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Folio

@foliotheatre

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New writing development & production company, proudly based in Wiltshire.
-NANNY, BBC Radio 4 — 21 May 2026
-Celebrating 10 years with Season of Care

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

We‘re delighted to officially announce our 10th anniversary ‘Season of Care‘, a programme of new work, artist development and community partnerships exploring the many different forms of care.

Featuring:

🌟 The first stage adaptation of Dr Kathryn Mannix’s best-selling memoir, With The End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial.

🌟Folio’s first radio drama, an adaptation of our original musical ‘NANNY’ directed by @sara.pascoe

🌟A new play in development with local playwright @florenceespeutnickless

🌟 An expansion of our creative mentoring programme for young carers

🌟 A new creative programme for women seeking asylum, in partnership with The Harbour Project. by @foliotheatre

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5 months ago

We are absolutely delighted by the support for NANNY ahead of next Thursday’s BBC Radio 4 broadcast

Pick of the Week in:
*The Observer — “This delightful musical comedy captures the multiple pressures faced by thirty somethings”
*The Sunday Times — “Just the sort of thing that should be bringing a younger audience to the station”
*Radio Times — “Smart, funny and refreshing”
*The i Weekend
*The Mail on Sunday
*The Times

Plus:
*The Telegraph — “Like Motherland but with songs”
and ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Daily Mail

21 May, 2.15pm on @bbcradio4 by @foliotheatre

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5 months ago

Nanny is a play with songs about female friendship, ambition and the realities of modern caregiving.

Set over six weeks at a stay-and-play toddler group, it follows actor-nannies Amy and Leanne as they juggle demanding employers, financial instability and dwindling creative opportunities, while attempting to build a comedy double act.

Episodic in structure, the piece explores the tension between nurturing other people’s children and sustaining your own ambitions, asking what it means to “grow up” when life hasn’t unfolded as expected. As pressures mount — from work, relationships and the question of motherhood — their partnership is tested.

The radio version of the debut play for stage, written by actors Alana Ramsey and Lizzie Stables, with Jenny Rainsford.

With original songs by Matthew Floyd Jones, co-creator of West End musical Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder! and one half of Frisky & Mannish.

Directed by comedian and writer Sara Pascoe and produced by David Morley for Perfectly Normal productions, Nanny is funny, sharp and deeply relatable - a love letter to big dreams, messy friendships, and the invisible work that keeps everything going.

Alana Ramsey plays Amy
Lizzie Stables plays Lea
Matthew Floyd Jones plays Kim

Writers: Alana Ramsey, Lizzie Stables, Jenny Rainsford

Music: Matthew Floyd Jones

Sound Design: Chris O’Shaughnessy
Producers: David Morley, Alana Ramsey, Lizzie Stables
Director: Sara Pascoe

A Folio Theatre / Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4 @bbcradio4 @bbcwriters @alana_ramsey_cobb @lizzie_stables @matthewfloydjones @sara.pascoe @jenny.rainsford @gabyjerrardpr by @foliotheatre

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6 months ago

We first met Adam Lenson in 2016, when we approached him to help us develop and direct a full-length version of Alys Metcalf’s Reel Life - a short piece she’d written in response to his wonderful production of Songs for a New World at The Other Palace.
Adam, as always, went above and beyond, giving everything to the project. As well as directing, he took on the sound design, created the poster and somehow found time to design one for another of our shows too.
Reel Life tells the story of a woman living with, and then dying of, cancer. It was a difficult story to tell, but Adam was passionate about making work that mattered and unwavering in his dedication to causes that he believed in.
When we approached him in 2021 about turning Reel Life into a film, he was immediately on board: excited and full of ideas. As it happened, he’d also - naturally and remarkably - started his own film company, Theatrical Solutions, with Chris Czornyj. Of course he bloody had.
We’re so proud of Reel Life in both its forms, and that the work we made with Adam forms a small part of his incredible, innovative creative legacy.
Rest in peace, Adam. We will never forget you. by @foliotheatre

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7 days ago

Our five top picks for the final week of the fringe!

Evita Too! By @shittheatre
18:25 – 19:40PM, Zoo Southside
Very silly, very smart, very brilliant. Isabel Peron was the first female president in the history of the world. So why don’t you know her name?

Woodhill by @lungtheatre
14:25 – 15:40PM, Zoo Southside
Gut-wrenching choreography brings to life a series of devastating verbatim testimonies from the families impacted by the mental health crisis at HMP Woodhill. An eye-opening and urgent call to arms.

One Hundred Voices by @ntsonline
Various times, Scottish Parliament
An emotive and innovative audio-visual installation, that offers an unflinching insight into the Scottish care system, with testimonies drawn from 100 members of the care-experienced community.

Stayin’ Alive by Victoria Oxley @stayinaliveplay
15:40 -16:40PM, Gilded Balloon Paterhouse
A funny and deeply moving one woman show exploring family, grief, class and mental health, interspersed with a series of increasingly ridiculous tribute acts.

HAM by @hotterproject
19:30 – 20:30, Summerhall.
Hamlet wants to be a vegan, but his mother doesn’t approve. A hilarious and thought-provoking re-working of Hamlet, that asks urgent questions about climate, grief, shame and collective accountability. taken in Edinburgh, Scotland by @foliotheatre

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2 months ago

A huge thank you to everyone who has listened to NANNY, shared it, recommended it, reviewed it and been in touch since Thursday’s broadcast.

It means so much to hear the ways the story has resonated with people.

If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, NANNY is available now on BBC Sounds, starring Alana Ramsey, Lizzie Stables and Matthew Floyd Jones, and directed by Sara Pascoe 🎧

🔗 Link in bio by @foliotheatre

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Tomorrow!

One day to go until NANNY airs on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow at 2.15pm

We couldn’t be prouder of the response the show has already received and we can't wait to share it with our audiences.

A funny, heartfelt musical comedy about friendship, ambition, motherhood and trying to hold your life together through it all.

Tomorrow, 2.15pm @bbcradio4

Huge thanks to the team and to everyone who's been involved in getting it here "your talent is stupendous!" by @foliotheatre

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5 months ago

Really lovely feature on Nanny in this week’s Total TV Guide 📺 🙌 Thank you so much @daisyhall1 @totaltvguide by @foliotheatre

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5 months ago

So grateful for this lovely preview of NANNY in this week’s @radiotimes:

“Genuine laugh out loud moments… smart, funny and refreshing mix of musical theatre with radio drama.”

Our first BBC Radio 4 commission airs next Thursday, 21 May at 2.15pm @bbcradio4 by @foliotheatre

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We’re proud to develop new writing with and by artists in the Southwest, with a commitment that continues beyond the first production, giving plays new life in radio/screen.

To celebrate our 10th anniversary season, we’re looking back at some of our favourite Folio shows from the last decade!

1) Our first show, Unearthed by @alysmetcalf - directed by @kimlpearce - toured across London and the Southwest, and was named one of the Guardian’s shows of the year.

2) Our second show, Reel Life by @alysmetcalf, was developed in association with partner charity @coppafeel and played at @theatreroyalbath1805 @theoldtownhall.trowbridge and St James Theatre (London), directed by @adamlenson

3) In 2018, we commissioned The Edit, the debut play by award-winning writer Sarah Gordon, which toured throughout the Southwest, directed by @huftonjoe

4) 2019 saw us tour Believe by Russ Tunney @1piratesmall around community centres and village halls in partnership with Pound Arts and Rural Arts Wiltshire, directed by @lizzie_stables

5) In response to Covid-19, we made our first foray into film in 2020, producing World Wide Wiltshire by @hannah.treadaway and David Ellington, celebrating our Wiltshire home, in co-production with Wiltshire Creative, directed by @jonewmandirector

6) In 2021 in association with English Touring Theatre and Pound Arts, we went further with digital production and developed a film adaptation of @alysmetcalf play Reel Life, our second theatre show.

7) In 2023, we produced our first musical Nanny, which played at Bristol Old Vic Weston Studio, directed by @jenny.rainsford. The BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Nanny, directed by @sara.pascoe will form part of our 10th anniversary season!

To find out more about our work, check out our website www.foliotheatre.co.uk by @foliotheatre

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5 months ago

Thrilled with these stunning press shots for Nanny by the sensational @mrmattcrockett

Nanny airs on BBC Radio 4 on May 21st at 2.15pm directed by @sara.pascoe starring @alana_ramsey_cobb @lizzie_stables @matthewfloydjones

This is the radio version of the debut play for stage 'NANNY' of actor/writers Alana Ramsey (The Crown, House of the Dragon) and Lizzie Stables (The Inbetweeners, Miranda), with Jenny Rainsford (Fleabag). It features brilliant original songs by Matthew Floyd Jones, co-creator of Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder! and one half of Frisky & Mannish.

Directed by comedian and writer Sara Pascoe and produced by David Morley for Perfectly Normal Productions and Folio Theatre, NANNY is funny, sharp and deeply relatable, a love letter to big dreams, messy friendships, and the invisible work that keeps everything going

#radioplay #comedy #newwriting #bbcradio4 by @foliotheatre

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Last year we had the pleasure of working with the brilliant @florenceespeutnickless to develop a new writing programme for over 65s in Wiltshire.

Together we worked with a fantastic group of writers, who each developed an original stage monologue and performed their work at Salisbury Playhouse in January.

We want to continue our work with this group and support their stories and voices to reach a wider public. To aid this mission, please donate to our Big Give campaign. Every £1 is doubled in match donations, so anything you can give would be gratefully received. Thank you! taken in Wiltshire by @foliotheatre

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