- Frances Byrnes

Download my full CV here

You can read some examples of my work below:

“Captivating”

The Guardian, The Ballets Russes in England (BBC Radio 4)

“Brilliantly executed”

Sony Judges Now Wash Your Hands! The story of Izal in words and song (BBC Radio 4)

“Rare insight”

Radio Times Pick of the Day After a Dancemaker Dies (BBC Radio 3)

“Remarkable programme … beautiful”

Ismene Brown, Artsdesk, After a Dancemaker Dies (BBC Radio 3)

“A remarkable programme … an admirable programme.”

Lynne Truss, Pick of the Week, BBC Radio 4, The I Love You Bridge (BBC Radio 4)

“This one really has got it all.”

Time Out, The Pavlov Ballet (BBC 2)

“Brilliantly adapted by Frances Byrnes”

Gillian Reynolds, Daily Telegraph, Bel Ami by Maupassant, Classic Serial, (BBC Radio 4)

“Although there’s a “will he, won’t he?” element to Frances Byrnes’s often beautiful, dreamlike play, it’s more, I suspect, about the very essence of dance.”

David McGillivray, Radio Times Pick of the Day for Just Dance, Afternoon Drama (BBC Radio 4)

“In case you missed it, Frances Byrnes’ superb piece about the tragic story behind the “I love you” bridge:”

Ruaridh Nicoll tweet, Editor, the Observer Magazine.

“She is a person of total integrity in life and art” ….

Matt Thompson, Director, Rockethouse Productions.

“I love working with Fran because her ideas are totally original.”

Matt Thompson, Director, Rockethouse Productions.

The I Love You Bridge

One spring day in 2001 a tall man walked into Sheffield’s Park Hill flats and along a street in the sky. He strode past the brutalist flanks, out on to the footbridge. He thought: this’ll do.

Jason didn’t look down; he gets vertigo and he was 13 storeys up. He leaned over in his yellow Puffa jacket and sprayed her name. “Clare” came out haphazardly and “Middleton” hit the ledge. He planned to take her to the Roxy on the facing hill, to show her. So now he began again, bigger, clearer: “I LOVE YOU WILL U MARRY ME”. It was his two-fingers-up at the social services office opposite. He scarpered. Seeing it, Grenville, one of the estate’s caretakers, said to the on-site office: “How are we going to get that off?”

Photo Copyright: Murdo Macleod.

LISTEN TO THE FULL STORY

READ THE FULL STORY

Dancing out of poverty in South Africa

The school where Dane Hurst, star of Rambert dance company, learned to dance was eaten by termites and burned down by children. Thirteen years after he left South Africa, he has returned to the junction of Gelvandale and Helenvale in Port Elizabeth to show me where it was.

A childcare centre stands there now, locked behind breezeblocks and barbed wire. There’s a TB clinic, an armoured post office, a liquor store and scrubby grass. A man emerges from an outbuilding and Dane introduces himself, tells him he’s a dancer in the UK, but that he grew up here. The man, Justin, tells him about the gangs who roam these streets. He counts on his fingers: there are 18 gangs in the 1.5km from the old bus terminus to the house Dane grew up in. They’ve had 50 gun deaths in the past three months – the latest a two-year old girl caught in crossfire. To my surprise Dane says that his uncle was recently killed just here while washing his car. “Oh man,” smiles Justin. “It’s amazing – small world.” Neither man reveals any other feelings.

Photo Copyright: Karl Schoemaker.

LISTEN TO THE FULL STORY HERE

READ THE FULL STORY HERE