Interview – Anna Holmes, Northern Rascals
We are delighted to have interviewed Anna Holmes., co-artistic director of Northern Rascals about the forthcoming tour of their show Sunny Side, which comes to the Rotherham Civic on Wednesday 22nd April
Q. Tell us more about Northern Rascals and your production of Sunny Side?
A. Northern Rascals is a company of small-beginnings and now, big impact.
It began on the roof of our local student bar when myself and Sam (Ford), two students of Northern School of Contemporary Dance, skipped a day of dance training for a slice of pizza in the sunshine. In those final moments of our training, we stood on the brink of our career and leaned into the warm sunshine, the cheap beer and allowed ourselves to imagine a world where we could make our own work together and actually get paid for it.
Those days of blue-sky thinking and youthful naivety, allowed us to create with a quiet rebellion that has remained focal to the company today. The ‘Rascal’ is a push to the standard, a resistance to the norms we were told to follow. As young dancers, there are narratives we were/are always told “dance degrees are pointless”, “it’s time to get a proper job”, “Go South, there’ll be no opportunities for you in the North”. We wanted to push against that, to carve a space for ourselves in the place we wanted to be, that was better than what came before us. To us, there was more value in the human behind the dancer, and placing care in that artist, would allow us to build sustainable careers in our home of the North.
Sunny Side has grown out of that same ethos. Our work exists to quietly push against norms, to place stories on our stages that often go unheard. Usually that’s the voices of young people from the North. Sunny Side does that. It’s a show that’s been developed over five years as a vehicle to voice the experiences of young people, particularly young Northern men. Blending dance, theatre and spoken word, it brings together real stories from over 1,500 young people to create something that feels honest, current, and human.
Q. What are your backgrounds, how did you get involved with the company and the production, and do you have your own experiences of mental health issues?
A. As mentioned, we are both alumni of Northern School of Contemporary Dance, a leading contemporary dance conservatoire in Leeds. Our pathways into dance were different, but both had that common thread of dance being an outlet, a way to express and better understand ourselves.
The company is ours, built brick by brick over ten years.
The show came to us in a time when we were navigating huge uncertainty personally. First, as young freelance dancers working to establish a career and prove the aforementioned narratives wrong. Our experience of the big, exciting dance world that we thought would just appear were returning to our family homes, where our aspirations weren’t always understood, with limited access to the industry we were trying so hard to crack. These themes of returning home, revisiting old pathways, and feeling stuck in the face of unknown futures were very real for us.
Initially, the work was for ourselves, a way of processing those experiences through movement. But as the project idea grew, we realised that what we were feeling wasn’t isolated. There was a collective struggle amongst young people trying to find a place and make sense of a rapidly changing world. Then came the pandemic…
Mental health is woven throughout that experience. While the show isn’t autobiographical in a direct sense, it’s deeply personal. It’s built from real conversations, shared experiences, and the recognition that many of us are struggling in ways that often go unspoken.
Q. What are you looking forward to most about touring the show for a final time, including bringing it to Rotherham?
A. Touring the work, especially in the North, feels incredibly important to us. Sunny Side is a show made for young Northern men, and bringing it directly into those communities gives it real purpose.
There’s something powerful about sharing the work in spaces where audiences can see themselves reflected on stage. We’re looking forward to those moments of connection, where people recognise something of their own experience, or someone they know.
Each performance is also a chance to keep the work alive. The show is a living thing, and every audience brings something new to it.
Q. Tell us more about Andy’s Man Club and how you went about collaborating with them on this production?
A. Initiatives like Andy’s Man Club are lifelines. They help soften the systemic barriers that stop people from accessing emotional support, particularly for men.
Our collaboration came about due to our shared home location. Our company and their charity both originate from Calderdale. The mission of our show and Andy’s Man Club are direct responses to the same environment, and therefore are intrinsically linked.
We come from a shared understanding that community is essential. We need open, integrated spaces where people feel able to speak, be heard, and be supported.
What they offer aligns closely with what Sunny Side is trying to do: creating space for conversation, normalising struggle, and reminding people that they’re not alone.
Q. The production also worked with 1,500 young people across the UK — how did you go about this, and was it difficult to decide what to include?
A. Over the past five years, we’ve engaged with more than 1,500 young people, both in person and online. During the pandemic, this became especially important, our screens became lifelines, connecting us to people across the UK.
We created spaces for conversation, listening to people’s experiences of growing up today. What became clear was a shared feeling: that the world had shifted, and the futures we were once promised no longer felt accessible.
In terms of what to include, it was never about telling one story. The show is a collection; a reflection of many voices. The challenge wasn’t choosing what to include, but how to honour those experiences truthfully without simplifying them.
Q. Men’s mental health is a huge topic, but it doesn’t always reach the people it needs to. Why did you choose dance, and who do you hope to reach?
A. Dance allows us to communicate things that are often difficult to put into words. By combining movement with theatre and spoken word, we’re able to explore these experiences in a way that feels both accessible and emotionally honest.
There’s also something powerful about experiencing these topics in a theatrical space. It creates a sense of safety; the focus is on the stage, not the individual. It allows audiences to engage with difficult subjects without feeling exposed.
We hope to reach the people who might not otherwise engage in these conversations. To offer a moment of recognition, and perhaps the beginning of a conversation that continues beyond the theatre.
Q. What’s coming up next for you and Northern Rascals?
A. Our ambitions are still rooted in that original blue-sky thinking…no idea feels too big!
We are currently applying for the funding to tour our new show Reviving Her, rooted in the female experience of navigating the modern world. We’re also in the VERY initial stages of developing a new show based on the Cragg Vale Coiners, a local tale of community survival against all odds.
Saying that, the current funding landscape for the arts is bleak but despite the challenges, we keep moving. We want to continue creating work that centres people, that speaks honestly, and that challenges perceptions of what’s possible in the North.
Q. And finally, if you were Prime Minister, what would you do to help solve the men’s mental health crisis?
A. We need a cultural shift that matches the pace at which the world is changing.
That means investing in community, in spaces where people feel supported, connected, and able to speak openly. We need to move towards a society that values softness, that allows people to hold and heal one another.
We can’t fix everything overnight, but we can create the conditions for change. Community as survival.
For further information about Northern Rascals and their 2026 tour of Sunny Side visit https://www.northernrascals.com/sunny-side. To book to see Sunny Side at Rotherham Civic visit https://rotherhamtheatres.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173665036. For further information on Andy’s Man Clubs visit https://andysmanclub.co.uk/.
