Rope Women Podcast: Experiences as a performer with Skinning the Cat
Adrenaline and Lycra costumes. Listen to interviews with some of the longest serving members of Skinning the Cat talking about their experiences as a performer with the company.
About this Podcast
Skinning the Cat was a ground-breaking, all-female circus troupe from Bradford, West Yorkshire. From 1988 to 2003 the company was at the vanguard of the contemporary circus movement in Britain.
These curated compilations cover different topics in the exhibition, in their own words. Part of the exhibition ‘Rope Women’.
Follow the story of Skinning the Cat, their contribution to the history of aerial performance, and the role of women in circus. Brought to life by costumes, sculptures and poems by Rebecca Truman, its founder and artistic director. Co-curated by the National Fairground and Circus Archive and Rebecca Truman with an introduction by Professor Vanessa Toulmin.
This episode includes the following topics:
- Entrepreneurship and early origins of the company
- Costume-making
- Rigging and technical production
- Performing and shows
- Backstage life as part of the troupe
- Physical and emotional impact on health and wellbeing in a circus context
Recorded in 2026.
Full recordings of these oral histories are held by the National Fairground and Circus Archive.
Credits
- Interviewer: Arantza Barrutia (Senior Archivist at the National Fairground and Circus Archive)
- Interviewee: Rebecca Truman (Founder and Artistic Director at Skinning the Cat, 1988-2003)
- Interviewee: Lou Sumray (Member at Skinning the Cat, 1988-2003)
- Interviewee: Rachel Hyde (Member at Skinning the Cat, 1990-2003)
- Interviewee: Helen Fagelman (Member at Skinning the Cat, 1994-2003)
- Interviewee: Claire Baldwin (Member at Skinning the Cat, 1994-2001)
- Interviewee: Jacky Crosher (Member at Skinning the Cat, 1997-2003)
- Producer: Andrew Moore (Digital and Exhibitions Officer at the University of Sheffield Special Collections, Heritage and Archives)
