BIOGRAPHIES

Alison Child and Rosie Wakley set up Behind The Lines in 2014 as a community theatre company with a mission to put lesbians centre stage and tell their stories. Since then they have devised three shows, 'All The Nice Girls' (2014) 'Deep in The Heart of Me' (2016) and 'Fall of Duty' (2017). We have also championed forgotten variety stars Gwen Farrar and Norah Blaney, re-imagining their musical comedy double act. In 2020 Nadine Benjamin agreed to become our patron and Katie Hoad-HItchings joined our board. Read more about them all below.

                  Rosie Wakley and Ali Child

Nadine Benjamin MBE

Patron

British lyric soprano Nadine Benjamin is a charismatic and versatile artist who is in increasing demand on both the operatic stage and the concert platform.  She is also a High Performance coach and

NLP Practitioner.

In 2015 Nadine founded ‘Everybody Can!’ to provide a platform to encourage others to believe in themselves and to support them in recognising that whatever they envision can be achieved.  Nadine was “highly commended” at the 2016 Aviva ‘Women of the Future Awards’ in recognition of her work as a mentor and singer.Hailed by ‘Opera Now’ magazine as one of their favourite top ten sopranos in “a new generation of sopranos who are destined to have impressive careers”,  Nadine’s debut solo CD ‘Love & Prayer’ was released in 2018. In 2023 she was won the award for Best Opera Performance at the Black British Theatre Awards for her role as the Mother in Blue at English National Opera.

Katie Hoad-Hitchings is a violinist, musician and teacher. She graduated with a degree in music from Manchester University and worked for many years for BBC Radio 3 a production assistant, working on live concerts, such as the BBC Proms and studio recordings with artists from around the globe and from many different musical genres. She also worked for Radio 4 on topical and political programmes, growing a lifelong interest in advocacy, politics and equality. She is now retired due to disability but continues to play her violin and has also started a community choir with her wife for queer women called the Sweet Chilli Singers. They have performed nationwide with other choirs from the LGBTQ+ community. As a labour party activist and ward organiser, she campaigns for LGTBQ+ rights and disability within her local community and beyond.

Alison Child  is a writer, director, teacher and performer. She was a Choral Exhibitioner at Trinity College, Cambridge, appeared at the Arts Theatre with the Marlowe Society and Cambridge University Opera Society and  toured for two years with the Footlights Revue. She graduated with a degree in History and a P.G.C.E. in English and Drama to which she has recently add a Masters in Research from the University of Brighton.. She has worked as a Teacher, Teacher Trainer, Business Development Manager and Voice Artist. Her work has been performed at Salisbury Arts Centre, Salisbury Playhouse, Chesil Theatre Winchester and the Marlborough, Dukebox and Rialto Theatres in Brighton. In 2014 she was selected for a Playwriting programme at the Royal Court Theatre. Since then she has co-devised 'All The Nice Girls' & 'Deep in The Heart of Me' and written 'Fall of Duty'.  In 2019 Alison's book Tell Me I'm Forgiven: The  of Forgotten Stars Gwen Farrar and Norah Blaney was published by Tollington Press. Alison has taught in primary and secondary schools all over the south-east of England. In 2024 her first children's book, Gwen & Norah, Stoll & Moss was published. She is currently working on the sequel, Gwen & Norah in the Big Apple in collaboration with illustrator, Shanni Collins.

Rosie Wakley  has worked in the theatre in many capacities including Master Carpenter, Stage Manager and ultimately Production Manager at the Coliseum for the English National Opera. She  has performed widely as her alter ego, lounge singer, Ronnie Rialto, appearing at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, Brighton Pride, Boibox, Soho, The Glory, Kingdom and El GeeBee Tea Queue at the Brunswick and the Latest Music Bar. She co-devised 'All The Nice Girls' and 'Deep in the Heart of Me' and, in 2017, directed 'Fall of Duty' which earned the 'Best of Fringe Theatre' Nomination from the International Youth Arts Festival at Brighton Fringe 2017.  She co-produced 'Scene' by Lola Olufemi and Martha Krish at the Marlborough Theatre in November 2017.

Rosie has volunteered as a Diversity Role Model and for the award-winning 'Speak Out' oral history project at the London Metropolitan Archive. 

Rosie has an M.B.A. degree from Lancaster University.