flat is plunged into darkness, a knock on the door brings Charlie, searching for a match, into her life. This charming, intimate new musical asks whether love is truly blind, and if a connection formed in the dark can survive the light. The Perfect Match is the debut show from Matchstick Productions UK, founded by Scotland-based book writer Mairead Dunsmore and composer/lyricist Samuel Macdonald. Inspired by a real-life story, The Perfect Match offers a safe space in the dark for two characters who’ve been burned by love before the chance to explore each other... and maybe even get a little carried away. For anyone who’s ever scrolled on a mind-numbing dating app or struggled to form a real connection in this world of overwhelming online stimuli, this show offers the perfect solace of human connection when everything else is stripped away. Instagram Matchstick Productions UK - https://www.instagram.com/matchstickproductionsuk/?hl=en OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk HIPA 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

2. 

   27 Aug 2026

   Episode 314: Edinburgh Festival Sereis - Cvntclave

   It’s the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2025 series Elaine chats with writer and performer of Cvntclave Arden Fitzroy. CVNTCLAVE Greenside @ George Street (Lime Studio) Dates: 7-29 August (not 16, 23) Time: 20:45 (60 mins) “What’s the one secret that would destroy you, if it got out?” CVNTCLAVE follows the confessions of Cardinal Cvntvs in the lead-up to a conclave electing a pope, as the previous one has just died - again. There’s nothing straightforward, or straight of any kind, really, in the tangle of emotions, doubts and dalliances Cvntvs dredges up for you, dear College of Cardinals, for the very first time in his life. A rising star of UK theatre and the cardinalate, actor and writer Arden Fitzroy makes their Edinburgh Fringe debut with CVNTCLAVE, the high key drama-comedy-confessional the festival has been waiting for for years - except in this case it’s the literal Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. This brand new talent has been supported by Soho Theatre Edinburgh Fringe Lab, Soho Theatre Writers Lab and Theatre Deli Artist Residency. With the clarion call of the fandom surrounding 2024 Oscar-winning film Conclave ringing like the Campanone of St. Peter’s Basilica, Arden realized the wealth of dramatic material hidden just behind the locked doors of real-world conclaves. Inspired by both the queer (sub)text of Conclave (2024) and Frédéric Martel’s examination of queer subculture in the Catholic Church’s highest echelons (In the Closet of the Vatican), CVNTCLAVE explores the tensions, confluences, rivalries and unlikely camaraderie that emerge from an environment simultaneously intensely queer and intensely Catholic. TICKET LINK - https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/cvntclave OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk Persistent and Nasty join the CEC community to create a safe space & build a community for those who are marginalised in any way in the arts. Link for our Zoom meeting with Creative Entrepreneurs Club https://creativeentrepreneursclub.co.uk/ MAIL BAG – you can write and ask us industry related questions or general questions or maybe you have a hot take you want to chare, some tea you want to spill or a topic you want discussed on the podcast. To be included in the Mail Bag podcast email persistentandnansty@gmail.com with subject line MAIL BAG or slide into the DM’s. 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

3. 

   25 Aug 2026

   Episode 313: Edinburgh Festival Sereis - Slayers

   Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026 series Elaine chats with writer Corinne Sailsbury and Director Jo Rush of Slayers about Corinne’s new eclectic play Slayers. SLAYERS Assembly George Sq Studios - Studio 5 18-30August 12:15 “He takes hold of my wrist. His thumb is on the vein. His eyes into my eyes. I don’t pull away. Then I do, I pull away.” Liane is a single mother, a survivor of abuse, now trying desperately to shield her ten-year-old daughter from the world’s dangers. As her daughter suffers bullying, Liane has a real-world encounter with the Manosphere that stokes her rage. Mother and daughter take up boxing. They develop a taste for violence. They plot their revenge… SLAYERS is a tense contemporary drama that asks: How can we arm our daughters against the world? What happens when our anger makes us go too far? When does revenge stop feeling righteous – and how do we find a better way? TICKET LINK -https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/slayers-by-corinne-salisbury No Palantir in our NHS - https://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/international-crisis/no-palantir-in-our-nhs/ 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

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.0 / 5

2 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

9 ratings

Contact Persistent and Nasty

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.