Telling Family Stories – Janet Behan and Damian Le Bas CCV0405 ¦ Creative Conversations [podcast]

Actor Janet Behan and writer Damian Le Bas join Creative Conversation host, Yang-May Ooi, in today’s show to talk about Telling Family Stories in the context of their respective Irish, Gypsy and Chinese backgrounds. Along the way they explore language, stereotyping and identity. 

Telling Family Stories – Janet Behan and Damian Le Bas CCV0405 ¦ Creative Conversations [podcast]

Damian Le Bas is a writer of Gypsy and Irish descent. His book The Stopping Places is a personal journey exploring his heritage and the history of the Romany people.

Janet Behan is an actor and playwright. Her father was Irish and  her mother was from Yorkshire. Her latest play Kathleen and Me is the story of her Irish grandmother told in Kathleen Behan’s own words.

For those of you who may not know me, Yang-May Ooi, outside of this podcast, I am of Chinese heritage, born in Malaysia. I wrote and performed a play, Bound Feet Blues, inspired by my great-grandmother who had bound feet – and there is also a family memoir in book form of the same name.

Listen to our conversation

You can listen to our conversations via the podcast player below:

Creative Conversations with Yang-May Ooi – Season 04 Episode 05 ¦ Telling Family Stories – Janet Behan and Damian Le Bas CCV0405 

Links to some of the things we talked about

Janet Behan bio – https://www.berlinassociates.com/clients/janet-behan/ 

Janet’s play Kathleen and Me – https://www.brightonfringe.org/whats-on/kathleen-and-me-153215/ 

Janet Behan in the Irish Times – https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/i-m-now-old-enough-to-play-my-grandmother-kathleen-behan-1.4571680 

Jessica Higgs – https://jessica-higgs.com/ 

Damian Le Bas on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/damianlebas/

Damian’s book The Stopping Places – https://amzn.to/3fngQH8 

Audiobook version – https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Stopping-Places-Audiobook/B07FW5PW2S 

Yang-May’s play Bound Feet Blues – www.boundfeetblues.co.uk 

   

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Photos: Janet Behan and Damian Le Bas, with thanks

Music:

Southern Jam Nights by Neil Cross

~ via Storyblocks Audio Standard Licence

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Creative Conversations is a podcast about creativity in the arts, life and business. It is part of the Tiger Spirit family of creative content, conceived and presented by writer and podcaster Yang-May Ooi.