A love letter to the sleepless, 2am Facebookers and shift workers, writer and performer Francesca Millican-Slater DJs her own late night radio show, channelling the rambling raconteurs of presenters from the wee hours to spin a noirish stack of stories, odd, familiar, funny, true and stolen. 

Stories To Tell In The Middle Of The Night is Francesca Millican-Slater’s amusing and gripping collection of short, quirky tales that are reminiscent of Roald Dahl’s stories for adults. It opens at Birmingham Repertory Theatre from 9 – 18 February followed by a short tour to West Midlands venues.

Dreamlike and darkly humorous, this live, late night radio show is inspired by the legendary radio shows of Ronnie Wood and Iggy Pop and includes tales of everything from love and obsession to technology and disconnection. Not to mention pork pies.

Francesca says of Stories To Tell In the Middle of the Night:
“It comes from waking up in the middle of the night, or not sleeping, of feeling, at first like you are the only one awake, you know this not to be true; the night allows a certain narcissism. You know of others awake and scrolling through blue screen news, looking for people, or contact or news of others dying or dieting.

“I wondered what stories I'd tell to them in the middle of the night. What stories I tell myself. Not lullabies to send you to sleep but small stories from the day in frustrations, losses, irritations, heartbreak and hope, magnified and made strange by lack of sleep, the night, the dark. I thought about radio shows, rambling raconteurs, DJ's talking in the night, in the dark, telling tales though they are not sure who is listening. I thought about people just trying to get through the night, what might be heard.”