Hot Day in a Tesco Queue by Melanie Hopkins

At some point over the past few months, most of us will have found ourselves standing in a supermarket queue (possibly snaking around a car park) probably bored, and definitely itchy in an ill-fitting mask! We shouldn’t feel alone in this! So…cue – our first commissioned audio monologue: Hot day in a Tesco Queue, written and performed by emerging young writer and actress Melanie Hopkins, during lockdown.

We’ve been planning to delve into the world of dramatic audio productions, so when Melanie said she wanted to try her hand at a bit of comedy when discussing her Home Front ideas, the stars aligned for us to try this out. And we’re so pleased because we love this!

You can listen to the brilliant Hot Day in a Tesco Queue below – soon to be uploaded to our new podcast channel where there’ll be loads of great content from Hive’s past few years – interviews, events, stories, and poems we know you’ll love.

“I’ve had a great time writing and recording. It’s definitely opened my writing up to possibilities and with the style of comedy too!” Melanie Hopkins

Melanie is a Sheffield born and based professional actress, writer, theatre-maker and event organiser – a wearer of many creative hats! She graduated with a First Class Honours Degree from the Performance for Stage and Screen course at Sheffield Hallam University in 2019. Described as a ‘one-woman army’, Melanie single-handedly set up her own event, the Sheffield Monologue Showcase (SMS), which premiered last March.

Known for writing for the stage, her most noteworthy piece “The Sylvia Swing” was performed at the York Theatre Royal’s Take Over Festival and The Lantern Theatre’s New Writers Festival in Sheffield. Melanie continues to collaborate with local talent on various writing projects and hopes to get back to the stage as soon as possible. melaniejhopkins.com