Welcome, welcome, welcome to episode 263 of the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip! A perfect conversation on all things theatre, art, culture, creation and all that these elements bring, with the powerful and awesome ZAWE ASHTON!

“You cannot work for an audience, you have to work for the truth of what you’ve created, and just trust that the response you get will be the truthful response and the right response”

This episode’s theme: HOLD YOUR NERVE.

What an epic one this is… A great back and forth with Pip and Zawe, who have crossed paths on a number of occasions but now find over an hour to catch up and all for our benefit! It only took them four years to sort out… In a way that’s worked out perfectly though, as there is just more to talk about! With Zawe currently starring in Harold Pinter’s ‘Betrayal’ at the Harold Pinter Theatre, she is fully immersed in the Pinter world (this podcast was also recorded there), and as such has a lot to add about his universe and the many facets thereof, but not before we go back into time and take a peek at the old skool spoken word days! From humble beginnings with poems scribbled on school folders, to being at drama school from a very early age, to Jungian mantras, to casting yourself in your own life, to being in an onstage ‘throuple’ and on-screen ensemble, to the many masks we all wear in our own lives, to her love of art and the abstract, to growing into her adult self and finding that flow state, to the trials of having her own play performed after years in limbo and SO much more including her new book 'Character Breakdown'… You’ll get much out of this one. Enjoy.