The working class RADA: how Alison Rashley became director of the Television Workshop

First off, tell us about the new play, I Had a Wheelbarrow. What inspired it?
I wanted to do a play that encompasses all age groups and was pondering how to do that. Then on New Year's Day my husband and I decided to go and watch Notts vs Accrington. I was sat there in the Kop stand and thought, here it is! After that I kept going to all the matches with a notebook. I'd sit writing notes, getting strange glances from people. A few people might even recognise themselves if they come and see it. The play is set in the Kop and takes place over ninety  minutes. You're at a game with them, but you don’t see the pitch, you witness it all from the supporters point of view. 

I hear there’s quite a few big names involved…
Those on stage at the play are current students at our Workshop. But we also filmed a load of scenes in the dug-out, which will be shown on screen during the play. For those roles I recruited several of our wonderful alumni. Michael Socha (The Cage, The Gallows Pole) plays the manager, Joe Dempsie (The Capture, Game of Thrones) plays the assistant manager, Oliver Huntingdon (Riot Women, Sherwood) plays the physio, Nick Preston (House of Gunness, Master of the Air) plays the tactics guy and Aisling Loftus (Sherwood, Mr Selfridge) plays the assistant physio. Shane Meadows filmed it all for us and Vicky McClure is the voice of the stadium announcer. All the money we raise from the play goes towards Television Workshop, so none of them asked for anything to do it, they even paid their own travel costs. We got them kitted out in Notts County tracksuits with their initials on. They gave me everything and each went home with a Notts County tracksuit top, thrilled to bits.

Tell us a bit about you. How did you first get involved in acting and with the Television Workshop?
I grew up in Carlton in the 1980s and went to Frank Wheldon school. My best friend was the writer and director Julian Kemp and he got involved in the Workshop just as it was starting out. The original director Sue Nott came to see Julian and I in a school play and afterwards asked if I'd audition. I did and I joined about eight months in. I absolutely loved it. Within a year I was cast in a few TV shows like Boon, Your Mother Wouldn't Like It, Palace Hill and quite a few adverts. The money was useful, but I soon realised I didn’t like the attention. So I went off to do anything but acting. I trained as a nurse and worked in an accountancy firm. But eventually I went back to volunteer when Ian Smith was running the Workshop in the 90s. I worked as his assistant for eleven years, then went away to have my son. Then I came back to direct a few plays when Nic Harvey took over around 2015. When he left in 2021 I took the reins. So I definitely have a very long attachment to this place.

So for those that don’t know what the Workshop is, can you explain a bit?
We’re an acting workshop for young people, based in Nottingham. Right now we have 260 students, including our reserve groups. The youngest of those are aged seven and in our under-11’s group. Then there are 11-16 and 16-21 age groups. There’s also an over 21s group now, so our oldest students are in their late twenties. We teach every single night of the week and on Saturdays. We’re a registered charity but we have no core funding. All of our revenue comes from either donations or from funds we generate ourselves.

So how is the Workshop funded?
Originally it was set up by ITV and fully funded. But it lost all its funding after all the Central TV networks closed around 2005. Since then we’ve had to learn to survive on very little. We charge fees, but we keep them as affordable as possible; they're £45 a month at the moment, which is probably less than joining a kids football team. We also offer young people places before we know if they can afford the fees. If they can’t, they get one of our bursary places. Those are funded by generous backers like some of our former alumni. We've also had some slightly more random ones - Kenneth Branagh paid for a few bursaries after he paid us a visit. He came in and was absolutely fascinated by the place. 

Tell us about the core current team. How many of you are there?
I am the only fixed employee of the Workshop and everyone else works for us on a freelance basis. We’ve got the amazing Jayne, who does all the finance and Carly, who helps with admin. Then Alex and Karen are our tutors and do most of the teaching. We work out of a small one-room office in the city centre. When people come and visit, you can see the initial disappointment in their faces. Here's this place that's produced Samantha Morton, Vicky McClure, Jack O'Connell and Bella Ramsey; but it’s really small. But I'd much rather be offering the kids quality teaching than have fancy surroundings.

In July 2024, you became an Honorary Doctor of Arts from Nottingham Trent University. Tell me about that…
I thought there'd been a mistake when they first asked. But wow, how can you not accept something like that? I'm so proud I come from Nottingham and it was a lovely day; I wore a Paul Smith dress. Do I use the term Doctor regularly though? No.

Am I right in thinking you were part of the team on the 2025 TV phenomenon Adolescence?
I was, yes. Warp Films in Sheffield are incredible and have been regularly involved with us, so their CEO got in touch. As it was all shot in one-take, my role on it was to get those kids ready to maintain a performance for an hour with no break. The work I did in preparation was very different and challenging, but it was a joy. I had the privilege of watching them shoot the episode in the school. I only played a small part, but it's a cracking thing to have on your CV.

What’s next for you and the Workshop?
We’ll be having a Charity Ball towards the end of this year and we’re always looking for sponsors. But aside from that and this play nothing else major this year. It's already a busy job without any of the extra things we do. Longer-term my hope is to leave the Workshop in a better place than I found it. If in a few more years our funding is a little bit stabler and we’re in a slightly nicer premises, then I might feel like it’s time for someone else to take over and steer it their way.

I Had A Wheelbarrow is showing at The Nest on 15-16 June. Tickets are available from £5-8. Look out for a longer chat with Alison on the LeftLion Interviews Podcast later this month. Click here to read Alison talk us through some of the Television Workshop’s best known actors and gives the lowdown on what they were like to teach…

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