Award-winning Hope Valley musician Rowan Rheingans' first theatre show in Sheffield is inspired by her gran's true story

Rowan, a songwriter, composer and theatre-maker, will present Dispatches on the Red Dress at Sheffield’s Crucible Studio Theatre on March 19, 2022.

Best known for her work with acclaimed bands Lady Maisery and The Rheingans Sisters, Rowan has won two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards (‘Best Original Track’ for her song Mackerel in 2016 and ‘Best Album’ in 2017). Her duo The Rheingans Sisters were nominated for ‘Best Group’ at the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Rowan was a recipient of the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists in 2021.

Dispatches on the Red Dress tells the true story of life in 1940s Germany as experienced by Rowan’s grandmother and is an exploration of memory, identity, joy, sorrow, trauma-recovery, war and waltzes.

Rowan said: “Hidden in the folds of my own grandmother’s story, there is a profound darkness alongside a deeply hopeful message about humanity’s capacity for transformation. It feels important, in our current social and political climate of half-truths and fake news, that sometimes feels akin to a dangerous forgetting or mis-remembering of history, to share my family’s story. It is about the peace-making potential of stories..."

Her debut theatrical production features immersive storytelling weaved around ten new songs which Rowan performs live with fiddle, banjo and guitar.

Dispatches on the Red Dress won a Scotsman 'Fringe First' Award at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Tickets cost £15. Go to www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk