麻豆社

The writer and film-maker Penny Woolcock can鈥檛 be pigeonholed: she鈥檚 worked as a director at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and made a film about warring drug gangs on the streets of Birmingham.

A passion for storytelling has driven her career, along with a rebellious streak, perhaps because she鈥檚 something of an outsider and never went to university or film school. She often uses non-professional actors in her work, including a staging of Bach鈥檚 St Matthew Passion with people who had experienced homelessness. And after completing her movie about rival gangs in Birmingham, she found herself helping to broker a peace deal between two of the actual gang leaders.

Her musical choices include Shostakovich, Britten, Bach and Sibelius.

Producer: Katy Hickman