5 questions with Greta Clarkson

Welcome to the first edition of 5 questions here on Local Files Club. As you'll quickly gather, 5 questions is a series of Q&As with the cast and crew of Local Files Club releases, serving as an introduction to the people behind the audiodramas.

First up: Greta Clarkson! You may already know her as Hana in Kane and Feels and as various roles in The Lightning Bottler, two productions from Skadi's Symphony. But more pertinent to 5 questions is their new production, Ms. Shipton's Travelling Tea Shop, coming 14 November from Local Files Club.

You'll hear Greta's voice across all five episodes of Ms. Shipton's Travelling Tea Shop as the titular tea witch. Whether you fall in love with Ms. Shipton—both the drama and the character—rests on her, and luckily, she is more than up to the challenge, providing a layered, dynamic performance as the weary witch.

Hear it for yourself over on Bandcamp—you can listen to the first episode of Ms. Shipton's Travelling Tea Shop and pre-order the full release right now.

How would you describe yourself to a stranger at a party?

I’m this person: office manager by day, I vaguely lay claim to being a podcaster by night. Bring me a decent cup of tea and I’m your friend forever. 

How do you organise your files?

My organisation system is: I make a file for the project, I then add a subfolder which is correspondence about the project, a subfolder that’s scripts (including the originals, and ones I’ve made notes on). There’s also readthroughs, where I collect notes and feedback. After that, a subfolder called ‘inspiration’ which I will use to collect pictures. If something comes to mind in the script, I’ll grab an image that reminds me of it and put it in that folder—it could be animals, it could be places and people, pictures I’ve taken myself. And I’ll have a Spotify playlist of some sort in there as well.

Can you describe your audio fiction listening set-up—your gear, where you’re listening, what you’re doing, etc?

So previously it would have been with in-ear earbuds, however I have come to appreciate the difference in sound quality you pick up over-ears. So I've switched. For ADs specifically, I listen when I'm cosied up with a cup of tea and a cat on my lap. I don’t listen to ADs on my commute, I listen to podcasts. Audiodramas tend to be intentional listening, not just putting something on.

Sometimes, when listening to adaptations of graphic novels, I'll have the graphic novel in front of me and get the full experience of that piece of art. 

What are you listening to when you’re not listening to audio fiction?

Murder podcasts! 

What’s the best piece of audio-fiction-making advice you’ve ever received?

I don’t know whether it's a piece of advice but the support of my co-star Jude. In 2017, when making Kane and Feels, I was in no place to come work in a studio. Jude, who was the director at the time, made it work. He said—I’ll come ‘round with a mic, a baffle, we’ll get it done. I think there’s a softness or an empathy in the people I’ve worked with in audiodrama that I appreciate.

Fancy keeping up with Greta and all of her future audiodrama endeavors? Give her a follow on Instagram!