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Beth Knight

@bethlaknight

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director, dramaturg, facilitator + auntie biffy | co-dir. @archipelagoarts | associate dir. @ntconnections

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In celebration of 276 years since Betty Beecroft's birth, we're so excited to announce that the film of Mother of the Revolution, filmed by the brilliant @pishimodaressi, will premiere at @leedsmuseumsandgalleries Leeds Industrial Museum's on-site cinema this Saturday and Sunday to celebrate @heritageopendays! 🎬 🎥

Pop down for screenings at 12pm and 2pm across both days, and entry to the museum this weekend is FREE!

The film will also be available for streaming from Friday 20th September, so keep your eyes peeled on socials to get the revolution in your own home! 📺 by @bethlaknight

We’re so excited to announce that Mother of the Revolution: The Film is now available to stream from the comfort of your own home from today!

Hop over to our Patreon page at the link in our bio to get it today!

And in the meantime enjoy a special sneak preview from the film including one of our original songs, The Smoke Only Hangs in the Air.

We had the greatest privilege to make this show, embracing 275 years of history from Leeds' working communities, including the incredible story of industrial legend Betty Beecroft. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Mother of the Revolution is an @archipelagoarts production in association with Leeds Industrial Museum (@leedsmuseumsandgalleries) and @interplaytheatre; supported by @aceagrams, @kirkstallforge and @leedsphilatelicsociety. The film was shot on site at Leeds Industrial Museum in May 2024.

Cast (alphabetically)
@adam_bassett_official as John Butler/Milton/Fergus
@reece_ac as Kevin/Edmund/Simon/Leroy
@thecherieofficial as Miriam/Mel/Ms. Dana Corp Representative
Kathryn Hanke as Betty Beecroft/Elizabeth Skirrow
@richardkay8422 as James/George Beecroft/Carter
@_mtwarbs_ as Alan/Thomas Butler
@clairemarieoconnor3 as Daphne/Cinema Manager/Folk Troupe
@emilysnooksmusic as Eva/Folk Troupe
@millieewatson as Folk Troupe

Creative Team
Original concept and directed by @bethlaknight
Written by @rosie_macpherson
Music, Lyrics, Sound Design and Musical Direction by Sean Ryan
Movement and Associate Direction by @lizzywhy5
Access Direction by @k_pennycook
Set and Costume Design by @erwdesigns
Video Design by @mattpowell_creative
Associate Producing by @josephclowser
Cinematography/Editing/Colouring by @pishimodaressi
Assistant Editing and Subtitles by @themodaressis
BSL Consultancy by @adam_bassett_official and @thecherieofficial
Audio Description Consultancy by Ben Wilson
Production Management by @izpproduction
Stage Management by @calumclarkuk
Technical Management by Justin Wetherill
Technical Support/Boom Operation by @admanjamran by @bethlaknight

I dreamt I reached a gate
which joined an old wall
loose in mortar.
But I couldn’t get through the gate
without holding onto the wall.
On the other side of the wall
there’s a steep precipice
hundreds of miles down.
And I knew
if I touched the wall
it would fall and so would I.
I opened the gate…

❤️‍🔥Mother of the Revolution
2024

All good 📸 by @emilyfg_photography by @bethlaknight

🌅 3/4 of ‘26

I wanna tell you, how much I love you

1-5 Trying more than ever to love myself. In all the ways I am thoughtful, funny and entirely more myself than anyone else will ever be (so much so that even baby Jesus keeps staring at me).
6-15 More than ever in love with the amazing people who surround my life with love.
16-17 More than ever in love with the profound wisdom of art including the brilliant Toni Morrison and Dolly Parton via @tenderheartpress and @tinypricksproject by @bethlaknight

⚙️Make a exhibition they said, it’ll be fun they said.

💥And it absolutely was!

Ludd in the Machine is open from tomorrow, and we’ve had the best time making it with the most brilliant bunch of volunteers and the team at @leedsmuseumsandgalleries.

Running for 2 years and with a whole host of activities to dive more into the themes and heritage of the exhibition in the year ahead, generously supported by @heritagefunduk. Stay tuned for more!

#exhibition #leeds #leedsculture #luddites by @bethlaknight

If I spent it visiting museums, listening to music and talking about the Luddites, can I just make it tax deductible?

🇧🇪🇳🇱🍷🍻 by @bethlaknight

🌻2/4 of ‘26

what’s wrong with me?
nothing!

1-7 A blooming, lovely time
8-19 Drinking it all in by @bethlaknight

🤍1/4 of ‘26

1-8 My love is some of the loveliest faces
9-14 My love is views and food that fills you up
15 My love is forever believing anything astrological about myself
16 My love, for myself, is letting the voodoos of ambition sleep (ta @maryoliverofficial by @bethlaknight

Aching-aching-aching
And alive 🤍

4/4 of ‘25

1 Leaning into this moment between the end and the beginning.
2-3 Leaning into my love always.
4-6 Leaning into knowing some opportunities do happen.
7-11 Leaning into my friends.
12-13 Leaning into earning kindness.
14 Leaning into random paintings of horses (one for the fans)
15-18 Leaning into the light in the dark of Christmas joy.
19 Leaning into a wee bit of wisdom from this era from @pitkeeper by @bethlaknight

Now we know that dream ain’t coming true
There’s room for something new 🍂

3/4 of ‘25

1 Never going to get over how vast and wide and glorious and scary the world is
2-6 Never going to get over how much I love my husband (even if they don’t let him in in VVIP section)
7-9 Never going to get over the infinite excellence of my friends
10-12 Never going to get over beautiful pockets of silly
13-14 Never going to not fight to make big art
15 Never not going to be learning from all my rodeos @society6 by @bethlaknight

A work in progress: both me and Shirley

This is the second production I’ve begun to lead in this beautiful space. The last one one finished just over a year ago and I left it thinking it was the best thing I ever made. And then at the beginning of this year, looking at whether it was possible to begin to make this show, I didn’t know if I wanted to do this work, or be in this industry, at all anymore.

This is not the first time I’ve felt like this, but I’d not felt it so acutely for about 7 years. And both times are tied together by a lot of the same reasons.

Things had happened that meant I had lost all faith in myself.

I’m not saying this as a moping, earnest, sad story. I’m saying this because I’ve had so many conversations with artists who feel/have felt like this and it feels like you’re walking on the loneliest road. And I’m craving the transparency that is our antidote to this loneliness.

I went into this process as a bold bet against this fear. And the greatest thing emerged. Not just a beautiful sharing of our work to an audience. A bit of work, still with its raw edges but, too big and ambitious and impossibly made within its resource and time. Better than that - a room where all artists said they felt safe.

Together we made a space where I’ve genuinely never laughed as much. We had cartwheel competitions, tiny chairs, actors running into cupboards in response to wayward harmonies, team tire changes and just the greatest amount of bountiful kindness from all of the beautiful humans within it.

And what came from that room was discussions of solidarity movements, prejudice, racism, feminism and queer identity. But without the joy, the introspection wouldn’t have been possible or crucially safe.

My take-away in progress: the world is hard and shit and scary enough. I never want the work I do or the spaces I’m in to feel like that. This is much better. by @bethlaknight

sometimes it’s scarier in your head, and when you stop running, you realise the monster was a shadow all along 🌸

2/4 of ‘25

1-2 Seasons are healing
3-6 Family is healing
7-13 Friends are healing
14-15 Work (again, can be; and I hope it stays) healing
16 Some inspo for this era from @yumisakugawa by @bethlaknight