@lornasimes
Writer & broadcaster. Host of Global Heartbeat @ncpr. Author of Weight Not Wind & Questions After Dark. Runs on tea & biccies. Will travel for the arts. NH, USA/Glasgow, Scotland. π΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώ www.ncpr.org
Three weeks from Friday, Iβll take part in the 2026 @WaypointNH SleepOut.
One night outside canβt eradicate youth homelessness β but itβs a way of standing in solidarity and saying: we see you, we hear you, youβre not alone.
If you can, please consider supporting:
p2p.onecause.com/waypointnhsl...
In Broken Glass by Arthur Miller at the Young Vic, history doesnβt stay in the headlines. It enters the marriage. It stiffens the spine.
1938 Brooklyn β yet it feels like Feb 2026.
The personal is political. The political is personal.
The echo is loud.
The fourth wall fell away and, for an hour, we were all locked inside the Coach & Horses with Sohoβs most irascible wit.
Robert Bathurst gives a bravura performance in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell. Five years into this residency β now one of my favourite theatre traditions.
Sunday Afternoon Tea at The Savoy.
Is it slightly touristy? Yes, perhaps.
Is it absolutely sumptuous? Completely.
Does it need to be done every time weβre in London? Without a shadow of a doubt.
@nationaltheatre.org.uk Playboy of the Western World becomes a study in communal appetite. Legends arenβt discovered β theyβre manufactured. As Christy grows in stature, the village sustains the lie for its own ends. The laughter turns sharp. Myth empowers β and devastates.
Deep Azure at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is ritual, resistance, and devastating sorrow. Hip-hop and verse pulse from the human body alone. A βno case to answerβ verdict fractures the room. The political becomes painfully personal. No triumph β just truth. #Theatre #DeepAzure
Who counts as βmy ownβ?
All My Sons feels chillingly contemporary β a slow, devastating reckoning about loyalty, profit, and responsibility.
Bryan Cranston dissolves before our eyes.
Iβve never heard an audience so still.
We endured it together.
Woman in Mind shimmers like the edge of an ocular migraine β bright, funny, and quietly fracturing. Sheridan Smith threads absurdity and tragedy with stunning control. The final image lingers.
Barbed. Simmering. Explosive.
Dance of Death at the @OrangeTreeThtr turns marital warfare into something inescapable in the round. Keen, Dillon and Streatfield deliver ferociously precise performances. Dread you donβt watch β you inhabit.
Cynthia Erivo is extraordinary in #Dracula at the NoΓ«l Coward β navigating cameras and live cinema with jaw-dropping control. The production sustains relentless kinetic tension, but I missed the breath and stillness gothic needs to truly chill the bones.
Honored to be the Performance Judge at the second NH heat of Poetry Out Loud this evening. Thereβs nothing quite like hearing young people bring poetry to life. π€β¨ #PoetryOutLoud
Yes! Heβs one of a bunch of musicians making βgood troubleβ out thereβ¦
If Iβm honest, this would be fine with meβ¦
This is gloriously bonkers in the best possible way. The concept alone made me laugh & knowing itβs in Andyβs hands gives me full confidence itβll be sharp, surprising & very funny. Thrilled to have backed it, and very much hoping to be in the audience!
mirlo.space/leadmojo/rel...
Radio drama has been described as the βtheatre of the mind,β and we listeners have the opportunity to vote for our favorites in the @radiotimes.bsky.social Readersβ Drama Award.
Delighted to see βWhen Maggie Met Larryβ by @thattimwalker.bsky.social in contention!
Tonightβs Global Heartbeat on NCPR is a Robert Burns special β music celebrating Scotlandβs national poet and his enduring legacy.
Hope youβll tune in. 9pm ET.
www.ncpr.org
Heartbroken to hear this news about Martin Carthy, but also immensely grateful for decades of songs, scholarship, and inspiration. Thank you, Martin, for carrying the tradition forward and sharing your gifts so generously. I wish you peace for your next chapter.
Iβm sleeping out in March for the @WaypointNH SleepOut β a night to raise awareness of youth homeless.
15,000 young people in NH affected each year.
One night outside to say: you are heard. I would very much welcome your support. No amount too small.
p2p.onecause.com/waypointnhsl...
A favorite part of the new year: the chance to start anew with these old friends.
The same to you and Bruce, love.
This is the first song I listen to every new yearβs morning.
βLet the darkest side of the past stay dark, and only good recall. For I must believe the world to be a good world after all.β
Happy New Year.
garnetrogersmusic.bandcamp.com/track/after-...
βFor last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.β
T. S. Eliot - Little Gidding - The Four Quartets.
All the best when it comes, folks.
Wherever you are, however youβre celebrating, stay safe and well.
I wish you all the very best for 2026.
Auld Lang Syne youtu.be/CfjHEFQXovw?...
Happy Christmas to all who celebrate.
youtu.be/0YQ0dtDgYUY?...
It was special, for sure.
Dreams do come true.
An evening @nationaltheatre that began with Judi Dench and Send in the Clowns β not note-perfect, but soul-perfect β unfolding as companionable conversation. McKellen, Dench & Carter trusted the room, levelled the house, and reminded us why live theatre invites us home.
The final Alex cartoon annual has landed. Charles Peattie & Russell Taylor created a world β and characters β that felt utterly real. Sharp, perceptive, politically on point without ever being political, and unfailingly hilarious. Iβll miss this voice more than I can say.
Tonight on Global Heartbeat, we honour the voice and legacy of RaΓΊl Malo β the Cuban Caruso β and celebrate music that carries warmth, beauty, and connection.
Listen tonight at 9pm ET on @ncpr ncpr.org
