Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
HEATWAVE HITS - help vendors work safely with a summer support kit
Buy a kit
News

Listen to 'Unknown', the radio play based on the lives of Big Issue vendors

The drama plots the life of one young person and their journey from an abusive childhood through teenage trauma and into homelessness in Bath

Lloyd Posty Rusdale Hilary Stock

Empathy is the basis for charity and there are few better ways to understand the lives of those less fortunate than to hear their stories.

A new radio play based on the lives of Big Issue vendors aims to do exactly that, taking the stories as inspiration for a drama plotting the life of one young person and their journey from an abusive childhood through teenage trauma and into homelessness in Bath.

Tales from sellers Ian DuffLloyd ‘Posty’ Rusdale (pictured above) and Anthony Williams inspired Unknown, and the play is peppered with the dates and locations of the “unknown” victims of homelessness, those who died on the streets without anyone knowing their name.

Listen to the performance in full:

Commissioned by The Big Issue with the support of Arts Council England and The Big Lottery, the trio of “co-authors” helped playwright Dougie Blaxland create an accurate portrayal of the realities of homelessness in 2020.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Dame Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, attended the premiere at Bath’s Green Park Station on October 9.

Posting on Twitter after the performance, she said: “A very thought provoking evening, listening to a radio play about real life stories of childhood trauma leading to homelessness in Bath.

We need to build thousands of new social homes for rent to ensure security for so many families.”

Bath vendor Ian Duff went along to see rehearsals and told The Big Issue it was “an honour” to be involved with the production.

“It was quite a poignant story, I was quite touched by it,” he said. “What really hit me was the statistics and the amount of unknown deaths on the streets. It’s quite frightening because and that is what saddened me the most.”

The play is produced by Roughhouse Theatre and will be broadcast across the UK by radio and theatre outlets including The Belgrade Theatre Coventry, The Greenwich Theatre London, Salford Arts, Theatre Royal Bath and South Street Studio Reading.

Find a local Big Issue vendor near you and hear their story using our interactive map.

Image: Hilary Stock

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Feeling the heat?

It's even tougher on the street. Could you buy a summer support kit for £35 to help vendors work safely in the sun?

Recommended for you

View all
'It would be good to know how long we have left': This clifftop community is falling into the sea
Climate crisis

'It would be good to know how long we have left': This clifftop community is falling into the sea

How I made friends with a great oak tree named Quercus
Trees

How I made friends with a great oak tree named Quercus

Home Office extends 56-day refugee move-on period – but it doesn't go far enough, campaigners say
a tent on the street
Refugees

Home Office extends 56-day refugee move-on period – but it doesn't go far enough, campaigners say

Black and minority households 'forced to cut their hair and hide their accents' to get social housing
A black woman sitting on a sofa speaking to a psychologist
Racism

Black and minority households 'forced to cut their hair and hide their accents' to get social housing

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know

Support our vendors with a subscription

For each subscription to the magazine, we’ll provide a vendor with a reusable water bottle, making it easier for them to access cold water on hot days.