Milk & Valium Productions

08/02/2026

In a world that chases soulless perfection with AI, be a beautiful, messy first sketch.

But what's it for, eh?

Announcement coming this week 😉

25/06/2025

Speaking as a director, I think all directors ought to know this. A couple of years ago, an actor tell me they panic if directors don't say anything - they'd rather have criticism than silence. Which was interesting to hear, because from the other side, it can feel like "No critique = no notes, do it like that." So now I try to say something after every scene runthrough, no matter what.

18/06/2025

Can't say much more until we get a yay or nay from the venue, but we're very excited to be moving forward with !

11/06/2025

Goodnight and good luck to one of the greats. Brian Wilson, 1942 - 2025.

03/06/2025

Everyone had a wonderful time on Sunday at the test performance of our new play Seeketh To Destroy Me. Thank you so much to these wonderful actors who had us all rolling with laughter and then weeping.

Feedback was constructive and overwhelmingly positive and everyone was asking when we'll do it for real!

Thank you to Theatre@41 for hosting us.

03/06/2025

Everyone had a wonderful time on Sunday at the test performance of our new play Seeketh To Destroy Me. Thank you so much to these wonderful actors who had us all rolling with laughter and then weeping.

Feedback was constructive and overwhelmingly positive and everyone was asking when we'll do it for real!

Thank you to Theatre@41 for hosting us.

14/05/2025

Thank you to everyone who has been in touch about our upcoming readthrough! We are reading all responses and aim to reply to everyone as soon as we can. 😁🎭

We'd still love to hear from seasoned theatregoers who'd like to be in our test audience, watching and giving us feedback.

Reminder, it's 1-5pm, Sunday 1st June, at Theatre @ 41 Minkgate in York. Please let us know if you'd like to attend - places are limited, but we'd love to have you! 🎭

14/05/2025

Thank you to everyone who has been in touch about our upcoming readthrough! We are reading all responses and aim to reply to everyone as soon as we can. 😁🎭

We'd still love to hear from seasoned theatregoers who'd like to be in our test audience, watching and giving us feedback.

Reminder, it's 1-5pm, Sunday 1st June, at Theatre @ 41 Minkgate in York. Please let us know if you'd like to attend - places are limited, but we'd love to have you! 🎭

09/05/2025

We're delighted to be venturing forth with a daring new play! First step - a table read of the first draft, followed by audience feedback.
If you'd like to be in our test audience or read in our table read of the first draft, give us a DM! Spaces are limited and all must be aged 18+
Please note, this play contains themes of sexual and psychological abuse.

26/04/2025

This should make for harrowing reading to anyone who works in the entertainment or arts sector. Something that mere months ago was an incompetent curiosity is now a real threat to our livelihoods.

It's not over stretching to say that humanity as we know it is at stake. How harrowing is the thought of all these people who've enjoyed listening to and engaging with what they thought was a real person - tuning into her show for human company, sharing her taste in music, laughing at her jokes, feeling the warmth of her friendly chatter - only to find out that she is nothing?

People rely on voice over artists, presenters, actors and all kinds of performers, for the humanity they broadcast into the empty corners of their lives. Broadcast media brings reports of current events, knowledge on topics we would otherwise never come across, stories we would never get to hear, opinions we would never hear in our physical surroundings, personalities we would never otherwise meet, music we've never heard before and a hundred other things - and what are all these? They are human.

For the sake of saving wages, this station has lied to their audience and stripped a means of human connection from their lives.

Do I sound dramatic? I hope so, because that's a human trait! I urge those of you reading to think about where this story leads. To radio stations with no presenters or producers. To humans being interviewed by something that cannot see, hear, understand or sense them in any way - an automated typewriter with a voice cloned from someone like you. It ends at entire TV shows and films made with no actors, writers, directors, runners, musicians, researchers and barely any producers or technicians.

If we let this happen, AI will eat our industry like a plague of locusts.

Here at Milk & Va**um, we vehemently oppose the use of AI to replace real people, and we are committed to paying fair wages. This year, we have employed 12 people so far - with 3 more projects in the pipeline for the coming months - all at or above Living Wage.

We are not rich ourselves and we self-fund a lot of these endeavours where there is a shortfall in funding. Why? Because we believe in doing what's best for people and the humanities as a whole. We want to be part of a thriving ecosystem of fulfilled artists making the world more fun. I personally want to leave the world one day full of happy memories.

We urge you act on this. Write to your MP to ask what they are doing to protect jobs from AI. Write to your union to ask what they are doing. Refuse to consume media generated by AI.

Australian radio station secretly used an AI host for six months - Workdays with Thy broadcast for six months before listeners began questioning the host’s true identity